1981/03/1981-446
City Hall~ Anaheim, California - COUNCIL MINUTES - March 19, 1981~ 7:00 P.M.
The City Council of the City of Anaheim met in adjourned regular
session for the purpose of a joint meeting with the Public
Utilities Board (PUB).
PRESENT:
ABSENT:
P RES ENT:
ABSENT:
PRESENT:
COUNCIL MEMBERS: Overholt, Kaywood, Bay, Roth and Seymour
COUNCIL MEMBERS: None
PUBLIC UTILITIES BOARD: Haynie, Townsend, White, Keesee, Kiefer,
Stanton
PUBLIC UTILITIES BOARD: Anderson
CITY MANAGER: William O. Talley
CITY ATTORNEY: William P. Hopkins
CITY CLERK: Linda D. Roberts
PUBLIC UTILITIES GENERAL MANAGER: Gordon Hoyt
Mayor Seymour called the Council to order at 7:00 P.M. for the
purpose of conducting a joint meeting with the Public Utilities
Board.
Public Utilities Board Chairman Ken Keesee called the Board to
order, all Board Members present with the exception of Wynn
Anderson.
175: PROPOSED ACQUISITION OF 1.5% INTEREST IN SAN ONOFRE NUCLEAR GENERATING
STATION (SONGS) UNITS II AND III FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON (SCE) AND
SPECIAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION JUNE 2~ 1981 TO SEEK APPROVAL TO ISSUE $80 MILLION
OF ELECTRIC REVENUE BONDS: Public Utilities General Manager Gordon Hoyt, also
Secretary of the PUB, stated they should discuss first the subject acquisition as
outlined in his report of March 19, 1981, recommending that the City acquire from
Southern California Edison an additional 1.5% interest in the San Onofre Nuclear
Generating Station, Units II and III, and to schedule a Special Municipal Election-
June 2, 1981 to seek approval to issue $80 million of Electric Revenue bonds. In
that regard, he was recommending that the PUB recommend that the City Council:
1. Approve the acquisition from Southern California Edison Company of an
additional 1.5% interest in San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Units 2
and 3.
2. Schedule a Special Municipal Election June 2, 198.1 to seek approval from
the voters to issue Electric Revenue bonds in the approximate amount of $80
million to finance the recommended acquisition.
3. Schedule an additional ballot measure at the June 2,~1981 election to
remove the 8% interest limitations on the remaining unissued Electric Revenue
bonds which were authorized by the voters in March, 1975.
4. Perhaps schedule other measures on the June 2, 1981 ballot following
discussion with the City Council at the joint Public Utilities Board/City
Council meeting March 19, 1981.
Mr. Hoyt then named the following people who were present today: Mr. Edward
Long, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie and Alexander, Bond Counsel; Mr. James Lowry of
James J. Lowry & Associates, financial advisors; Mr. Winston H.. Peterson, R. W.
Beck & Associates, engineering consultants; Mr. Alan Watts, Rourke and Woodruff,
special counsel to the City; Mr. Robert Dietch, Vice President, Southern California
Edison; Mr. James Pignatelli, Treasurer's Department, Southern California Edison;
Mr. Gene Ray, legal counsel, Southern California Edison; Mr. Dave Sparks, Resale
Accounts Manager, Southern California Edison; Mr. Burbank, Southern California Edison;
and Mr. Gleitz, attorney, Southern California Edison.
81-447
City Hall~ Anaheim~ California - COUNCIL MINUTES - March 19~ 1981, 7:00 P.M.
Mr. Hoyt continued that relative to Item No. 4 above, he was going to recommend
that they put a ballot measure on the ballot which would authorize the issuance
of short-term securities that could be reissued. The matter would further be
discussed by their financial consultant and bond counsel, but they had assured
him that language could be structured that would protect the community from any
City Council issuing any debt, short-term or long-term, without it first being
approved by the voters.
Mr. Hoyt then referred to Item No. 3 (Page 2 of the March 19, 1981 report)--
"Anaheim will pay to Edison 1.5% of the costs which Edison has incurred so far
~n constructing the plant, together with the approximate costs for common facil-
ities shared with Unit 1, and including an allowance for funds used during con-
struction (~apitalized interest). With minor exceptions the costs will be
determined as they were for the 1.66% interest already purchased. Anaheim
will pay to Edison, from time to time, an appropriate share of the continuing
construction and operation costs." Southern California Edison representatives
told him about two hours ago that was not entirely their understanding, that
the cost had not yet been determined and there needed to be some negotiation.
There were going to be some tax consequences to Edison that needed to be dealt
with and there was perhaps a value to the plant that was i-n excess of the
investment which Edison had already made. That was not something he understood
in their meeting the other day. Their challenge, if the Board and Council
were in agreement at the end of the meeting today, would be to write the
various legal resolutions that were necessary, the ballot measures, and secure
approval of the various people involved as to the specific language and to
structure aa agreement with SCE which they could accept. They would have
that done by approximately noon on Monday, March 23, 1981 so that the material
would be ready for the Council meeting Tuesday, March 24, 1981.
The other caveat was relative to Item 7, Page 3 of the March 19, 1981 report--
"Subject to evaluation by Edison of the actual interest costs incurred by
Anaheim, costs to redeem Anaheim's securities, and costs incurred by Anaheim
in issuing securities, it appears that Edison would return advances made by
Anaheim with'sufficient interest to paY Anaheim's costs of interest, issued
and redemption of the securities, if the sale is not approved." Since at this
point they were still not certain as to how the deal might be structured,
Edison was not anxious to make any flat guarantee as to what could be done
but, in the general realm, it looked doable, subject to the final numbers.
Mr. Hoyt stated that today he would like Mr. Robert Dietch of SCE to describe
the project and the licensing process and proceedings. He also recommended
to the Board and Council that they employ Mudge Rose Guthrie and Alexander and
Rourke & Woodruff and bond counsel. He had received a prelimimary proposal
that they could discuss, and also that James J. Lowry & Associates be appointed
their financial consultants of the project. He had a proposal from Mr. Lowry.
He would also recommend that they execute a work order under the agreement
which was already in existence with R. W. Beck to provide for Beck performing
the engineering feasibility work in connection with any securities issue they
would engage im. He would not ask for approval of any of those today, but
would do so on Tuesday, March 24, 1981 if they proceeded with the project.
He had looked at the cost of the issuance and it appeared they were going to
be somewhere between $330,000, $340,000 or $370,000. He then introduced Mr.
Dietch.
81-448
City Hall,. Anaheim~ California - COUNCIL MINUTES - March 19, 1981, 7:00 P.M.
