Rendering of proposed Civic Center courtesy City of Normandy Park.
From our sister site The Normandy Park Blog:
Normandy Park City Manager Amy Arrington presented Council with an update to the proposed Bond and Levy Civic Center Project during a special meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022.
According to the digital meeting agenda/packet, the proposed Civic Center Project is a:
“Significant capital facility project. This project is planned to be approximately 23,000 square feet in size. It will include sports, fitness, and performance spaces, meeting and event rooms, an early childhood education center, City Hall, Police Department, and environmentally friendly outdoor and green spaces.”
The presentation followed an expressed interest by City Council to issue a voter-approved bond to help finance the proposed Civic Center project. The City’s financial advisor Dave Trageser from D.A. Davidson & Company and Bond Counsel Cynthia Weed of K&L Gates LLP provided a briefing and schedule to Council. Topics included the types of bonds available, planning information, a proposed financial management policy, details of the election process, and trends and bond obligation.
Elections for voter approved bonds may only be held on a special election date, such as Aug. 2, 2022, Nov. 8, 2022, Feb. 14, 2023, and Apr. 25, 2023. At that time, City Council could adopt an ordinance authorizing an election while specifying the purposes for bonds, maximum dollar amount of bonds, maximum term of bonds, and the proposed date of election. The ordinance would then be required to be delivered to voters by May 13, 2022, Aug. 2, 2022, Dec. 16, 2022, or Feb. 24, 2023.
Participation would be required after the aforementioned steps took place and Council would then appoint a pro and a con committee in order to proceed. A citizen support committee could also be formed if desired.
While the new data both seemed to impress and provoke responses from Council, the general consensus was that additional information was needed in order to land on a firm decision. Follow-up discussion centered on whether or not to consider scaling back on programming capacity to make the project more digestible for the City of Normandy Park budget.
Civic Center project updates – and the topic of bonds – will appear on the next regularly scheduled Normandy Park City Council meeting agenda to be held via Zoom on Tuesday, Mar. 8, 2022 from 7-10 p.m. Public Comments will also be taken live at the meeting.
The video recording and agenda with timestamps of Tuesday night’s special session can be found here.
