Members of the Barren County Schools Board of Education met at the district's central office on Trojan Way. Michael Crimmins/Glasgow News 1
By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
The Barren County Board of Education members met in a specially called meeting at their central office to discuss and approve the 2023 bond issue.
The first order of business in the 16 minute meeting was to temporarily elect a board chair since both Shelly Groce, current board chair, and Mike Miller, vice chair, were unable to be present. For this meeting they nominated and approved Nikki Shelton as the chair for the night.
Despite having only a few board members present — Nikki Shelton, Joey Newberry, Brad High and Superintendent Bo Matthews — a quorum was present therefore they called the meeting to order.
The agenda was sparse with the only order of business was the approval of a “resolution authorizing a contract, rent and lease with the Barren County School District Finance Corporation and approving all other documents in connection with the proposed Barren County School District Finance Corporation Series of 2023 bond issue.” This was presented to the board by Chip Sutherland, managing director at Baird and who handles public finances
Pending the board’s approval, Sutherland said, they would initially issue roughly $24,080,000 with a potential to increase that amount by $2,010,000 or an option to decrease the amount “determined by the board to be in the best interest of the corporation of school building revenue bonds.”
“We work with the staff and the attorneys to prepare an official statement and then we’ll have a competitive bond sale on the market for interested firms to bid on,” Sutherland said. “Then they will submit, by competitive bid, their best interest rate and what they’re going to charge for it.”
The board unanimously approved the bonds. Sutherland said they planned to sell the bonds on Oct. 5 with an interest rate of roughly 4.5 percent.
“It’s a healthy environment right now for interest rates,” Sutherland said.
Sutherland said Oct. 25 would be the closing day for bond sales.
Stephanie Spence, administrative assistant to the superintendent, said these bond sales will help to fund the Barren County High School Renovation Project that was approved in a special-called meeting on Aug. 22.
Related Stories: Barren County board approves over $17 million in BCHS renovation project
Comments