Mr. Robert Dietch, Vice President, Southern California Edison, first narrated
a brief slide presentation. One slide showed the San Onofre Unit 2 schedule,
construction, start up and power ascension. They were currently 98% complete
in construction of that unit. They were into the starter process which was
approximately 50% complete. At the current time, they were also completing
the hot functional test which he explained° Another slide showed the Unit 3
schedule which basically followed Unit 2 by 13 months and that was a primary
aspect to keep in mind. Unit 3 was 74% complete in construction and they were
at the beginning of the starter program. The final slide showed the licensing
milestone schedule. (~nit 2 schedule--Unit 3 schedule and Licensing Milestone
S~hedule data sheets were submitted to the Council along with fact sheets--San
Onofre Nuclear Gene=ating Station--made a part of the record). A two-step
licensing process was involved and they were entering into the operating
license stage, as opposed to the Permit Construction Stage which had already
been accomplished. They had been docketed for an operating license since 1977
and the reviews were basically complete to the first milestone, a safety
evaluation report issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that was
completed in February. As of last Thursday, they had completed all of the
ACRS "advisory .committee on reactor safeguards" committee meetings. They had
the letter inhouse which was add=essed go NRC Commissioner stating that
the plant was ready to proceed to the last phase of licensing, that it~was
safe and the independent board of scholarly reviewers had deemed it such by
their review, as well as the NRC staff. The key items to be decided in this
period were that the NRC had to now issue the supplemental safety evaluation
report concerning any open issues which had been opened between SCE and NRC
and anything that had gone forward from the ACRS meetings. Also, one of the
remaining hurdles to be taken on during this time period was the running of
the emergency planning exercise which they were currently scheduled to conduct
on April 14, 1981. He then explained what was involved in that exercise. He
continued that they expected to go into hearings by mid-June, but in order to get
a date for hearings, they had to have a final prehearing conference before the
licensing board. They had requested that conference be held April 7, 1981.
Currently there were two contentions remaining--(1) seismicity and design for
that seismicity and, (2) emergency planning and the capability to evacuate
according to Federal regulations. They expected the hearings to take four to
six weeks and, after that, a period of time for the licensing board to make
their decision. They would then have to wait for Appeals Boards to make a
decision and then wait for the Commission to take the matter under advisement
and subsequently make their decision. Prior to TMI (Three-Mile Island) this
was not required. They asked that the Immediate Effectiveness Rules be rein-
stated so that when the licensing board made their decision, they could load
fuel. If they could do that, another 90 days would be reduced from the NRC
schedule for such plans.
Another point of contention was the fact that their schedule for loading fuel
was mid-October 1R81 which was in conflict with the NRC schedule. The appro-
priations subcommittee had them getting their license in April of 1982 based
on their schedule. Their schedule ($CE's) was dependent on getting the im-
mediate effectiveness rule reinstated. Their schedule was optimistic and
aggressive, but they believed it achievable and thus were'saying October of
1981.
81-449
City, .Hall, Anaheim~ California - COUNCIL MINUTES -March 19~ 1981, 7:00 P.M.
Councilman Bay asked if the contentions on San Onofre were out of the ordinary
as compared to Palo Verde. Was Palo Verde getting the same type of delays and
reactions as San Onofre.
Mr. Dietch answered that Palo Verde was not nearly as complete as San Onofre
and they had just recently gone into their contentions. It would be difficult
to compare the two projects at this time on a contention basis.
Mr. Hoyt then asked Mr. Wynn Peterson to discuss the economic benefits to
Anaheim from the additional participation in San Onofre and if there were
a~y particular differences from the last time.
Mr. Winston Peterson, R. W. Beck & Associates, stated as they had discussed
and studied the participation by Anaheim in the project before when they a
acquired a 1.6% interest, they projected the savings to the City at that point
in time at the issuance of the last bonds to be in the order of $48 million
in the first ten years of operation, as opposed to continuing the purchase of
all requirements from SCE. In the purchase of an additional 1.5%, the analysis
would be almost parallel to what they did before depending on some things that
had yet to be determined, such as the total purchase cost and the terms and
conditions of the purchase. However, nothing had basically changed but the
overall economics or construction of the project which seemed to be a very good
project. Previously they had taken into account additional contingencies which
allowed for a ten-month delay in receipt of an operating license. The six-
month delay which had occurred had taken a portion of that contingency with
four months of contingency remaining. With that contingency, they still showed
a significant savings. It was their belief that acquisition of a 1.5% interest
would show additional significant savings to the City with the caveats of what
kind of a sales agreement could actually be put together. He stated they
believed it looked like the same deal the City had before--outstanding!
Mayor Seymour asked if he was saying, that the basic economic assumptions they
made for the previous 1.6% interest would still hold for the subject proposal.
Mr. Peterson answered the fundamental assumptions in some cases had changed but
the interest and financing costs on both sides of the equation for both Anaheim
and Edison had gone up in the same ratio. That was. the only basic element that
had changed in the entire procedure of evaluation. If both went up concurrently,
the relative merits were still constant.
Councilwoman Kaywood asked in the event there was a delay, would that affect
Edisonls cost the same as Anaheim.
Mr. Peterson answered it would affect them in the same direction and in approx-
imately the same relation. It would drive the total cost of the project up and
the City's total cost would be the same for the same reasons.
Councilwoman Kaywood asked for clarification that in the event Anaheim were not
to be involved in the project, if Edison's cost increased, would the cost of the
power Anaheim would have to purchase rise accordingly.
Mr. Peterson answered he was certain the increased costs would be reflected
in the rates. Anaheim's cost for the purchase of power from SCE which they
would be purchasing, despite their participation in the project or not, would
reflect increased costs due to delay.
81-450
Cit~ Hall,. Anaheim~ California - COUNCIL MINUTES - March 19~ 1981~ 7:00 P.M.
Public Utilities Board Member Carl Kiefer asked if the ad valorem tax situation
would he higher on this element of the project.
Mr. Peterson answered that ad valorem taxes were a very small increment of the
overall cost. They may be somewhat higher, but not dramatically so.
Mr. Hoyt then called upon Mr. James Lowry, James J. Lowry & Associates, to
explain how they would go about the options that were open to them for finan-
cing the project, along with his recommendations as to the kinds of financing
f.lexibility they needed to make the arrangement go. The only problem was that
they would potentially be paying money to SCE prior to their having received
all of the approvals to transfer the ownership interest to Anaheim. They
were optimistc and Mr. Watts had spoken with representatives of the NRC in
the legal department as late as that morning. They suggested a procedure by
which they could file an affidavit when sending the application for trans-
ferring the ownership interest indicating ~hat they had just gone through an
anti-trust hearing so that they did not need another anti-trust hearing nor did
they want one. The indication was that they (NRC) would endorse that purchase
and pass it on to the Attorney General and if the Attorney General did not hold
an anti-trust review, they could save six months off the schedule. The outside
chance did exist that they did not have the approvals and thus would have to
structure any financing, if that unlikely case occurred, so that Edison would
return the money to them and they would have some way of retiring the notes or
debt they acquired to enable them to get the money in the first place. If they
did a one-year borrowing and at the end of that year they were three months
away from it, they would need some place to be able to go in order to carry
themselves for the next three or four months. Mr. Lowry would describe that.
