Sweden Fire Station
Building Committee Meeting
October 23, 2007
DRAFT
MINUTES of the Sweden Fire Station Building Committee (SFSBC) regular meeting on Tuesday, October 23, at the Sweden Town Office .
Present: Members: Chairman Wolfgang Duve, Julie McQueen, John P. Smith, Bill Morrisseau, Patrick Wood
Public& Guests: Bobbi Arnold from USDA Development
Absent: Wayne Miller, Dana Nason
These notes are not necessarily in the order in which things were discussed. They are loosely organized by topic.
Assignments
from the October 23, 2007 Meeting:
· Julie will contact Roger Legoff’s office to get the details on the arrangement for producing and stamping the drawings and then forward that information to Bobbi Arnold at the USDA Rural Development Program.
- Julie spoke with Roger’s office on October 24th. In the past he produced the drawings for both the Denmark and Fryeburg stations. An engineer from Augusta reviewed and stamped the drawings. His office will e-mail this information to Julie who will forward it to Bobbi Arnold to be sure that this arrangement will meet with theUSDA’s approval.
· Julie will try to locate the Town’s Incorporation papers.
- Julie spoke with Becky Seele at MMA legal on Wed. Oct. 24th, who located the papers through the law library. Julie received the Incorporation papers in the mail Saturday and will forward a copy to the Selectmen for their use and keep a copy in the Fire Station Building Committee’s files.
· Julie requested that all members who have recommendations regarding possible contractors, etc. please verify current names, addresses and additional contact information and forward them to her. She will compile a list, so the Town is prepared to move forward when it comes time to pursue a cost estimate.
Assignments
from the October 9, 2007 Meeting:
· Wayne Miller will arrange a visit to the Center Conway Station to look at the arrangement of their building.
- Julie, Wayne and Patrick visited the station on Monday, October 15, 2007
· Julie McQueen will contact Bobbie Arnold from the USDA Rural Development Office and invite her to attend our next meeting.
- Bobbie Arnold attended the Committee’s meeting on October 23, 2007 for a question-and-answer period on the potential for a USDA grant and loan program.
Assignments
from the July 24, 2007 meeting:
· The Committee will get together at the Bridgton Fire Station at a date to be determined (not a regular meeting) to drive some fire trucks similar to what the Fire Dept. anticipates owning in the future. The purpose of using the Bridgton fire trucks is to avoid an impossible situation in the future for getting the trucks into the station. They cannot be backed into the station from the road and will require adequate space for reversing direction. A simple analysis of how much turning area will be necessary will be done. This will be important to be sure that the trucks can get into the station without hitting the Town Office in the tight area available.
- This has not been arranged as of the October 23, 2007 meeting.
Assignments from the July 10, 2007 meeting:
· Ted Harris to make an inquiry with Maine DOT regarding the acquisition/storage of excess fill.
- We have not received an update on this item as of the October 23, 2007 meeting.
Notes:
· Chairman Wolfgang Duve called the meeting to order at 9:00 am.
· Bobbi Arnold from USDA Rural Development was introduced. She came to discuss the Community Facilities Loan/ Grant Program (The Program)
· Julie gave Bobbi a copy of the Town’s most recent audit.
· The Program is based on median household income in the State. If a Town surpasses the State’s median income the Town is not eligible for a grant.
· The median income in the State of Maine is $37,335. Sweden’s median income is $30,781, which qualifies the Town to apply for a possible grant of a maximum of 15% of the total project costs up to a maximum of $50,000. This qualification does not mean that the Town will receive the grant.
· In order to qualify, or even apply, a Town must meet certain criteria. Sweden’s most recent census (2000) indicates a population of 324, which is a positive aspect. When a Town reaches a population of 5,000 to 10,000 it begins to lose points in the scoring process due to a higher population.
· Sweden would score more points because it is located in a lower populated area. This is a “rural” development program.
· USDA Rural Development gets approximately $180,000 per year from the Federal Government to distribute as grant money in the State of Maine.
· Fire Stations are high on the list of priorities for uses of this grant money.
