City council approves $1.7 million library loan </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 3:36 PM on Thursday, January 27, 2005

City council approves $1.7 million library loan

By Chris Eshleman
Staff Writer

In other business Monday, the Homer City Council approved a 30-year, $1.7 million loan to build a new public library.

Project organizers are cautiously optimistic that the city will be awarded grant money in the near future, making it possible to borrow less than the $2.2 million approved by voters in October.

While the city won't know how much to borrow until this spring — when it hopes to go to bid for the project — it wants to keep the project on schedule, wrote City Manager Walt Wrede in a letter to council members this week.

In approving the loan, the council assured those attending Monday's council meeting that the city is only authorized to execute the loan when the rest of the money for the project has been confirmed, and that if bids come in over budget, the council can delay construction or negotiate with the lowest bidder. The city will not open bids until after a special election on a higher sales tax, if one occurs.

The council also:

Approved the latest library designs and introduced an ordinance to accept a $1.2 million grant from the Rasmuson Foundation to help build it;

Authorized formation of the East End Road Water and Sewer Assessment District;

Awarded the contract for the Hillside Acres water and sewer project to Herndon Construction;

Established a Conference Center Feasibility Study;

Requested money from the Legislature to repair the harbor;

Adopted recommendations for a parking plan on the Homer Spit;

Extended the deadline for the Town Center Development Committee. The committee will make an interim presentation on the project in March to the city's planning commission and a final report in June.

Council members will decide at their next meeting who will fill Rose Beck's council position when she steps down at the end of March. A replacement will fill the seat until the next municipal election in October. Applications or resumes will be accepted at City Hall until Feb. 9.

Chris Eshleman can be reached at chris.eshleman@homernews.com.

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