He had also made a particular effort of indicating to both Mr. Lowry and Mr.
Long, proposed bond counsel, that the Council was very much concerned that the
community be protected against issuance of any debt not approved by the elec-
torate. They assured him that they could write that language.
Mr. James Lowry, President James J. Lowry & Associates, stated, assuming that
SCE and Anaheim were going to come to an agreement upon terms whereby they were
going to enter into a contract to Purchase a portion of the San Onofre facility,
the next concern was how they were going to pay. In the past, the City floated
long bonds for a portion of the project. Once again, they could proceed the same
way. The problem was that Edison wanted the money before NRC approval and Anaheim
could not get ownership until they received that approval. Therefore, they had
to structure a mechanism whereby they could enter into an agreement with Edison
and achieve their purpose in getting their money before NRC approval and yet
Anaheim would be in a position where if the approval.was not received, they
would not jeopardize the credit of the Utilities system or if NRC did approve,
they were not in the position of paying a superfluous interest rate. The
structure of the transaction should be such that the cost would be minimized.
If they were to go out and sell long-term bonds without knowing if they were
going to get NRC approval and had to make some kind of a provision to retire
the debt, it was a "heads, the investor wins; tails, the investor wins"
situation and conversely, Anaheim would be the loser, especially if they did
not have NRC approval. Conservatively speaking, borrowing costs would be
about 50 basis points higher on the cost of the project because the ultimate
investor would not know what he had, whether a 30-year bond or a i0-year bond.
81-451
City Hall, Anahe'.zm, California - COUNCIL MINUTES - March 19, 1981, 7:00 P.M.
There were some problems with California law. If there was a call provision
on bonds, they had to be retired at the first refunding date and the investor
would be looking at a 10-year bond for certain. Going into a period from high
interest rates to low interest rates, in all likelihood they would want to set
up the transaction so that there would be no call provision and if they were
to refund the bonds, they would be refunded through a purchase of government
securities which would be escrowed to defease and discharge the outstanding
obligations. The problem with so doing would be that the refunding issue
might not take place until a year or two after selling the original bonds
and in a period where interest rates had declined significantly, thus incurring
m real differential. For example, it would be like buying 7% governments to
discharge a 10% municipal commitment.
Ever since they started to review Anaheim's utility situation, they had recom-
mended that Mr. Hoyt approach the City Council and request the ability to sell
short-term obligations. He agreed that should be a product of what the voters
approved with respect to long term bonding authorization and the short-term
indebtedness ought to be tied into the long-term authorization. The short-term
authorization as they saw it gave the "tails, you win; heads, they lose" type of
situation with respect to the~financing of the project. They would structure
some type of indebtedness which would allow them to fund the instrument with
long-term bonds upon NRC approval or, if there was a hang-up where they would
be in a position to roll the debt once again so that Anaheim would not face
the possibility of technical default on its obligations. In any event, they
should allow the Utilities system to enter into short-term transactions, since
it would greatly enhance their flexibility.
Another thing they would not have and which they should have was the ability
to refund. It appeared impossible for somebody to engage in a refund trans-
action where they could make a significant amount of money where even the
issuer, the City itself, could make a significant amount of money at the
expense of the Treasury Department. He felt they ought to look at a refunding
in terms of the following: It was possible that they could move into a period
of much lower interest rates. The 8% bonds the City sold not too long ago,
running new numbers of a refunding scheme, they might want to do so because
they could sell 6% bonds. For example, if the savings to the City was $2
million, it would be unfortunate if Anaheim would not have the wherewithall
to be able to take advantage of a change in the interest rate structure due
to a more conservative fiscal or monetary policy. There were refundings used
many times for more technical reasons, the most notable with indentures to
defease the outstanding obligations. When talking in terms of a refunding,
in general, they were not talking about selling more bonds than those out-
standing. With refunding they would sell fewer bonds than they were going to
discharge. It was because the IRS Code would allow them to purchase governments
at a rate of interest which was equal to the refunding issues so that the
transaction was not really interest rate-sensitive. Because the Treasury
bonds were generally outstanding at a much higher rate of interest than a
municipal bond, they needed to purchase fewer Treasuries to discharge the
outstanding obligation and, therefore, sell fewer number bonds. They had
to look at a refunding the same way as short-term financing, just to enhance
the financing flexibility of the Utilities system.
81-452
City Hail, Anaheim~ California - COUNCIL MINUTES - March 19~ 1981, 7:00 P.M.
When purchasing something or selling bonds, the only way they could make a
true computation of the cost of capital was through a present value analysis
of the retiring of principal and the payment of interest through time. This
was the true interest cost and very much of an exact science. By putting them-
selves in a position where they were compelled to sell, for example, 8% coupon
bonds even though the bonds could be sold down in price, they were putting them-
selves at a disadvantage once again with respect to future financing flexibility.
He would hate to think they would have to sell another $80 million worth of
Anaheim Electric Revenue Bonds with a retention provision of 95 on the term
bonds and say that would not penalize them in the present market--it would.
~hether they sold 8% bonds at a dollar price of 90 or 80 or 9.5 or 10's of
par, they were going to be taking the approach which gave them the lowest cost
of capital and the lowest cost of capital would always be derived through what
the market found most acceptable and which would also allow financing flexibility.
In concluding, Mr. Lowry stated they were of the opinion that the recommendations
Mr. Hoyt was making would not only achieve the purchase of an additional share
in San Onofre at the lowest possible interest costs, but also it would enhance
the financial flexibility of the Utilities system which had to enhance its ability
to reduce ±ts overall cost of capital in the long run.
Mr. Hoyt then asked Mr. Lowry to address the problem in America today relative
to long-term debt and how the institutions were looking at 15 to 20 years as
being long term and one of the reasons they might need refunding if they wanted
to structure a debt over the useful life of any project. If they could only
sell bonds of 20-year maturities, they might put a balloon payment in at the
end of 20 years, the idea being to refinance that. For example, if a 30-year
life was involved, they would sell 15-year bonds with a balloon payment and
then refinance that payment over the next 15 years to spread the cost over all
of the people who would benefit from the project.
Mr. Lowry then gave an extensive dissertation of the aforementioned subject as
requested by Mr. Hoyt at the conclusion of which, Councilman Bay asked, when
talking about going to a 30-year life project and in 15 years a balloon pay-
ment., refund, refinance and then go to the other 15 years, the political
problem was how to tell the voters the total cost of the project under that
condition.
