LovelandPolitics.com Blog

Following the recent foreclosure announcements regarding The Promenade Shops at Centerra we received many requests from our readers to better explain Centerra’s public bond debt that we have alluded to in the past but not covered in detail.

Click here to read the story detailing the debt and the escalating payments obligated until 2029. McWhinney has reported to locally elected officials the bonds are a fixed interest rate and Centerra is financially sound.

A closer look reveals the bonds issued in 2008 are “variable” rate bonds now at 3.5%. Centerra has signed an agreement with RBS called a “swap agreement” to limit their exposure to changing interest rates but there is risk in these types of agreements. This is explained in more detail towards the end of our story.

Having spent the money from the 2008 bonds McWhinney has been desperately seeking ways to continue developing Centerra with other types of tax waivers and government subsidies. According to the 2008 Centerra audit, the escalating bond debt service payments will exceed current revenues by 2011. Not counting for maintenance and other obligations of the Centerra Metro Districts, failure to continue growing may cause a financial crises as the district will need just under $10 million per year to make the annual bond debt payments. Centerra’s 2008 revenue was only $8 million (property taxes $5 million and “fees” or sales taxes just over $2 million). You can see the reason for concern.

Loveland’s new Mayor, Cecil Gutierrez, along with 4 council members will be sworn into office this evening at Loveland City Hall just after 6:30 PM.New members of the city council include; Joan Shaffer, Cathleen McEwen and Hugh McKean. Councilman Daryle Klassen is the only incumbent to have won re-election to the council and will also be sworn-in.

A reception to honor outgoing Mayor Gene Pielin, Mayor Pro Tem Dave Clark and council members Glenn Rousey and Walt Skowron is being held at Loveland City Hall just outside the City Council Chambers located at 500 East Third St. in Loveland.Traditionally, the city clerk determines the seating arrangement for the council and rotates the location of each council member periodically with the exception of the mayor and mayor pro tem.

The mayor always sits at the center of the dais while the mayor pro tem is seated on the mayor’s right side. Immediately following the swearing-in the mayor will call for nominations for the mayor pro tem. Once the vote is complete the individual elected by their peers to serve as the mayor pro tem moves to occupy the seat next to the mayor.

However, this swearing-in ceremony might be different this year if Councilwoman Johnson has her way. Councilwoman Carol Johnson is working diligently behind the scenes to deny the new mayor and councilors an ability to elect the mayor pro tem. Convinced that newly announced council candidate Donna Rice-McCrea (see the Reporter-Herald story) will win the vacated council seat for Ward 1 thus giving the ‘old guard’ a majority, Johnson is working to delay the vote for mayor pro tem. She wants a postponement until after the special election in March when a 9th person will be elected to the council. Whether Johnson’s fellow travelers on council, Klassen, Heckel and newly elected McKean, agree to trump the normal process for purely political reasons remains to be seen.

The second highest vote getter in Ward 1 earlier this month, Jan Brown, is said to have capitulated to pressure from Loveland’s Chamber of Commerce not to seek the office again in deference to Chamber backed candidate Rice-McCrea.

Mike Case is another potential candidate in Ward 1 who would likely not allow Councilwoman Carol Johnson to dictate his choice for mayor pro tem but has yet to confirm whether or not he will seek the office. The meeting promises to be interesting and may in fact end with a tie vote for the mayor pro tem position should at least three councilors follow Johnson’s lead in putting Johnson’s agenda ahead of the city’s reputation for stability and normal protocol.

Torsten Eckstein will announce his candidacy for State Senate District 15 this Sunday at Conrad Ball Middle School in Loveland. Here is the LovelandPolitics story.

He will be joining the Democratic primary to compete against Loveland attorney Richard Ball. This will make for an interesting primary as Richard Ball is said to have been recruited to run for the seat by Republicrats Don Marostica and Bill Kaufman (both former state legislators). Ball comes from an established and wealthy pioneering Loveland family while Eckstein is a self-made immigrant to America from East Germany who works at CSU.

Which candidate can now persuade the base he can best represent their values and ideals remains to be seen.

Any comments?

We couldn’t help but cover the political ramifications of the special election to fill the vacancy of the Loveland Ward 1 council seat created by Councilman Gutierrez’s ascension to Loveland Mayor. read the story.

Even though the unexpired Ward 1 term has only two-years left on it, the person who fills that position will likely find themselves a tie breaker in a council evenly divided on many issues with 4 to 4 votes. Serving in the capacity for just under two-years will also give the candidate the advantage of incumbency for the next time they are up for re-election.

Council meetings also promise to be more interesting when council members’s comments are not carefully planned in advance nor their votes negotiated in private. Loveland City Manager Don Williams will need to brush-up on the opens meeting laws by the State of Colorado which intended to prevent him from choreographing the public meeting in advance by negotiating issues and votes with council members off stage and out of public view.

Loveland Commercial and McWhinney are no doubt aware of the enormous impact the outcome of the Ward 1 special election will have on their private influences over city hall and the council. Expect to see some significant money flowing into that race and maybe more competitive candidates. Just as David Clark demonstrated in his run for mayor, candidates backed by the Chamber of Commerce may try to win the seat by ignoring the City of Loveland campaign finance laws now embedded in the city charter by not reporting all their expenditures. Be careful – a new sheriff is in town and the city might just decide to enforce the city’s campaign finance laws.

Any comments?

Walter, Steve and others – please try and limit the size of your postings so others can get quickly to next comments. We may revisit a new word limit if people continue posting extra long messages. Thanks