· Towns rarely get grants because they have taxing authority to get the funds they need for such projects. This is in contrast to a grant given to a non-profit entity, such as a Fire Association.
· An entity must be eligible, which is partially indicated by the King’s Charter or Incorporation papers that initially created the Town. The USDA requires these simply to verify that the Town is a legal entity and is able to enter into a legally binding agreement.
· The project must also meet Presidential Initiatives such as supporting safety.
· Once the application is completed, the request is put into a scoring pool. A Town will score lower points (and be less likely to qualify for the grant) than a non-profit entity such as the Fire Association; again, because the Town has the ability to raise taxes.
· The program also offers a low interest loan option, which is currently at 4.5% for 30 years for the Town. A non-profit entity (in this case, the Fire Association) could extend the loan over a 40-year period.
· The interest rate changes quarterly.
· There are no annual fees or prepayment penalties.
· If rates are lower at closing, the applicant receives the lower interest rate.
· Whoever is going to own the building has to apply for either the grant, or the loan, or both.
· There was discussion that maybe an arrangement could be made between the Town and the Fire Association whereby the Fire Association would submit the application to increase the possibility of obtaining a grant. If the decision is made that the Fire Association pursues the grant, the Fire Association would then also apply for the loan.
· An entity must show repayment ability. If the Fire Association were to pursue the loan, the Town would have to give the Fire Association a letter indicating that they would support the Fire Association in order to repay the loan.
· The Town could lease the land to the Fire Association for a nominal fee with a Town- approved lease agreement that matches the term of the loan. There are guidelines for this arrangement that are not difficult to meet.
· The fact that the Town already owns the land is a positive aspect because it is a part of the “total project cost” and means that less funding is required.
· The fact that the Town’s existing station is condemned makes the need for a Fire Station a safety issue.
· The point was made that USDA Rural Development is a lender of last resort. If an entity can get a loan through a bank at reasonable rates and terms when compared to Rural Development rates and terms alone, or with a guarantee, then the entity should go that route. Rural Development is not supposed to compete with a commercial bank.
· Because either the grant or the loan involves Federal dollars, the project has to go through the public bid process.
· All plans and specifications would be reviewed to be sure that they comply with Federal regulations including things such as ADA accessibility, etc.
· The building would have to meet State Fire Marshall’s requirements.
· Whoever designs the building has to be able to stamp and certify the drawings for safety, etc. The designer’s credentials will have to be approved by USDA prior to approving any funding.
· During construction of a USDA-financed project, the USDA has a construction analyst that works with the architect or engineer during the process. That individual inspects the job, attends pay meetings, etc. to be sure that the recipient is getting what they pay for.
· The USDA also has a State engineer who works with the architect.
· The next steps are:
1. Get the credentials of our proposed architect/ engineer and forward them to the USDA to be sure that he qualifies. The committee doesn’t want to waste his time if we are unable to use his work.
2. Complete the committee’s sketches of the proposed layout and forward them to the designer for a cost estimate to do the plans and specifications.
3. Forward this information to the Selectmen who will have to get funding approved to proceed.
5. Once funding is approved, the plans and specifications can be put together and a cost estimate for the proposed station can be derived.
6. Once cost estimates are received, an application for a grant and /or a loan can be made.
- The Selectmen will have to decide if they want to pursue a USDA loan and then work with the Fire Association to decide which entity will make the application.
- Again, there are no application fees and no prepayment penalties.
- The Town and the Fire Association could both submit their incorporation paperwork and financial statements for review to determine the eligibility of either or both.
- The decision would have to be made before the application process is begun as to who makes the application (The Town or the Fire Association). Submittal of the application would get the Town of the Fire association in the line-up for possible funding, but there would be no obligation to the Town if the project does not get Town approval.
7. Bobbi would meet with the signing authorities (Selectmen and Fire Chief) and the Committee to complete the application that would take approximately 30 to 45 minutes to complete. She usually requires one- or two- weeks’ notice.
- Completion of the application would require:
* Incorporation papers for either entity.