Mr. Lowry stated that the attornies might be able to work out language where,
if they were to take advantage of refunding flexibility because they were going
to sell a 15-year balloon, the original voters' authorization would be tied in
some way to the comt of the p=oject. The problem now was that relative to the
authorization, people thought they were tying it to the cost of the project and~
to a large degree they were. What they were also saying was, we are mot going
to allow you to sell more debt than what we have already authorized. In truth,
if they authorized $80 milliom worth of bonds for 30 years and sold $80 million
worth of bonds for one year 30 times, in a true analytical sense they would not
have sold any more bondsl What they were really doing, they were going to be
paying a rate of interest for $80 mfllion over some period of time. There
should be a way in which they could have maximum financing flexibility and
also tie the cost of the project into a bond or note flotation, so that there
would be flexibility in terms of the instrument they wanted to sell and how
often they could sell that instrument, but by the same token, the instruments
would be tied to the specific cost of the project at what they envisioned at
that time. The language was going to be very complicated.
81-453
City Hall~ Anaheim~..California - COUNCIL MINUTES - March 19~ 1981, 7:00 P.M.
Mayor Seymour stated in the entire financial spectrum, they began to talk short-
term financing with a balloon payment coming due, rather than what they had become
accustomed to over the years, long-term, fully amortized financing. There was
no certainty they would be able to refund that or if they were able to refund
it, perhaps it would be at 1,000 basis points higher than the last one. He
asked if that would not distort a major portion of the benefits for which they
began the process in the first place.
Mr. Lowry stated he could not disagree there were a couple of things that were
for certain. Relative to the way municipalities conducted their financial
~ffairs, they were on the threshold of a change and it was going to be with
them for 20 or 30 years. Therefore, they were going to have to be able to
respond to the forces that were changing in the marketplace. If they had the
right to refund a 20-year bond issue, for example, between the sixth and 20th
year, it was reasonable to assume, especially if they were in a period where
there were unforeseen events which caused interest rates to react, as business-
men they could say, some ~ime within the year six and 20, they were 90 to 95%
certain they were going to be able to reduce the borrowing costs of the project.
Even if they decided they did not want to do that and laid out all of the
alternatives, they were in a position now where they could not do that because
they did not have the flexibility. They did not make the decisions, the City
Council did--they just provided the options. If there was no decline in interest
rates which they did foresee, they could come up with numbers, even if they were
wrong by 75% or 50%, where they were still going to come out ahead of the game.
There was going to be some chance involved, but it was a chance they had to take
because the numbers were so overwhelming one way vs another.
Councilwoman Kaywood .asked if there was a minimum time for holding the bonds,
for instance, two years or five years, before looking at refunding.
Mr. Lowry answered they could be refunded almost anytime and they could do so
repeatedly, but in the State of California the bonds had to be returned at the
first refunding date.
Councilwoman Kaywood asked if there would be a problem in the ballot language
by stating the.refunding would be to the best advantage of the people without
getting into the specifics of the matter because it was such a complicated
issue.
Mr. Lowry did not think there would be a problem to state that the Utilities
system and the City were going to enhance their financing flexibility and by
so doing it was reasonable to assume they should be able to have lower costs
rather than higher costs.
Mayor Seymour stated he did not agree with the last portion of Mr. Lowry's
statement. He stated "reasonable to assume" would lead one to believe that
it was not possible to go broke. If they were going to reasonably assume that
it would always be profitable because the Council or financial advisor made
the decision when to refund and when not to refund or not conforming to a
financial pattern that needed to be conformed with when running a public cor-
poration vs a private corporation. He did not think they could tell their
voters they were always going to make the right decision, they were not.
81-454
.City Hall, Anaheim, California - COUNCIL MINUTES -March 19, 1981, 7:00 P.M.
Mr. Lowry stated if they were to leave the refunding question aside and asked
themselves--do we want to have the right to refund an issue if interest rates
decreased significantly--do we want to have the ability to be able to create
a short-term instrument of indebtedness for the San Onofre project so that
they would not be penalized. He felt that was what they were talking about in
the refunding issue more so than whether they should be selling 20-year bonds
vs 30-year bonds. They did not have that option, but they could be in a
period of time where 30-year bonds were selling at 20% and 20-year bonds were
selling at 10%.
Mayor Seymour stated that a conflict was involved and he understood where Mr.
Lowry's expertise was coming from. If he were advising the gentlemen from
Southern California Edison, he (.Seymour) was certain that was very sound
advice. They were running a private corporation, but running a public cornora-
tion was different. There were only two reasons he had been able to under-
stand for the citizens of Anaheim to own their own utilities--interest on cost
of borrowing was less and they did not face the same tax structure. Other than
those two factors, there was no reason for them to be in the utility business.
Mr. Lowry was saying, because of the rapidity of change in the financial market,
they needed a new tool. He supposed that they did, but since they were a public
corporation, he was not so sure that the voters wanted to entrust that tool in
a public corporation environment.
Mr. Lowry explained if the municipal bond market was a taxable ma=ket, he would
not have the concerns that he had, but it was a tax-exempt market. To be a
participant in the market, you had to pay taxes. The municipal bond market was
discontinuous at times. For example, it was entirely possible that Edison
could be sitting in a market environment where it was discontinuous and they
were saying, we want to sell you a project, R. W. Beck was saying the City was
going to save $I00 million in the first five years if they bought a portion of
the project--but they could not finance it because they were locked into a
30-year amortization schedule, since that was the life of the project. The
only thing they were saying, there was a possibility they might find them-
selves in a position not to be able to take advantage of purchasing even having
done a cost benefit analysis.
Councilwoman Kaywood again expressed her concern that the issue was a very
complicated one to have to explain. However, it needed to go on the ballot
and there had to be a way to explain it. She also felt that people were wise
enough to vote someone in or out of office who was not acting in the best
interest of the City. If a Council made a mistake in judgment on a particular
issue, that was no reason to hang them. She did not see how they could make a
deliberately bad decision. She felt that without having the flexibility
necessary, it was a total disservice to the people and it rendered the Council
unable to make any decision.
Mayor Seymour asked if they went out for anticipation notes on the specific
matter being discussed, would there be some type of written commitment as to
what price they would be able to refund those at.
Mr. Lowry answered "no". They would be selling the notes and there were many
reasons for so doing. Here they were talking about selling notes because they
were going to fund it with a long-term bond. That was only a possibility.
They were not saying, sell notes because the markets were going to be better
81-455
City. Hall~ Anaheim~ California - COUNCIL MINUTES - March 19~ 1981~ 7:00 P.M.
a year hence. They were saying, sell notes because they were not sure whether
they were going to be able to buy the project, but yet Edison needed their
money. If they sold long-term bonds now, and they did not know whether they
were going to be able to buy the project, that was far more im-
prudent to go out and sell the notes now and say they were going to take a
chance in the future. Ail other things being equal, by selling the bonds now
without NRC approval, they were going to incur a 50 basis point penalty in
interest rate. Not only would they incur that kind of penalty, but also some
very fundamental problems with respect to financing flexibility with the
securities as to when and how they were going to discharge the obligations.
