NOTICE FOR HIRING BOND COUNSEL
The City of Marble Falls (“City”) will be considering the approval of a contingent fee contract for legal services at the regular meeting of the City Council of the City to be held on September 1, at 6:00 p.m. at the Lakeside Pavilion located at 307 Buena Vista Drive, Marble Falls, Texas. The City intends to select the law firm of Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta LLP (“BHDA”) to serve as the City’s bond counsel in connection with the sale and issuance of assessment revenue bonds for financing certain improvements in the proposed Thunder Rock Public Improvement District, as well in connection with bonds for other Public Improvement Districts (“PIDs”) as may be required from time to time.
BHDA has demonstrated that it has the competence, qualifications, and experience required to serve as the City’s bond counsel in connection with the issuance of PID Bonds. For example, BHDA served as the City’s bond counsel for the issuance of the City’s Gregg Ranch PID bonds in 2019. BHDA has successfully represented Texas local governments as bond counsel in connection with the issuance of public securities for over 30 years. BHDA has served as bond counsel to the City in 26 transactions beginning in 2007, and most recently for the sale of the City’s General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series 2020.
Currently, BHDA is serving as bond counsel to the City for bond matters other than PID bonds under a contract approved by the City Council on December 7, 2019. PID bonds require a degree of direct work by bond counsel that is higher than that required for other types of municipal financing, and as such, are being addressed in a separate contract, which is the subject of this notice.
Attorneys that represent local governments in transactions such as the sale and issuance of PID bonds typically are recognized for their work in the specialized area of public finance. The City’s successful sale and issuance of PID bonds will require the preparation of numerous transactional documents, the compilation of those documents into a transcript, and obtaining the approval of the Attorney General of the State of Texas for the sale of the obligations, as well as other procedural steps. The City does not have any attorneys on staff that have the specialized experience required for a successful sale of the PID bonds that the City may issue.
Each sale of public securities by a local government presents a unique set of legal issues and bond counsel traditionally bills for services on a contingent fee basis. Because bond counsel services are based on a fixed contingency rate, the City can know with certainty the precise amount of the fees before the sale of the public securities, and therefore, can more easily budget and plan for the use of the proceeds.
For the preceding reasons, entering into a contingent fee contract with BHDA for bond counsel services in connection with PID bonds is in the best interest of the residents of the City.
