Updates: high school, Black Gold, recall

This week I’ll update topics from past columns:

--The second of four progress reports on Friends Christian High School financing was delivered to the City Council, with the city still hopeful that school officials will come up with past-due lease payments for the 32 acres planned for the 1,200-student campus.

A $210,000 payment was due July 1, and when added to cash due Jan. 1 and April 1, brings the past-due amounts to more than $630,000, not including the $50,000 “good faith” payment made in April and $50,000 previously deposited with the city.

“We have entered into negotiations with two lenders for our construction and long-term...financing and are also reviewing input from a number of other banks,” noted school officials in a one-page report. More reports are due July 17 and Aug. 21.

The officials expect to have “terms, conditions and requirements for our project financing within the next 45 to 60 days,” from two lenders, a traditional bank and bond underwriter.

Notably, officials “will explore opportunities to accelerate those parts of the…project that will provide the public, recreational amenities that have been long-promised ….”

--Revenue at the city’s Black Gold Golf Club is expected to increase $176,395 to $5,817,527 for the 2012-13 fiscal year that began July 1, but the hike still won’t meet projected expenditures of $7,035,682 (which include an $850,000 depreciation entry).

As Finance Director Dave Christian noted in a budget report: the city subsidizes the overall cost of owning and maintaining Black Gold due to long-term bond financing and depreciation of facility assets. Bond debt is $16.1 million to be paid off by 2033.

--So far, a move to recall second-term Councilman John Anderson has outdistanced the city’s three most recent recall attempts, delineated in my May 24 column, in that actual people are signing real petitions, a feat not accomplished in past efforts.

I’ve asked but haven’t been told how many residents have signed to date, but one organizer, Pat Nelson, told me the recall group is “on track.” The recallers need 8,700 signatures by mid-September, and they’re verifying registrations as they collect names.

Filing for three council seats now held by Nancy Rikel, Mark Schwing and termed-out Jim Winder begins July 16 and ends Aug. 10--Aug. 15 if Rikel or Schwing don’t run--at City Hall.

If sufficient signatures are verified and the city files a consolidation resolution by Aug. 10, an Anderson recall vote, with possible replacement candidates, could appear on the Nov. 6 ballot, according to a Registrar of Voters timeline.

Watch for record spending to win or retain council seats, and expenditures from the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, the union representing 2,200 sworn personnel, and maybe the Brea Police Association, with 100 sworn members.

The deputy union has backed the police bid process, opposed the recall and helped defeat the 2004 County Club and Fairlynn annexation attempt with financial aid. The Brea union endorsed past council candidates, but the candidates paid costs to advertise the support.