* Financial statements for the past 5 years (2001 – 2006) plus any year- to-date information for either entity.
* Once the application is made, it takes 2-4 months to go through the scoring process and the environmental process (which includes a State Planning Office review, Historical review, and a review by the State Engineer concerning other environmental issues).
* While this process is taking place, the Town should be procuring hard- money quotes.
* Hard numbers are required before the loan is obligated (which means that the money is earmarked for this project by USDA Rural Development) but it is possible to have the money “obligated” before the Town votes on the project.
* The entity making the application would lock in the interest rate at the time of obligation even if the loan did not close until the end of the project. If the interest rate goes down, the entity receives the lower rate but there is no risk that the rate will be higher.
* It is possible that the loan could be approved by the USDA before the Town votes to approve the package. This does not obligate the Town, but would give taxpayers an accurate measurement as to what the loan (and the project) will actually cost them.
8. Once the Town has had an opportunity to review the proposals, the public bid process can begin.
9. Once bids are received (and possibly the loan is “obligated” which means that the USDA Rural Development program has earmarked the funds for this project) the Selectmen will hold a Special Town Meeting to get voter’s approval to move forward with the project.
10. Assuming that the Town votes to approve the project, the meeting minutes would be submitted to the USDA and they would “obligate” the funds. The Selectmen would then decide which of the following loan options to pursue:
- The Town could get a short-term construction loan from a bank for the interim. This means that the Town would pay interest on a Construction loan and then close on the USDA loan after the Town has spent the amount for which the USDA loan is approved or the project is completed.
* With this option, the Town is approved for the USDA loan but doesn’t close on it until the project is completed or until they have spent the full amount of the loan on this project.
* The downside is that the Town pays interim financing charges to the bank on the construction loan, which increases expenses.
* The upside is that construction can be started before closing on the USDA loan.
- The other option is to get a “multiple advance”.
* The USDA requires a little more paperwork to do it this way so this choice could delay construction for a couple of months.
* The disbursements are made monthly by Rural Development as expenses are incurred.
* With this option the Town would not incur interim financing fees.
* With this option, the contractor, owner and architect all sign the loan papers.
Some notes about the
program:
· There is an allocation of loan funds for each state.
· The program is based on a first-come, first-served approach.
· The program’s fiscal year began on October 1st, which is why the committee feels the need to get the process started.
· Each state does not always spend all of their allocation, so additional loan funds may be available, even if a particular state spends all of their allocation. If needed, they can go to the National Office for additional loan funds and wait for that office to approve the application.
· A fire station will score high on the priority list.
· Congress is encouraging more low-interest loans as there is a minimal amount of grant money.
· Maine’s USDA Rural Development program is currently waiting for Congress to fund their program and is operating on a “Continuing Resolution” which means that they are working on last year’s budget until an allocation is made by Congress. According to Bobbi, this was also the case all of last year. Last year they worked a full year under Continuing Resolution. The budgets weren't passed so it was decided to fund all government on a Continuing Resolution with almost the same funding levels as the previous year.
* November 16th is when the Continuing Resolution runs out and the hope is that Congress will fund the program by that time.
· Twice a year there are “pooling dates” (usually April and August) when any unused funds go back to the National Office for use by other states.
· Maine gets a large proportionate share every year so naturally other states want to share in some of this funding. This is part of the reason that the earlier the application is submitted and this project gets in line for funding; the better.
· This portion of the meeting was concluded at approximately 10:00 AM. The committee appreciated Bobbi’s time and felt that the meeting was extremely informative.
· The committee reviewed the most recent plan, which is a basic 50 X 70 ft garage with a 12 ft extension to one side under the same roofline as the rest of the building. This results in a building approximately 4,340 SF in size.
· The attending committee members voted to forward this plan to the designer for an estimate of costs to do the drawings and specifications after insuring that using the proposed designer will be within the guidelines of the USDA should the community decide to proceed with that option.
· The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 AM. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday November 13, 2007 from 9:00 to 10:30 AM at the Town Office.