Hampton village plans bond offering

In preparation for its upcoming bond offering to fund infrastructure work for the new Hampton West Subdivision, the village board met with Austin Partridge of Northland Securities at its monthly meeting on Feb. 12. 
Partridge told the board there was good news regarding the financing for the project, stating that interest rates should be lower for the village’s long-range financing. The size of the bond is estimated at $860,000 and the money spent on the infrastructure work, such as paving, electrical, sewer and water, is expected to be reimbursed to the village by the sale of lots in the subdivision. 
The project will also benefit from a $148,000 Rural Development Block Grant the village received to help with development of the commercial property located at the south side of the subdivision next to Highway 34. Under the terms of the grant, the village will have to pay the contractors and engineers out of the bond proceeds and then will be reimbursed by funds from the grant. 
It was stated at the meeting that the engineering firm that had planned the development has already been paid out of the village’s general fund, so those funds will have to be reimbursed out of the bond funds.
Village Board Chairman James Parsley said following the meeting that the board is set to authorize the issuance of the bonds at its March meeting. 
In the meeting Partridge said the funds would be available to the village shortly after that. 
The infrastructure work is expected to begin this spring and will be substantially completed by September. 
In other business at the February meeting, the board took action to approve the expenditure of ARPA COVID relief funds for three community projects. Parsley said approximately $50,000 will be spent on the test well to be dug soon on the west side of town in the community park, up to $75,000 will go for new radios for the village’s water tower and well pumps and $25,000 will go to the new community daycare project. 
Another discussion at the meeting centered around looking into a phone or text tree system for sending out village-wide notifications, such as the recent boil order that was issued because of a water main break in January. Village Utilities Supt. Chris Friesen said the system would also come in handy for announcing winter road closures.