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are formatted. He would be inclined to cut contingency to 3~. The design contingency is designed to fill in holes in design and features, not entire project contingency. Randy Curtis noted options are being considered to open up as much floor space as possible, including the concept of housing the computer hardware in the ceiling. 6. Timing of Bond Sale Billy Wasson noted the current strategy is COP or revenue bonds will not be sold, until a firm bid is received from a contractor. The project runs the risk of hitting the interest market at a bad time. The bonds can be sold once the plans are developed for the building. This puts the timing at the County's discretion for interest rather than gambling that the interest will be OK when the bids are awarded. It is a large contingency driving the county debt. The weakness of selling the bonds earlier is trusting the best estimates and sizing the offering properly. The strength is the County has a choice of when to fix the rate and sell them favorably. Mike Hansen noted there are two issues. (1) if you have enough left over you have to pay interest on the money (2) you can pay the money back but it tells the bond buyers they cannot count on having them the entire time and there is an additional cost. Craig Lewis noted bond counsel said not having a construction contract makes the bond package more complex. The County will pay a premium for the bonds if a contract has not been awarded. There was discussion of the world economy and the Asian market and the effect on interest rates. Billy Wasson asked for guidance on whether or not to pose the issue to Scott Clements for advice. R.G. Andersen-Wyckoff said he encourages the County to weigh the pros and cons of both directions. Randy Curtis said he shares the concern. Early in the project the short term rates climbed but did not change the long term rates sought by the County. That was the first indicator that something could happen to the long term rates. Are there indicators that would push the County to address the option. What has to be done and done quickly if the changes start to happen. Mike Hansen noted authorization has already been done for the County to borrow up to $28 million. He is in favor of finding out what can happen. Randy Franke asked how much will it cost to find out? Billy Wasson said he will talk with Scott about it. Randy Franke said he would like to talk about it again at the August 6 meeting. 7. RFP for Underwriter and Banker Billy Wasson noted three responses have been received from the RFP. Clements suggests selecting two as co-underwriters. Prudential would be the lead and Solomon, Smith, Barney would be the co-underwriter. We are waiting for go ahead from the Commissioners. The selection process should be underway by the middle of July. Randy Franke noted he and Mike Hansen will be listening to a proposal for private local financing. He is reluctant to make a commitment until after he hears the new proposal. 8. Other R.G. Andersen-Wyckoff noted Peggy Mitchell has sent out a draft of a new brochure on the project. The brochure is to be used at the Marion County Fair, Salem Art Fair, and Summer In The City and the Bite of Salem. This will provide an opportunity to gain feed back and put excitement back into the community for the project. Feed back can be presented to this committee and used by the Public Relations Team. Randy Curtis noted he has received inquiries from several Realtors on