Friday, April 24, 2009

Latest at South Ogden

Sorry to make the blog kind of stale. I'll try to do better. I've always wanted to use this as an alternate way to get information to the public, but it's not very effective if I never use it. So here goes.

Joint Gym Facility

Weber School District had their ground breaking for the new South Ogden Junior High this past Wednesday. The school is started and they hope to be done by August 2010. South Ogden City is doing a joint venture with them that will allow us to be part owner of the gym space in the school. This is a project we've been working on for about a year and a half to help create sufficient gym space for our recreation programs as well as having the ability to offer new programs.

The school is handling all the construction and we'll be paying our portion of the cost through a bond. The school got a great bid price so our price was reduced. Because of the reduction in price and the decrease in interest rates (they fell about 35 basis points 10 days before we sold our bonds) we were able to secure a 15 year loan instead of a 20 year loan.

The city will be raising property taxes slightly this summer in order to pay the debt service on the bond. Because we secured a 15 year loan we were able to save over $300,000 in interest costs. Overall we hit the market at a good time and we secured financing at a very reasonable cost.

Splash Pad

It's almost that time of year to get the splash pad fired back up. The splash pad will open on Monday, May 25th at 10:00 a.m. which is Memorial Day. From then on it will be open 7 days a week from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. until Labor Day.

You'll notice a new look as we've added a railing and additional drainage. We're trying to create a little bit of a safer area and we're trying to handle the water better. Hopefully these changes will make the whole splash pad area better.

Pleasant Valley Library

The new Pleasant Valley Library isn't in South Ogden nor is it a city project. But it is worth mentioning that it is now open and it's wonderful. The library is located on Adams Avenue across the street from Ogden Regional Medical Center. It has some cool features (lots of neat stuff for kids) and it has a "new library smell". Go check it out. No pun intended.