Board approves bond sale

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake School Board voted Thursday evening to authorize the issuance of $135 million in bonds to build a second high school, a new elementary school, and refurbish the existing high school.

However, while the original vote was unanimous, board member Eric Stones later contacted the Columbia Basin Herald and said he was going to withdraw his “yes” vote and urge other members to do so because the original bond measure, which passed with a bare margin of 60.03 percent of the vote, is currently tied up in court over allegations of misconduct on the part of election officials.

“We're not finished with this,” Stones said. “The community isn't united and we cannot proceed until this is solved.”

Stones said he would offer a resolution at the board's late May meeting — he will not be at the board's next meeting on May 11 — to remove his name from the bond resolution.

According to Jim McNeil, a bond attorney with the Seattle-based law firm FosterPepper, the resolution was necessary to enable the district to authorize the physical sale of the bonds.

“This is a contract between the district and bond holders,” McNeil told school board members. “You are pleading the full faith and credit and unlimited taxing power of the district.”

The resolution also allows the district to participate in the state's bond guarantee program, McNeil said, giving the school district the state of Washington's credit rating, and commits the district to complying with IRS regulations regarding tax-free bonds and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules regarding the sale of bonds.

“Your final official statement with the SEC will be the prospectus used to sell bonds to investors,” he explained.

According to McNeil, the resolution also commits the district to regularly updating it financial information with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's EMMA — Electronic Municipal Market Access — database, which tracks the financial health of local governments and taxing bodies across the United States.

“That way, investors can look at how you are doing,” he said.

Finally, McNeil noted one significant limitation imposed by the resolution.

“Members of the school board are not allowed to buy Moses Lake School District bonds,” he said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.