%hey were saying, why sell $40 million worth of 30-year bonds if they did not
even know they had to.
Mr. Hoyt explained if they sold some short-term financing, it would say that
the whole thing would be due in a year or one and one-half years and they
would carry it at some specific interest rate or some specific calculation,
two-thirds of prime or 8½% notes, so that the cost of the notes would be
specifically measurable at the time they were issued. The next question then
would be, if they rolled them, would they know what they were going to be able
to roll them at which would be dependent upon the market at the time. If they
took them out with long-term bonds, that too would be dependent upon what the
market was at the time so they would know for sure what the price of the notes
were. When the time was up, say a year, they would owe whoever they borrowed
the money from $45 million with the agreed upon interest. How they took them
out was where the uncertainty arose--where the market was at the time and the
instrument they took them out with would determine that cost.
Mr. Lowry stated they were not talking about selling notes to play the market,
but selling notes or carrying out the transaction in that way because it was
prudent financial practice for Anaheim and would enhance the way they were
serviced in the market with respect to borrowers. They were also not talking
about interest rates but how they could provide funds without embarrassing
Anaheim. For instance, if they really believed they were going to get NRC
approval in 12 months, they would sell 15 months to give three months of leeway
just in case. If subsequently they found out they were not going to get NRC
approval for 20 months after the notes were outstanding and they still wanted
to buy the project but the notes would come due in 15 months--what would they
do. They were saying that they would roll the notes for another six or nine
months. The Mayor asked how many times they could roll the notes.
Mr. Lowry answered that they should have the ability to roll the notes an
unlimited amount of times. The money markets having tax exempt notes had a
very stable yield curve to it, the shorter in time, the lower the rate of
interest. It also responded to maturity dates upon which he elaborated.
In finality, they were saying, give us the flexibility so that the Utilities
system could participate in a prudent financial plan.
Mayor Seymour, speaking to Mr. Hoyt, stated he would personally like to see
a comparison of anticipation notes to rolled and then into some type of long
term as compared to traditionally what they had been used to, assuming the
defeasance cost thereto.
81-456 '
City Hall~ Anaheim~ California - COUNCIL MINUTES - March 19, 1981~ 7:00 P.M.
Mr. Hoyt asked for clarification that he meant a cost comparison of the various
ways of doing it; the Mayor confirmed that was correct.
Councilman Bay stated that what he was hearing was, they were trying to manage
and run a utility with a funding system that was almost a dinosaur in the mar-
ket. Not to give those flexibility tools to management or a decision of the
Council to use it within those time periods where they could move rapidly was
costing them a lot of money, and it would cost them a lot more in the future.
Mr. Hoyt stated that could be the case although he did not know that was the
c%se right now; Councilman Bay stated every bit of logic pointed to the fact
that it would.
Mr. Lowry noted that on the last deal, if they did not have the 9.62 average
retention price or 95 and they wanted to refund, that was a $5 million cost
that they would have incurred because they had an 8% coupon on it, and the
Council was not empowered to change it.
Councilman Overholt stated his understanding of the concern expressed primarily
by the Mayor on authorization to get into refunding issues was that that "tool"
could be used by some Council in the future to rewrite the deal and release cash
flow for purposes other than originally intended, to service the debt. He asked
the Mayor if that was not his concern.
The Mayor answered, it had been done in the past. That was only a part. The
other part was that if the voters were willing to have the Council granted
the power to do as they wished, that was one thing. If they were going to go
to the voters with some fixed numbers of cost of borrowing, return on elec-
tricity generated, as compared to buying wholesale, and in essence saying this
was a $48 million bonanza for Anaheim over the next ten years, if they had
refunding capability, they could not legitimately make that statement. Nobody
could predict what interest rates were going to be in ten years.
Councilman Overholt then asked why they would ever get into a refunding program
unless they were doing so to reduce the cost of borrowing money.
Mayor Seymour stated, as he understood it, they might not have a choice but to
refund, since there was a balloon payment coming due.
Councilman Overholt stated the problem there was that they had a form of
financing that had a balloon, but if not and if amortized over a 30-year
period and they used refunding to cut down their investment costs, he
questioned what was wrong with that.
Mayor Seymour stated that he would totally support that if, in fact, the bottom
line was--the only time they could refund or refinance an issue, and the question
was on the ballot last time, it was clearly spelled out--a lower interest rate,
no extended maturity, and only for the outstanding principal and no other
reason.
81-457
City Hall~ An. aheim~ California - COUNCIL MINUTES - .March 19~ 1981~ 7:00 P.M.
Councilman Roth left the Council Chamber. (5:10 P.M.)
Public Utilities Board Member Carl Kiefer stated one of his concerns relative
to the economics of putting the rate savings back into the rate payers pocket,
was that they had seen on the initial purchase of San Onofre some sliding to
the right and most had been generated by new and tighter regulations, delays,
etc. He wondered whether R. W. Beck had the same degree of confidence in
the projected Edison schedule relative to when they were going to generate
and get the lower priced power and thus, savings back to the taxpayer. Did
they feel that schedule was reasonable.
Mr. Peterson stated the Utilities had expressed the last time a concern about
the schedule and did plug in a contingency of 10 months. He felt that Mr.
Dietch's presentation today indicated that there was still some disagreement
on schedules at the NRC and thus there was some potential for additional
delays on the project simply due to the licensing process. On the other hand,
three new regulator changes had been proposed in the regulatory guides for
the NRC operations all of which would dramatically enhance the scheduling
of the l±censimg process. Whether those could come into effect and have any
real benefits to SCE or San Onofre he did not know. They still felt fairly
confident that somewhere at least within the NRC schedule for licensing of
the project by April of 1982. It was reasonable to expect that it would
certainly happen before then. If delayed all the way to April of 1982, the
costs of that type of delay were not enormous at all, and they had provided for
a significant portion of those already. The cost benefits of San Onofre would
still overwhelm any cost they might see for that term of the delay.
Mr. Alan Watts, Special Coumsel, then elaborated upon why it seemed reasonable
to expect that the licensing process, if not improved, would at least not be
delayed further as relayed to him by a staff member in NRC.
Public Utilities Board Member Richard Haynie asked, if that be~the case, why
Edison would want to sell.
Mr. Jim Pignatelli, Treasurer's Department, Southern California Edison, explained
that basically they had a very heavy construction and financing schedule this
year. In the interest of helping them meet that financing schedule, they felt
this was an opportunity they would extend to Anaheim. It was a way of them
raising some mecessary capital.
