Lake County approves amendment to Public Financing Authority, swaps in Watershed Protection District

The Lake County Board of Supervisors, sitting concurrently with the Lake County Sanitation District and Watershed Protection District boards, approved a 1st Amendment to the Lake County Public Financing Authority joint exercise of powers agreement to substitute members, adding the Lake County Watershed Protection District and removing the Lake County Sanitation District.

County staff described the change as a structural update prompted by the Sanitation District’s pending split and said the new JPA membership would be the County and the Watershed Protection District. Patrick Sullivan, Treasurer-Tax Collector, summarized the recommended course of action and said staff had consulted the county’s municipal advisor and bond counsel before bringing the amendments forward.

Scott Ferguson of Jones Hall, the county’s bond counsel, told the board that membership changes “would not in themselves impair outstanding bonds” so long as the authority and the sanitation district “continue to exist and to observe their covenants under the bond documents.” Ferguson explained that the bonds’ covenants and indenture payments control bondholder protections and that alternative financing structures exist, but that the JPA is a common, market-friendly vehicle for these financings.

Supervisors raised procedural concerns about sequencing the resolutions so the JPA was not inadvertently terminated during the membership swap; county counsel clarified that the board was acting in multiple capacities for the three affected entities and that taking item C (adding the Watershed Protection District) before item B (Sanitation District resolution) would avoid killing the JPA prematurely. After discussion, the Watershed Protection District board adopted its resolution and the Board of Supervisors and Sanitation District board likewise adopted their related resolutions. A final motion to approve the 1st Amendment to the Lake County Public Financing Authority JPA was made, seconded and carried by the board 5–0.

The amendment was presented as a procedural restructuring to maintain a streamlined financing authority after the Sanitation District’s planned reorganization; county staff emphasized readiness to add the Sanitation District back if it rejoined the County at a later time.

The board concluded the item after the votes. No statutory citations were offered during the discussion, and the amendment does not itself change existing bond covenants, according to the county’s bond counsel.