Hello, Neighbors! Thanks for tuning in for a short — maybe even record-setting short — alderman blog post.
I hope that you all had a nice Thanksgiving week and weekend to follow. We are in Fifth Week starting today so… there should be no meetings scheduled for the week…
The Appleton Redevelopment Authority (ARA), though, is determined to muck up that plan. They will meet on Wednesday, 11/29/2023, at 11am for a special meeting with an action item of critical timing. The members of the Authority are being asked to approve a change to a letter of credit for the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center (PAC). This is termed a “remarketing and replacement” as the bonds will still be honored but backed by a new letter of credit. The current letter of credit comes from a downgraded provider — Associated Bank — and the expected new letter of credit would come from Thrivent. The change will dramatically decrease some of the PAC’s monthly interest expenses. There is little risk involved in this action item as “…the bonds requiring the letter of credit are not general obligations of the city or the ARA and neither bondholders nor Thrivent will be able to look to either the city or ARA for payment on the bonds.” So I expect that this change will be fairly easily approved.
The rest of the week will follow typical Fifth Week form. There are no other meetings scheduled due to the every-other-week-for-four-
I wish you a great last week of November 2023 — can you believe it?! I look forward to sharing more with you next week as we barrel head-on into December and the holiday season!
