MORGANTOWN — The Monongalia County Commission updated its lease purchase agreement with the Mylan Park Foundation for the Monongalia County Extension Services and 4-H Center on Wednesday.
The updates reflect the extended timeline of the project, due largely to weather, as well as the $3.4 million in “contributions in aid” provided to Mylan Park by the Commission during construction.
The loan for the building was taken out by the Mylan Park Foundation. The contributions are essentially a way for the county to begin paying down the project prior to its completion.
The contributions in aid will leave a loan of roughly $1.25 million on the $4.7 million project, which the Commission anticipates having paid off by the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 2020.
“Then once we finalize this, we’ll enter into a ground lease agree agreement with Mylan Park, which we’ll be taking up in a week or so,” Commissioner Sean Sikora said, noting that agreement would be made in monthly installments totaling $10,000/year for the use of the land.
As the name implies, the building is the new home of WVU Extension Services in the county. Representatives of the West Virginia Department of Agriculture are expected to move into the building in January.
The building will also feature a test kitchen, multi-use space and room for an additional tenant, as well as a connected 15,000 square-foot, covered pavilion.
Also on Wednesday, the commission approved a financial advisory agreement with Crews & Associates for oversight of additional bonds to be issued on the University Town Centre TIF early next year.
It was explained that the firm is paid on a percentage — .175% of the bonds issued.
“Similar to what we did with the last bond issue, we brought in Crews & Associates to be another set of eyes to review the bond issuance and the information being provided by MuniCap, Key Bank and the developer,” Sikora said.
Maryland-based consulting firm MuniCap was hired in May 2018 to review TIF requisition requests.
In other news, the Commission:
- Moved a property located at 68 Front St., in Wana, to complaint stage at the request of the Mon County Abandoned and Dilapidated Enforcement Agency. The owner, Hylton Holdings LLC, has 60 days to get the property in compliance before fines and legal action begins.
- Approved up to $1,300 for the Upper Monongahela River Association to help defray the cost of liability insurance for board members.
- Reported that the final Mountaineer Food Bank food giveaway of 2019 will be held from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. Saturday at the county’s election center, in the old Mountaineer Mall.