Mayor Seymour stated what he was hearing from Mr. Hoyt when he introduced his
recommendations, as well as his reports, seemed to him that what they discussed
last Friday in the Liaison meeting may have changed somewhat or perhaps he did
not understand clearly at the meeting. He was under the distinct impression
that, im essence, the terms of purchase would be the same as they were with
the 1.6% intezest. Now what he heard from Mr. Hoyt was that perhaps there
would be some tax consequences on the SCE side, etc.
Mr. Pignatelli stated they must go back to the 1.66% interest and the background
of that in relationship to what was transpiring at this time. The agreement at
that point in time was for them to sell at book cost what they actually had
invested at that period. After that transaction was made, they were aware of
certain difficulties in the basic book cost that would cause them to actually
81-458
City Hall~ An. ahe. im~ California - COUNCIL MINUTES - March 19~ 1981~ 7:00 P.M.
lose money on the transaction. There were certain expenses that were capi-
talized on the books, but expensed currently in the tax return and those bene-
fits flowed through to their rate payers. By selling at book cost, they in-
curred a tax exposure and had to pay a tax liability to the IRS equal to the
tax benefit previously passed to the rate payer in the form of lower rates°
They considered that an additional cost of the transaction and they wanted to
negotiate that in the present transaction. On Friday, they never came to an
agreement on cost but were talking concept. They were looking for a deal that
was mutually beneficial. They needed to meet and felt they could hammer out
an agreeable resolution on cost before the Council meeting on next Tuesday.
Mr. Pignatelli also felt it incumbent to clarify one thing. They had been
using NRC approval a little loosely. It was really NRC approval for the City
to enter into the ownership of San Onofre but had nothimg to do with the lic-
ensing. From some of the conversations that counsel had with Washington, it
seemed that the approval could be forthcoming within the year. Their hope
and needs were for the transaction to be funded this year. It might prove to
be a good point if matters moved expeditiously°
Public Utilities Board Member Joe White asked if they could get a figure on the
maximum amount the project would cost them, what SCE was going to sell it for.
Mayor Seymour stated that Mr. Hoyt was talking in the vicinity of $80 million;
Mr. Hoyt stated that was in terms of structuring a bond issue and they could
probably do it for somewhat less than that. He would hope that it would not
exceed $80 million. It was difficult to answer because they had to discuss
the matter with SCE.
Mr. Pignatelli stated $80 million was imflated even to them because they were
talking about a capital cost contribution or payment.
Mr. Hoyt stated the next thing they proposed to do, the Council had asked that
they prepare some material that would indicate what their load looked like,
what percentage of their load would be served by the resources they had going
now, what their thoughts would be and what his plans would be for the future
acquisition of load. Basically, they would be full of base load by the time
they put the present deal together, with the possible exception that if the
Palo Verde project came together, it was such low cost energy, they were going to
work hard at that.' In terms of additional base load energy, they were simply
not looking for more. They were already participating in some projects which
he named which were base load projects. They were going to try to get the best
leverage out of whatever projects they did study, but they were not looking
for an additional base load. ~ They were asked specifically for that information
and it had been provided under report of March 16, 1981--subject: An Informa-
tion Presentation On Generation Projects Under Study (on file in the City Clerk's
office.)
Mayor Seymour stated he appreciated the imformation but did not see the impact
of that question having anything to do with the SCE deal. He preferred that
they concentrate on that.
Councilman Bay stated he did as well but they also had a time constraint if
they wanted to consider placing something else on the ballot they were talking
about, a June ballot with a deadline of next Tuesday, March 24, 1981. With
reference of Item No. 3 in the March 19, 1981 report possibly going on the same
81-459
Ci..ty Hal. l, .Anahe'.zm, California- COUNCIL MINUTES -March 19, 1981, 7:00 P.M.
ballot, he could not see spending the money for that special ballot and not
using it to the best advantage. Number 3 talked about the 8% limitation on
the remaining unissued revenue bonds. He asked the dollar amount of those
bonds that could be changed and used.
Mr. Hoyt answered, $47.5 million which was the remainder of the $150 million
authorization that was authorized but unsold. If they brought their own
capital to the table on the Palo Verde project, it would roughly be around
$30 million.
Councilman Bay stated, therefore, that Item No. 3 became important on the ballot
fr°m a potential that if they could remove the 8% limitation on the same ballot
and possibly open those funds up to be used for Palo Verde if they wanted to,
it would be critical in getting it on the ballot by June 2 or losing that also.
Mr. Hoyt agreed that they needed to do it for whatever opportunity may appear
and Palo Verde was a good one. It was likely that they could negotiate or try
to negotiate their way into it.
Councilwoman Kaywood stated she saw the problem of having one question per
ballot each time. It was true that they could devote more time, education and
energy to one ballot measure but where they were all related and all, if not
critical, were important and if not voted on at this point, would become criti-
cal at a following election. They no longer had April of even year elections
to work with. By having changed to a June election, June of 1982, for example,
they would have elections for the Governor, Supervisors, Senate and three seats
on the Council. As had happened in the past years when she looked to combine
a municipal election with another question, the majority of the Council, and
mainly those who would be running on the ballot, did not want to confuse an
election of candidates with an issue. At the time the Charter was written,
certain things were different than they were today. In order to maintain a
flexible way of controlling and benefitting the Utilities and the City, these
questions needed to be asked and had to be revised in the Charter. She did
not see anything wrong with doing that and would prefer to see it happen. She
saw a deadline on almost all of the questions and many millions of dollars
being wasted if it could not be done. If they could get the wording down
properly and be satisfied it was a clear question on the ballot, she would
like to see it done together this June. A November, 1981 election was very
"iffy" at this point. If they combined with the School District, there was
not a lot of savings involved. To spend $100,000 for a Special Election and
then again SDO0,O00 for another, she would find that hard to justify to the
voters.
Mr. Hoyt then stated that as a result of their discussions today, he would like
to add at least one additional recommendation--that being that they schedule
a ballot measure which would provide for short-term financing and that they be
instructed to go back and draft that language so that they were protecting
the community in the ways described. From what they heard today, it was
necessary to complete the deal.
Mayor Seymour stated he felt it would be appropriate for the Public Utilities
Board and Council to express themselves as to how they felt at this juncture
about what was being proposed so that the gentlemen present today could be
busy between now and next Tuesday.
81-460
City Hal. l~ Anaheim, California - COUNCIL MINUTES - March 19~ 1981~ 7:00 P.M.
MOTION: Mr. Dale Stanton thereupon moved that the Public Utilities Board
adopt the recommendations in the report of March 19, 1981 from the Public
Utilities General Manager.
Before any action was taken, Mr. Stanton explained that he was at a seminar
this past weekend on energy where Mr. Dietch spoke and made a statement that
he did not make today. His opposition was a Mr. Hachett from the NRC. Mr.
