Item A: Tour of Eugene Water & Electric Board Riverfront Site and Discussion of Relocation Project

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M E M O R A N D U M EUGENE WATER & ELECTRIC BOARD GENERAL MANAGER’S DIVISION TO: Commissioners Bishop, Menegat, Lanning, Simpson, Farmer FROM: Ken Beeson DATE: November 2, 2006 Roosevelt Building Project – Construction Financing SUBJECT: _________________________________________________________________________________ Issue Statement. This memo provides support material for Board discussion on November 7 of potential use of the URBA process in mid-2007 to secure bond authorization for construction funding for the Roosevelt Building Project. Background. In January 2006, staff prepared an initial work plan and schedule for completion of the Roosevelt Building Project. This plan, based in part on the 2005 30% design work, assumed Board authorization of bond funding for construction would be obtained in the fall of 2007 with construction in the 2008-2010 time period. That same assumption was in place last spring when the Board decided to relocate operations and engineering to Roosevelt and also approved using the URBA process for bond funding of the Project design costs. By July, as decisions were made to proceed with final design and also to employ a CM/GC for pre- construction support, the possibility of beginning construction in the summer of 2007 began to emerge and was referenced in some of the staff-Board discussions. This possibility included a staff assumption that the URBA process would be considered by the Board to obtain bond authority for construction financing. The Board has made no decision or commitment on this matter. Given the above, it is now important, as staff proceeds with project development, that the Board understand the scope and timing of the decisions required to ensure funding authority is in place to allow for 2007 construction. Fundamental to this is a Board decision on whether they will support use of URBA for bond funding or whether they want to refer the funding question to the ballot. It is staff’s belief, based on current schedule assumptions on development of cost estimates that can be relied on for determining construction funding requirements, it will be necessary to use the URBA process in mid-2007 to secure funding authority to allow for a construction start in summer 2007. If the Board decides to refer this funding question to the ballot, staff believes that September 2007 would be the earliest election date we could obtain which, given wet weather constraints on the initial construction, would push the construction start to mid-2008. Given the above, staff would like to discuss with the Board use of URBA process and the related 1