The following summary minutes have not been approved by Simpsonville City Council. An official copy of the minutes will be available after adopted by City Council at City Hall 118 NE Main St. Simpsonville.

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, notice of this meeting date, time, place and Agenda was posted on the bulletin board at City Hall and faxed to the newspapers, radio stations, television stations and any concerned citizens.

DRAFT MINUTES OF THE

SIMPSONVILLE CITY COUNCIL

BUSINESS SESSION

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

6:30 p.m.

City Council Chambers – 118 N. E. Main St .

COUNCIL PRESENT: Mayor Waldrop, Ron Bridges, Brown Garrett, Patty Sanders, George Curtis and Bruce Larson

STAFF PPRESENT: Russell Hawes , City Administrator, David Holmes , City Attorney, Judy Bishop, Chief Williams, Joe Carter, David Dyrhaug and Melinda Zeller

INVOCATION by Mayor Waldrop:

APPROVAL OF MINUTES : Motion by Councilmember Garrett to approve the October 13, 2009 and October 27, 2009 meeting minutes. Motion carried unanimously.

CITIZEN COMMENTS:

Bill Wilson   

M ayor Waldrop amended the agenda and called for a motion regarding Journey to the Manger. Motion by Councilmember Curtis to allow The United Methodist Church to utilize a portion of Main Street for The Journey to the Manger program that they put on December 11 th , 12 th and 13 th . Motion carried unanimously.

city bond ratings – Copies of articles attached to these minutes and is incorporated by reference.

Mayor Waldrop asked Mr. Hawes or Mr. Holmes to address the City’s Bond Ratings.

Mr. Holmes: Mr. Mayor a story has been circulating around the City that the City’s bonds are junk bonds and that the bond ratings have gone into the tank. As a result of that I did some research independent of the City Administrator’s research. I’m not sure where the bond information is coming from but I can tell you categorically that information is false. City Council knows that a national rating service known as Fitch Ratings out of New York came in and did a pretty significant economic check the City and they put out a press release dated October 8, 2009 - just last month. It says at the top the City’s GO Bonds were rated A+. There has been some talk that either Standard Poor’s or Moody’s have downgraded the City’s bonds. If that had been true certainly Fitch would not have come out publicly and said that the City had an A+ rating. Probably what is even more disturbing is that Greenville Business carried an article just last month that shows that Simpsonville received a good report from Fitch.

Let me explain something to you about the ratings agencies. You have to be a member of Fitch or Standard and Poor’s or Moody’s to go online and get this information. I can’t go online and get it. Fitch not only gave the information to the City of Simpsonville in a press release, without any prodding from the City, GSA Business carried an article to tell the public that the City -- again this is dated October 9, 2009, just 30 days ago -- that the City got an A+ rating.

What’s important about that is if you read the Fitch report it didn’t come and pat the City on back about a whole lot of things. It said the City had had some rough times but the City had done appropriate things and as a result of that they reaffirmed our rating. I went back to the City’s financial advisors and I asked about our bond ratings. The most recent information we have is that the bond issue you did in August of 2003 has an A A- rating; the one you did in 2004 has an A rating (these are different rating agencies); in 2005 the bond issued has an A rating, the one in 2006 has an A rating, 2007 is A- and 2008 is A-. The reason for the A- is they were junior lien certificates of participation because they were inferior to the senior liens that the City had issued therefore they’re in secondary position; so they are A- as opposed to A. Moody’s Investors Service has given the City an A1, Fitch as you know is A+, Standard and Poor’s is AA-. Those have not changed.

There is some question about the City’s public bonds. Your most recent bond issues have all been bought by private banks so they are not public. Therefore, you are not going to find anything about them on the public ratings.

The City did a bond issue in the year 2000 which seems to be the bond issue that’s got everybody saying that the City’s bond rating has diminished so severely. I talked to the City’s bond attorneys on this. The information is a little complicated, but it is important to understand that the bonds issued in 2000 had a ten year payout. They could not be paid off sooner than ten years – 2010. With that bond issue, the City purchased insurance so that that bond rating was AAA, because it was insured. The insurance also got the City a lower interest rate on the bonds. When people claim that that particular bond rating has diminished is false because in 2004 the City did another bond issue at a lower interest rate to payoff the 2000 bond. You may ask: “I thought you said it couldn’t be paid in ten years, so how did we do that?” Treasury bills were purchased and placed in an escrow account to pay the bond holders over the ten years. But the City hadn’t had to write a check because an escrow agent has full payment on the 2000 bond. The City has completely paid it off so it is off the City’s books and it is legally considered as having been paid in full. It’s not outstanding.

The insurance company that insured the 2000 bond issue is Ambac. Ambac is in trouble. The City’s bond lawyers told me who had insured the 2000 bond issue. I went to their website and you can find a paragraph called “About Ambac” and if you look at that it says it guarantees financial service in both public and private clients; it has a subsidiary Ambac Insurance which guarantees public finance. You will see they have a Caa2 rating “developing outlook.” The City’s outlook is stable (much better). Moody’s Investors Service gives Ambac a CC rating. I was told by Mr. Love at the Haynsworth Firm that if somebody just bothered to do the research and looked deep enough they would see that what they were coming up with was Ambac’s rating. The reason Ambac’s rating went down the tubes is that they started investing in the secondary mortgage market along with a lot of others. Their press release dated October 26, 2009 was because they were going to discuss the third quarter results. We are showing you their actual website; not what we dreamed up about it.

