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' <br />' <br />~ <br />' <br />~ <br />' <br />' <br />' <br />' <br />Was the original project privately or publicly financed? <br />In the original concept the private developer would build all the space, both public office <br />space, the bus terminal, and private commercial space. <br />Marion County required that its office space cost $1.20 per square foot or less. Marion <br />County would lease, and then purchase, its space from the developer using funds already <br />budgeted by county departments for rent. Marion County would eventually own its office space <br />in the new building. <br />As part of the request-for-proposal process, Marion County and the Transit District <br />formed a Development Team Selection Committee. Members represented Marion County, the <br />Transit District, the City of Salem, adjacent property owners and the Salem Downtown <br />Association. (The Statesman Journal is an adjacent property-owner, but chose not to be <br />represented on the committee, citing a conflict of interest.) <br />During Development Team Selection Committee meetings, David Glennie (a private <br />developer, representing the Salem YMCA on the committee) strongly recommended that Marion <br />County use Certificates of Participation (C.O.P.s) rather than the private developer's financing. <br />C.O.P.s issued by Marion County and backed by the county's rent payments would be charged a <br />lower interest rate, saving taxpayer dollars, he argued. <br />' Glennie volunteered to run a financial analysis of the project based on the use of C.O.P.s. <br />On June 13, 1996, Glennie confirmed by e-mail that the project could be built within the $1.20 <br />per sq. ft. parameters set by Marion County. Subsequently, Glennie declined to provide the <br />' selection committee with copies of the financial analysis. He resigned from the committee prior <br />to the selection of the development team. <br />' The committee agreed and recommended C.O.P.s as the funding source for the county <br />portion of the project. Reports of the financial analysis as well as the committee <br />recommendation convinced Marion County to change the original financing method. The debt <br />' service on the project was always the county's rental fees whether those fees were paid to a <br />developer in the form of a lease and a balloon payment or in retiring the C.O.P.'s. Using the <br />C.O.P.s has the advantage of saving the taxpayers millions of dollars in interest and owning the <br />' building. <br />The financing for the bus terminal and transit offices has never changed. The Transit <br />r District will pay its part of project costs with grants from the Federal Transit Administration <br />(FTA) and designated local match funds. The FTA funds are taxpayer dollars being returned <br />' from Washington, D.C. for this project. The FTA funds are restricted and can only be used on <br />the transit center; they cannot be used for other transit-related purposes. If the federal funds are <br />not used for this project, the grants will be canceled and the money will be assigned to other <br />' proj ects around the country. <br />' <br />(Support information: Tabs 3-6) <br />e <br />