District Library sells $14 million in bonds, approves contract

On April 10 six firms bid on $14 million in general obligation bonds for the Belleville Area District Library’s construction project and the low bidder was Bank of America Merrill Lynch, New York, with interest of 3.279 %.
At the April 11 meeting of the library board, the board unanimously accepted the bid.
The bonds will be dated May 1, 2017 and will mature on May 1 of the years 2018 to 2037, inclusive, with interest payable starting Nov. 1, 2017 and semi-annually thereafter on May 1 and Nov. 1.
Total interest cost is $5,958,875, but the library will receive a premium of $426,703.60 to cover the first payment in November.
The next bond payment of $455,000 is due May 1, 2018 after the approved millages of 0.75 and 0.72 have been levied.
Library Director Mary Jo Suchy said she participated in a conference call with S&P Global Ratings and Paul Stauder on March 27 in order to receive the library’s bond rating. She said the library received an A+ rating the following week.
After the bond sale, the rating was raised to AA-, Suchy said.
The board also approved a phased agreement with O’Neal Construction of Ann Arbor for the pre-construction work.
Library board president Sharon Peters said after hammering out an agreement with the City of Belleville, the library needs to have its team together so “our engineer can talk with their engineer.”
Board member John Juriga asked if it was time to meet with the Belleville Downtown Development Authority and Peters said they met with some DDA members with preliminary plans.
She said she met with the mayor, city manager, DDA administrator and DDA chair.
“Their feeling was they wanted the groundwork in place before we meet with them,” Peters said.
“We have to tie down the land acquisition issues with the city,” said building committee chairwoman Joy Cichewicz.
Architect Dan Whisler said a preliminary meeting was held the day before, including O’Neal, and engineering issues have to be addressed, constructability issues, and rerouting of utilities
Whisler said site issues have to be solved, including acquisition, easement, and legal matters.
“The city and library are going to have to be comfortable,” he said.
Whisler said his company’s engineer is Brian Barrick of Beckett & Raeder and the civil engineer is Chris Enlow.
Peters said the library is appreciative of O’Neal’s agreement with phases for the protections the library needs, so the money goes for library and library services.
In other business at the April 11 meeting, the board:
• Was informed the building committee is working on reviewing architect Whisler’s contract and that will be coming before the board for consideration;
• Heard a recommendation from Whisler to go out for bids on soil borings. He said they could also go back to the successful bidder for construction testing in the future. The board approved going out for bids for geotechnical investigation;
• Heard another recommendation from Whisler for the library to get environmental assessments of sites and buildings. He said the library will technically be owning a municipal parking lot and part of Fourth Street. Phase 1 investigation of the present library, the H&B building next door, the street and the parking lot should be done. If consultants think there might be a problem, such as with asbestos in the library, they would go to a Phase 2 investigation. Whisler said he would help the library identify possible firms, but for professional reasons he cannot be a part of an environmental assessment;
• Heard Whisler report that after Juriga contacted Congresswoman Debbie Dingell’s office for help, he got a call from DTE and sent them information on the power lines the library wishes to have buried. Because of the massive windstorm the proposed meeting was delayed. A meeting has been suggested for April 18 or 19 with city officials, the library’s electrical consultant, and other officials. “All our underground utilities have to play nice together,” Whisler said. He said he also wants to set up a meeting with the city for utility relocation. He gave an update on catch basins and said the library may be asked to clean the silt out of some to get as much good information as possible as to where the drains go; and
• Heard a report from board member Alma Hughes-Grubbs, chairwoman of the Marketing Committee, on her recent meeting. She said they talked about ways to keep the public informed on the library progress and ways to raise money for artworks and other amenities.