04-13-15 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING APRIL 13, 2015 Councilmember White requested a motion for bill 14-15 to be continued indefinitely. So moved by Councilmember Schey. Councilmember Oliver Davis seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of seven (7) ayes. 17-15 PUBLIC HEARING ON A BILL OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA CONFIRMING COMPLIANCE WITH IC 36-1-12-1 ET. SEQ, AND RENDERING FINAL APPROVAL OF A GUARANTEED ENERGY SAVINGS CONTRACT RELATING TO CENTURY CENTER, APPROPRIATING MONIES FROM CENTURY CENTER CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT FUND (#671) ESTABLISHING A NEW FUND (#672) TO BE KNOWN AS THE CENTURY CENTER ENERGY CONSERVATION DEBT SERVICE FUND, AND TAKING ALL OTHER ACTION IN CONNECTION THEREWITH Councilmember White requested a motion to accept the substitute version of bill 17-15. So moved by Councilmember Oliver Davis. Councilmember Dr. Fred. Ferlic seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of seven (7) ayes. Councilmember Dr. Ferlic Chairperson, PARC Committee, reported that they met this afternoon on this bill and sends it to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. th Petitioner: Therese Dorau, Director of Sustainability with Offices on the 13 floor – We are here to discuss the ordinance along with the financing. We are excited to use innovative financing model to fund significant capital improvements to this center piece in our community with little to no expense to the taxpayers. Therese introduced her team Greg Downes who will explain the project scope and benefits, Michael Schmidt who will highlight the energy service agreement, and John Murphy who will discuss the financing structure and financing terms requested. After that I will be happy to facilitate any questions that you may have. Greg Downes, 101 N. Michigan St., South Bend – President of the Century Center Board of Managers. Almost two years ago, Chicago was kind enough to send their facility manager from McCormick’s Place in Chicago to help our staff walk through the facility, Century Center building and create a (30) thirty-year comprehensive plan. The scope of this project will accomplish about 20% of that (30) thirty-year plan. This includes all the work that will need to be done anyway over the next five (5) or fifteen (15) years; the stuff that we have to do, but don’t like to do. The total cost of the project is a little over $4.8 million dollars, we are going to avoid about $6.3 million dollars in capital cost over the next fifteen (15) years. This is a win-win for the city because the project is so energy efficient and has qualified for an energy conservation bond which means we will be under 1% interest rate on this project. We will be able to save a guaranteed estimated amount of $1.6 million dollars in energy savings over the next (15) fifteen- years. It starts at $83,000 a year in savings, and goes up every year. Those savings are guaranteed financially in the scope of the project. Any year we don’t meet those savings Ameresco will make up the difference financially. This passed unanimously by the Century Board. The funds to do the project will be provided by the Century Center with a down payment of $750,000 plus another $50,000 for escrow, which will not come out of the city budget but the capital funding from the Century’s Center budget from 2014 and 2015. With our sales efforts at Century Center we are doing our best to effect the vitality in downtown South Bend. We are looking to in the future to replace a green roof, along with adding additional solar panels over the next few years. We are looking to replace all lighting fixtures to LED bulbs to make us more energy efficient and more competitive moving forward. Michael Schmidt, Assistant City Attorney 1200 County City Building, South Bend – It was my responsibility to negotiate the energy savings agreement with Ameresco. The contract itself is just under $5 million dollars, the upfront fees to the city of South Bend is limited to 10% and the rest of the payment program is based upon completion of work by Ameresco (sub-contractors). The terms of the agreement is fifteen-years (15) with the necessary protections to the city for termination and out causes, and the improvements which covers the roofing, the lighting, HVAC, and ceiling tiles. The first year’s savings is estimated to be $450,000; each year that savings will go up. The ongoing expense will be a monetary verification by Ameresco of the systems installed to check the functionality along with the energy savings guaranteed to the city of South 11