Dietch was talking about San Onofre Unit 1 running since 1968, or 12 years at
75% efficiency and in 1978 operated at 85% efficiency. In doing that, it
generated electricity at 1.7¢ per kilowatt hour. In that same time frame,
~il and gas was 4¢. It looked to him that the proposition, if the finances
could be worked out, was close to home, the transmission was short, and it would
be a very good deal.
Mr. Hoyt asked if the motion included the recommendation with regard to the
short-term financing.
Mr. Stanton answered "yes", he would include that.
Mr. Haynie then asked, if the questions went on the ballot as separate measures
and the public said they wanted to buy into the project, but did not want to go
to a different way of financing, what were they going to do. He was wondering
if it would not be smarter to have the questions as one package. He did not
know how they could put the question on the ballot taking the chance of it
being defeated by not being allowed to change the 8% interest limitations.
Mayor Seymour stated that had been his position from the inception. He felt
this was such an important issue to the citizens of Anaheim that at least at
this juncture, he was reluctant to mix anything around it. He would prefer
a "rifleshot", rather than a shot gun approach to the ballot. They were talking
about a potential savings of over a ten-year period of $48 million--S100,000
for the cost of an election was "peanuts" compared to those savings and his
concern would be confusion. He reiterated the issue was so important he would
be hopeful at least at this point to see the issue as narrow as possible on the
ballot.
Councilman Bay stated it would not be necessarily probable that they could
leave out Item No. 4 in the report if they were going to go with No. 1. The
way they were looking at it, they would almost have to have some short-term
securities in with that. He questioned if they might not combine Item No. 1
and 4 into one issue because they went together. Number 3, however, was
talking about the other points and although related, it could be a separate
issue. They could go with two ballot questions--Number 1 and 4 combined and
then put 3 on as a second issue that would give the opportunity to have the
flexibility to go after Palo Verde or some other opportunity that would come
along in the meantime.
Mayor Seymour suggested to the Board, what they needed was maximum flexibility
from them because of the close time frame. On the other hand, if they were
willing to recommend maximum flexibility which would be all of Mr. Hoyt's
recommendations, now would be the appropriate time for them to share their
personal concerns relative to that flexibility.
81-461
City Hall, Anahe'.~m~ Califo.rnia - COUNCIL MINUTES - March 19~ 1981~ 7:00 P.M.
Mr. Kiefer meconded the motion made by Mr. Stanton.
Mr. Joe White stated he thought the $47.5 million remaining from the bond sale
of $150 million in 1975 for generation projects was going to be a part of the
present proposed $80 million bond issue. Under those terms, he would have no
objection. He wanted to see the $47.5 million included in that $80 million.
Mr. Hoyt explained at present on any kind of long-term basis they would have
great difficulty in selling that $47.5 million. He tried to convey some of the
information he received from Salomon Brothers the managing underwriter on their
l~st sale, relative to that aspect (.see Page 3 of March 19, 1981 report): "I
have recently discumsed the marketability of our existing authorized but unsold
Electric Revenue Bonds which have an 8% coupon limit. Salomon Brothers have
informed me that in today's market, we might be able to sell twenty-year bonds
at a 17.5% discount, and twenty-five year bonds at a 20% dimcount to produce
respective yields to investors of about 10% of the twenty-year bonds and 10.20%
on the twenty-five year bonds. A 20% discount would reduce the usable amount
to $38 million."
After a brief discussion between Mr. Hoyt and Mr. White on the foregoing point,
Councilwoman Kaywood asked for clarification relative to Mr. Stanton's motion.
She wanted to know if it included all of the issues on the ballot.
Mr. Stanton answered that it included recommended Items 1, 2 and 3 in the
March 19, 1981 report from the Public Utilities General Manager and Item
No. 4 to be the ballot measure which would provide for short-term financing
as articulated by Mr. Hoyt.
Public Utilities Board Member Jim Townsend stated he agreed with Mr. White
relative to changing the percentage on the bonds. He also believed when it
came to major questions like bond issues, the public was more concerned about
whether or not to approve the overall project, rather than getting into the
nuts and bolts of the management of those issues. He therefore agreed with
Mr. HaYnie that they would confuse the issue by placing a number of issues
together. He felt the public wanted to be involved in the question of ex-
penditure of public funds but in going to the polls and voting for the project,
they were relying on the expertise of the management as he did being a Board
Member. He did not pretend that he was ever going to become expert enough
to judge the day-by-day operation of the Utility to where he could supersede
those whose job it was to run the Utilities. He felt they would be inviting
problems by doing more than placing on the ballot the bottom line of what they
would be asking the public to approve. By the same token, he would vote
against the motion as p=oposed but might vote for it if it were rephrased and
if it included Mr. White's suggestion to bring in and utilize the remaining
1975 bonds under refinancing.
Councilwoman Kaywood asked him, even if the mmount were reduced by approximately
$12 million as they were told previously would be the case; Mr. White answered
it would not be so if they removed the 8%.
Mr. Hoyt stated that was true. However, writing ballot language that would say,
in the event that they did not get the 8% coupon changed, they would need
different kinds of money than if they did get it changed, would make a very
difficult question to pose to the voters.
81-462
City Hall~ A. naheim~ California - COUNCIL MINUTES -March 19, 1981, 7:00 P.M.
Mr. Townsend asked if they had to present the change in the bond interest rate
to the voters; Mr. Hoyt answered "yes". Mr. Townsend continued, in that case,
their argument to the public, in his opinion, should somehow include it. Other-
wise they would have an ismue that was going to sit there forever.
Mayor Seymour stated he felt he understood where Mr. White and Townsend were
coming from. They both felt that this was probably a good opportunity but
would like to be assured that the money was gone after the deal was put
together. He believed they had that assurance without going to the issue
on the $47.5 million until interest rates fell to the point where they could
t~hen be issued. However, as long as they were in the financial market they
were in today, there was no way they could sell them. He reiterated, if they
wanted to keep the present issue a narrow "rifleshot", they should try to get
it done ±n one question rather than two. On the other hand, he did not think
they could guarantee that the $47.5 million could not come alive when rates
dropped down to 8 percent. At least they would have the assurance that it
could not be touched in today's market.
Further discussion took place on the latter statement by the Mayor during which
Mr. Hoyt elaborated upon the information that Salomon Brothers relayed to him
as articulated earlier in the meeting for purposes of clarification.
Councilman Bay stated he heard the feeling expressed to wipe out the $47.5 million
and try to make it part of the $80 million for the subject project. He did not
agree with that. He felt in going to the voters on the San Onofre opportunity,
that they go to them with that only as one ballot issue. He felt it had to
include some words relative to short-term financing unless the Council was going
to assume that the short-term securities were going to be approved by the
Council since the matters were advisory and not necessarily required under the
Charter, but required under a policy voted by the Council. The San Onofre pro-
ject under Item 1 with the short-term securities added to it was one issue.