The point is that the ratings you have heard talk about are about Ambac; not the City. Ambac is not even on the hook for the 2000 bond issue because it is paid off; the insurance isn’t even tied to that 2000 bond rating.

The City’s bond rating is not in trouble, it has an A+ rating as recently as Fitch’s last rating and either of the other two ratings agencies have downgraded the City’s bond rating. There is no truth to that what someone has been saying about the City; it is about Ambac not the City of Simpsonville . That information is on the web; you just go to Ambac’s website and get it. The information about the City’s current rating is in GSA and it’s available and we have the link. Frankly the City Administrator’s report last month reported this. This information has been out a month we don’t know who is circulating this but whoever is doing it seems to have malice against the City because the information is available. They could have contacted City Hall we could have provided this information in writing. We contacted our investment advisors who have confirmed our information and in fact sent an email to the City and put all this information down. We tried to disseminate it last month or early this month and in addition GSA has it and it is available through them. So we don’t know why people continue to spread this false information. Our information is not what the City is saying about the City; it’s what other people who investigated the City are saying about the City’s bond ratings.

city administrator’s report – a copy of the Administrator’s report is attached to these minutes and is incorporated by reference.

NEW BUSINESS

RESOLUTION:

State Highway Project Agreement Sidewalk to Heritage Park . Motion by Councilmember Larson to accept the State Highway Project Agreement to extend the sidewalks to Heritage Park . Motion carried unanimously.

OLD BUSINESS

ORDINANCES 2 nd READING

Simpsonville Comprehensive Plan. Motion by Councilmember Larson to accept the City Planners recommendation and adopt the Comprehensive Plan for Simpsonville. Motion carried unanimously.

Intergovernmental Stormwater Agreement with Greenville County . Motion by Councilmember Curtis to approve the Intergovernmental Agreement for stormwater discharge with Greenville County . Motion carried unanimously.

ORDINANCES 1 ST READING

Amendment to Sign Ordinance. Motion by Councilmember Curtis to conditionally adopt text amendment TX2008-05, amendment to sign ordinance, on 1 st reading with the recommendation that some general proposals and concepts be considered and written in the text amendment prior to 2 nd reading. Motion carried unanimously.

EXECUTIVE SESSION . Motion by Councilmember Sanders to go into executive session to discuss a contractual matter regarding Recreation. Motion carried unanimously.

Council came out of Executive Session at 7:46 pm. Mayor Waldrop reported that no action was taken.

Mayor Waldrop reported there will be no Workshop Session in the month November or December.

Record to reflect Councilmember Bagwell was present for executive session.

ADJOURNMENT . Motion by Councilmember Sanders to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously.

Notice of this meeting was given to the Greenville News, Tribune Times, News Channel 4, and News Channel 7.

Respectfully submitted,

Melinda Zeller

City Clerk

Administrator's Notes and Comments

November 10, 2009

Prepared by Russell B. Hawes

City Administrator

Sidewalk Improvements

Design work is complete on the sidewalks to be installed from Fernwood Drive to Heritage Park . This project, funded by a federal stimulus grant is being coordinated through SCDOT. They will be procuring a contractor and indicate that the sidewalk work on Main Street could begin in the next two months, depending on their contractor scheduling, with the project going through Winter and into Spring. Concurrently, the City of Simpsonville is coordinating the West Georgia Road sidewalk replacement project. That is underway now, and will be a great improvement to pedestrian accommodation in that corridor. The West Georgia Road repairs are a combined effort of the City which provides the labor and the state which provides the materials.

Tree Grant

   Heritage Park received 11 red maples through the Palmetto Pride Grant obtained by the City. City Park received 14 pink and red dogwoods through the Palmetto Pride Grant. These trees were planted in the wooded areas around the picnic shelters and the playground. There were five Sweet Bay magnolias and one crepe myrtle planted. These trees were received through the Palmetto Pride Grant as well.

Boards and Commissions Application Submittal

   We have received two new applicants for the Planning Commission where three terms expire (James Sanders, Tim Kennedy), beyond the one who submitted previously (Tim Moxie).  Two members whose terms expire on the planning commission have re-applied (James Boyd, Mike Newman).  The other expiring-term member has not re-applied (Kirk Lietke). The Board of Zoning Appeals (three terms expire) has had two members re-apply (Roxie Kincannon, Al Dreifort).  There is also a seat open on the Housing/Building Board of Appeals for which we have received no applications.  Council will take action on these appointments at the December 8, business meeting.

LDTC Street Resurfacing Project

We have compiled the street paving prioritization list for the LDTC resurfacing match project next year. The list identifies needs based on current street condition and dwelling units per length of road. The following streets will be submitted to CoTransCo for this project:

Agee Street, Benwood Drive, Branchview Court, Bruce Street, Fox Chase Court, Larchwood Drive, Norvin Court, Philwood Drive, Picton Place, Robinwood Drive, Royal Oak Court, Sellwood Drive, Terrace Circle, Wemberly Drive.

Event Information

•  Next business meeting of City Council is December 8 th .

•  Christmas Parade is scheduled for December 6 th at 3:00 pm.

•  Simpsonville Holiday Fair is set for November 21 st from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. at the Senior and Activity Center

118 N E Main Street, Simpsonville, SC 29681
Phone 864-967-9526 Fax 864-967-9530
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