The Board room of the Lake Apopka Natural Gas District was near capacity during Monday's regular meeting of the LANGD Board of Commissioners. It was the second meeting for Apopka Mayor Joe Kilsheimer and the first for Apopka City Commissioner Diane Velazquez. Both were appointed to the LANGD board last month.
The crowd included seven representatives from Apopka area nurseries, Bille Dean, Apopka Vice-Mayor and City Commissioner, Kyle Becker, Apopka City Commissioner, Amy Yoder, CEO of Anuvia and Bill Arrowsmith, former Apopka City Commissioner. Dean and Arrowsmith were members of the LANGD Board until last month.
The first item of interest was the approval of a $2.5 Million line of credit from Regions Bank. The line of credit was needed to allow for a 10-year bond to be paid-off. Kilsheimer asked if there was a long term strategy.
Clifton Addison, LANGD's Director of Finance, responded, "I will be recommending we enter into a $5 Million 10-year bond agreement."
Kilsheimer then asked about the District's history with bonds.
According to Commissioner Fred Crabtree, the District's initial financing was bond-based. Those bonds were paid off in the early 1980's. Two $5 Million bonds were issued in the last 15 years. One in 2003 and the other in 2006.
Kilsheimer then asked about dividends.
Samuel Davis, Jr., LANGD's General Manager and CEO, provided information on the past dividends. In 2000 a $100,000 dividend was declared. This was followed in 2001 with a $125,000 dividend.
Kilsheimer stated that the the District's dividend policy, "Was incongruous," and that other utilities owned by Florida municipalities payed substantial dividends.
Davis explained that comparison's with other utilities was difficult and that there was only one other gas utility in Florida owned by multuiple utilities. He also stated that utilities owned by a single municipality were able to benefit from shared use of employees and equipment.
Ultimately the Board adopted a motion to approve the establishment of a $2.5 Million line of credit with Regions Bank.
Davis then reported on his contacts with several public relations firms. He recommended the District retain the Curley & Pynn firm. Kilsheimer commented that he has known Roger Pynn for 30 years and that he is a mentor to many in the public relations business in Central Florida.
"Why are we hiring a PR firm?" asked Velazquez.
Davis responded, "We need assistance in telling our story."
Samuel Davis (seated) and Wayne Mercer (standing)
When the Board moved onto new business Wayne Mercer, of Mercer Botanicals in Zellwood asked to speak. Ty Stroud read the contents of a letter from Ben Bolusky, CEO of the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association.
In the letter Bolusky thanked the District for agreeing in 2014 to fix the gas transportation charge for nursery operations at 26.9 cents per therm for a five-year period. Bolusky then expressed concern over the news that there was only one gas marketer available to the District's nursery operators. The third point made in the letter was the need for "flexible, multi-year contracts" for the nursery industry.
Addison took exception to part of the letter and stated that were actually six gas marketers available to customers in the District.
Mercer then distributed a thick envelope and asked for an additional 10 minutes to explain the information to the Board. After a long and some-times rowdy discussion President Ann Dupee ultimately refused Mercer's request citing the need for the District's staff to review his information and prepare their responses. The Board agreed to hold a workshop later this year to discuss the issues.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the reader of the letter from Ben Bolusky.
