At the Sept. 9 Prescott City Council meeting, Council President Dar Hintz stepped in for absent Mayor Robert Daugherty who was on vacation, as City Administrator Matt Wolf addressed the Council.

“As part of our submission, we submitted through the new program by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) called the Emerging Contaminants Program which is targeted towards PFAS,” he said.

Wolf shared that the city was approved for principal forgiveness or a grant for $1.9 million in total of the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program; a benefit of that program is that they offer discounted interest rates. He stated that the DNR wants to see the full project and the costs all finalized before they will start initializing paperwork.

“We have already started the project for Well 3 as you obviously know so now that they’ve been working on the paperwork, they finalized that and that’s what’s before you,” said Wolf.

With the final costs confirmed, the final project amount to be borrowed through the SDWLP is $1,860,807, which represents 51% of the overall expenses; the remaining 49% is going to be reimbursed to the city as part of a grant through the Emerging Contaminants Fund. As the resolution came to the council for approval in three parts, the council approved the Financial Assistance Agreement between the City of Prescott and the State of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Department of Administration for $1,860,807. They also approved Scope of Engagement with Quarles to serve as bond counsel for the City of Prescott. A bond counsel is a specialized attorney or law firm that provides legal advice and services related to the issuance of bonds, including ensuring legal compliance, drafting legal documents, and providing opinions. The full scope of work comes at a cost of $15,000, included in the total project costs for $13,500 with the difference covered by the City Water Fund. Otwell asked for clarification on the difference between the financial advisor and the bond council.

 “Financial advisor is Ehlers,” replied Wolf. “They work with us to handle the bond sales, but our bond council is the independent council that we use to do the things that’s notified. They ensure legal compliance, they draft legal documents, and they then provide the legal opinion in terms of making sure that we meet the approvals and the criteria for issuing tax exempt bonds.”

Otwell asked if the State of Wisconsin required a separate independent bond council. Wolf confirmed that it is a requirement as part of the lending anytime the city borrows.

Finally, the council approved the issuance and sale of up to $1,860,807 Water System Revenue Bonds Series 2024 and to provide for other details and covenant with respect thereto. Alderperson Maureen Otwell questioned Wolf about the administrative expense. “Is that all that Wisconsin takes from the grant? $1,000?”

Wolf explained that expense is for CBS Squared who will be administrating the loan for the City of Prescott.

“What is a rebate fund?” asked Otwell.

“It essentially means that we will hold these the funds available in order to continue to make these payments on an annual basis,” said Wolf.

He added that he didn’t have any information on why the annual payment is called a rebate when Otwell stated that it didn’t make sense why it is called a rebate. The Council then entered closed session with no motions or votes resulting from the closed session.