The second issue was to change the interest limitation on the $47.5 million
so that they would have a pool voted on by the public not designated to a
specific project, but there and available to take advantage of opportunities
that occurred on a short flow time basis such as Palo Verde.
Mr. Hoyt stated one correction needed to be made. The things they were talking
about now were not advisory, but all required a vote. The advisory measure that
they presented on March 10, 1981 (see minutes that date) was an advisory measure
as to whether the Council should enter into a contractual arrangement to pur-
chase Palo Verde. He reiterated the present issues all required a vote of the
electorate.
Mr. Townsend stated there was no question in his mind of all the projects they
were entering into or contemplating, San Onofre was probably the best bargain
they had today. As Mr. Stanton pointed out earlier, based on the cost of
generation as opposed to oil, gas and coal, it spoke for itself. He was not
opposed to taking advantage of the situation that had been presented. By the
same token, they had a great deal of money sitting in a bond issue that had
already been approved that they were not going to be able to spend. He under-
stood that it was money that was earmarked for San Onofre and not for Palo Verde
or any of the other projects that would be coming before the Council at various
t~mes if they materialized.
81-463
Ci[y Hall, Anaheim, California - COUNCIL MINUTES - March 19~ 1981~ 7:00 P.M.
Mr. Hoyt stated it was not earmarked for anything.
Mayor Seymour interjected and stated that there were very diverse viewpoints
on the Board and he suspected even on the Council relative to the question of
generation and how they would get there. It seemed to him, however, that they
were totally unified in wanting to take advantage of the proposed opportunity
before them. He suggested that they not get bogged down in their diverse
interests and risk losing the opportunity before them.
Councilwoman Kaywood wanted to clarify one thing Mr. Townsend said and she
w~nted staff to correct her if she was wrong--that the $47.5 million was
earmarked for San Onofre. The $150 million was for generation projects and
not specifics; Mr. Townsend stated he agreed.
Mr. Stanton then stated that he had a motion on the floor to accept the March 19,
1981 report which in substance covered the four points. However it appeared to
him to approve acquisition of the additional 1.5% interest had to go along with
the $80 million bond issue, point No. 2. He felt that was one vote because it
was not possible to have one without the other. When it came to the 8% interest
limitations, including the short-term financing, it appeared to him that perhaps
those Were two separate issues and should be grouped together. His motion was
to agree in substance, but not to mandate how it was to be executed on the
ballot.
Councilman Overholt asked if they did not make a recommendation on short-term
financing which he understood was absolutely necessary to carry out the deal,
were they to be making a recommendation without the Public Utilities Board's
recommendation.
Mr. Stanton clarified his motion covered all four items, the fourth being the
short-term financing, but not how they were going to be presented on the ballot.
A vote was then taken on the foregoing motion by Public Utilities Board Member
Stanton. Board Members White and Townsend voted "no"; Board Member Anderson
was absent. MOTION CARRIED.
Councilman Overholt questioned if it was perfectly clear as to the position of
the two dissenting votes. It was his understanding that both Mr. Townsend and
White were in favor of the San Onofre transaction, but that their negative vote
was based upon the fact that they felt the bonds presently approved to be used
to finance part of that transaction. He asked if that was a fair statement,
that their negative vote was not to be misinterpreted as a vote against the
San Onofre purchase.
Both Mr. White and Townsend were in agreement with Councilman Overholt's inter-
pretation of their votes.
Mayor Seymour indicated that no action was necessary from the Council unless
they wanted to express themselves to provide further and more specific direction
to staff than they already bad.
A brief discussion the followed between Councilwoman Kaywood and Mr. Townsend.
Mr. Townsend left the Council Chamber. (6:02 P.M.)
81-464
City H. all~ Anaheim~ California - COUNCIL MINUTES - March 19~ 1981, 7:00 P.M.
Mr. Stanton asked for clarification as to what Councilwoman Kaywood said should
be taken under consideration.
Councilwoman Kaywood stated that the refunding issue would have to be voted on
because the Charter could not be changed without it. It was an issue that
could mean millions of dollars in savings to the rate payers. If they did not
put it on this ballot, she asked when they would like to see another election
for that It would be necessary to put it on a ballot at sometime if they ~
were interested in changing it. Did they want to see another special election
on that question.
Mr. Stanton asked if they needed to ask that in this election or was it going
to add confusion to the voters.
Councilwoman Kaywood stated that relative to the last $84 million bond issue
that was passed (_$84 million City of Anaheim Electric Revenue Bonds, Issue of
1980) there was a possibility within three-years of refunding to same money.
It must go on the ballot or it would not be possible to do any refunding under
the~City's present Charter.
Councilman Bay questioned whether this was the right ballot or not. They had
to consider the risk of something like refunding being placed on the ballot
when they were trying to take advantage of the San Onofre buy while at the
same time changing interest limits on the other bond issue and trying to get
short-term securities into the action. He was not saying "no", but it was some-
thing that should be considered. At this point, however, he was curious after
the Board just having passed the foregoing motion, what Mr. Hoyt would be
bringing to them on Tuesday.
Mr. Hoyt answered that they were going to try to put together some ballot measures,
a combination of them combining the approval to issue $80 million or whatever the
figure might be of long-term Electric Revenue Bonds. They would combine that
question with a Charter amendment to provide short-term financing in a single
issue which would make it complex. He asked bond counsel if that was going to
be a problem and he indicated it was going to be complicated, but they could
probably draft a measure. They would do it both ways.
Mayor Seymour stated he felt what the Board recommended was a "full menu", but
on the other hand, he thought he heard some reservations expressed on the
part of the Board, the reason they recommended a "full menu" was to provide
maximum flexibility in knowing what might change between now and next Tuesday.
(.The Board nodded their consensus of the Mayor's understanding). He asked the
Board, however, if they shared~the concern for not confusing the electorate
in risking potential loss of the deal with Southern California Edison.
Mr. Stanton answered that he did not want anything on the ballot that would
risk their losing San Onofre.
Mayor Seymour stated so that there would be no confusion, in his opinion, they
made a deal in concept last Friday. What he heard today from Mr. Pignatelli
of Southern California Edison and what they talked about Friday were two
different things. He would expect that when the issue was firmed up by
Tuesday, that SCE would be presenting through the Utilities to the Council the
same deal they talked about Friday, including the "keeping Anaheim whole"
concept.
81-465
City Hall.~ .Anaheim~ California - COUNCIL MINUTES - March .iR.., 1981, 7:00 P.M.
Mr. Hoyt stated they had that direction and would do their best to carry that
out.
ADJOURNMENT - CITY COUNCIL: Councilman Bay moved to adourn. Councilwoman
Kaywood seconded the motion. MOTION CARRIED. (6:10 P.M.)
The Public Utilities Board then continued with their regular meeting agenda.
LINDA D. ROBERTS, CITY CLERK