CHAFFEE CONSIDERS FIRM TO ASSIST WITH ELECTION

CHAFFEE - The city of Chaffee may hire what would seem to be, in part, a public relations firm to help it pass a $500,000 bond issue in November for waste-water and sewer-line improvements.

Whether the city hires such a firm, though, depends on what else it would get with the package.

City Attorney David Summers said two Kansas City companies, Zahner and Co. and McLiney and Co., contacted him over the last two weeks about the city's bond issue election.

Summers said although the companies would handle certain pre-election activity like preparing campaign literature, and help coordinate transactions that occur in a state revolving fund program, he wasn't sure what else they had to offer. He said he had asked each of the companies to send a synopsis of the services they would provide.

Zahner would charge a $3,000 fee and McLiney a $2,500 fee, contingent upon the bond issue passing, he said. City council members took no action to hire either firm Monday.

Summers said he couldn't be very detailed about the firms' services, considering he had only talked with company representatives for about 10 minutes each.

"Time is critical in making a decision, if, in fact, you're going to bring somebody on board," he told the council, adding that October is close at hand. The election is scheduled for Nov. 5.

As he understands it, Summers said, without any type of assistance, the city would have to pay off the bonds under a standard flat-rate term. One firm said that payback period would span 30 years. Yet the companies would help structure a 15-to-20-year-payment plan on the bonds, he said.

"That doesn't mean a whole lot right now, but it does in comparing dollars that we spend on interest on a 20-year" plan as compared to a 30-year plan. The difference becomes quite "significant," Summers said.

Mayor Ron Moyers said that if public relations is all that's involved, the city has 10 people who know the city and would be better at pushing for the bond issue. Moyers' reference was apparently to the city's eight council members, himself, and City Administrator Reece Brown.

"Myself, I'd rather talk to somebody I know and would have elected rather than somebody (from across) state." But Moyers said that the companies "may be a sure sell; what we need."

Summers was asked to check further into the companies' offers.

The bond issue would finance the deepening of the waste-water plant's final cell. The plant's discharge is out of compliance with state guidelines because its suspended solids are too high.

Also funded by the issue would be the installation of a sewer line and lift station on North Frisco Street.

Also Monday:

Moyers said the state plans to reinstall the same amount of guard rails on the Highway 77 viaduct as before it began reconstruction work at the site due to mud slides. The mayor said he had received several complaints about the guard rails, only part of which the state had replaced.

City Administrator Reece Brown said the city should save $5,000 to $6,000 on workman's compensation this year, based on a recent city audit.