The Cleveland County Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved the sale of an up to $50 million bond anticipation note for OU’s planned arena in the Rock Creek Entertainment District Monday.
David Floyd, attorney and special counsel for the county’s Recreational and Entertainment Facilities Authority — which met at 11:15 a.m. in a special meeting Monday to approve the sale — told commissioners the bond note was issued as interim financing to provide a portion of the costs in advance of permanent bond financing, which he said will happen later this year.
“This will allow the proposed project to proceed on schedule,” Floyd said during the meeting.
The bond anticipation note — which was unanimously approved by the county’s Recreational and Entertainment Facilities Authority in March — allows the authority to incur debt for construction, design and other expenses through “bonds, notes or other evidences of indebtedness.”
The authority is a public trust created to oversee the development of the Rock Creek Entertainment District.
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Floyd said the authority issued a request for proposals for quotes from 10 state, regional and national banks and received six bids. The bids were reviewed during the Monday morning meeting, where the authority’s financial adviser Michael Newman recommended Clayton Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of Commerce Bank, based on the interest rate quoted.
“They agreed to hold their interest rate quote until April 13, so that’s why this item is on the agenda for approval today,” Floyd said.
Floyd said the board of commissioners is the final governing body required to give approval for issuance of the note.
The agenda for the authority’s special meeting Monday morning, where it authorized the bond to Clayton Holdings, was not available on the Cleveland County agenda center where the commissioners agenda was attached. The agenda was available on a separate Cleveland County agenda center. Cleveland County Director of Communications Alyse Moore said this was because the county is in the process of switching agenda systems.
Both agendas called for the authorization of Clayton Holdings as purchaser ahead of Monday’s meetings. Moore wrote in an email to the Daily after the meeting that the authority saw the bids for the first time Monday morning and that no conversations were held outside of the meeting.
Floyd told the Daily after the meeting that the bond would be used to start preliminary engineering and site work for the project.
On Dec. 17, the authority accepted proposals to design, build and operate the project’s arena and parking garage.
After Monday’s meeting, Floyd said negotiations with the bidders are still ongoing but “getting closer” and will be presented at an open meeting.
“I would expect construction sometime within the next 90 (to) 120 days, but that’s just my guess,” Floyd said.
Clayton Holdings and Commerce Bank work with manufacturers, municipalities and non-profit organizations to provide privately placed tax-exempt financing for projects. This includes the construction and acquisition of new buildings, according to the bank’s website.
Letter of intent to sue
On March 6, Oklahomans for Responsible Economic Development sent a letter to the city of Norman stating the organization’s intent to sue the city and Cleveland County. The letter noted the Cleveland County Board of County Commissioners’ March 2 meeting, where the board unanimously approved the bond anticipation note for the entertainment district.
Oklahomans for Responsible Economic Development’s letter of intent to sue sent to city officials.
ORED’s letter claims the city and county violated the Open Meetings Act in connection with the adoption of and attempt to move forward with the Rock Creek Entertainment District project plan.
“The County Authority email meeting notices conspicuously failed to include email notice to the undersigned. Likewise, the email notice of the County meeting later that afternoon failed to include notice to the undersigned,” the letter reads. “The County and County Authority know me to be legal counsel for ORED, the Referendum Petition Proponents, and a chief advocate for stopping the Arena TIF Project and putting it to a vote of the people.”
On Tuesday, city council will consider an agenda item to help determine if the city has the authority to hold a public vote on the Rock Creek Entertainment District tax increment financing districts.
Learn more about the Rock Creek Entertainment District:
This story was edited by Audrey McClour. Sophie Hemker copy edited this story.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.oudaily.com ’
