News Archive | The Press-Enterprise, November 21, 2000 Bond Vote Irks Critics Moreno Valley’s council will tackle the matter in a meeting that will not be aired. By John F. Berry The Moreno Valley City Council will vote tonight on $8 million in bonds for a medical center for seniors. But the untelevised meeting has prompted critics to say the council is trying to OK the project when nobody is watching. “I want this continued to a meeting that’s televised,” Councilwoman Bonnie Flickinger said during last week’s meeting. “This $8 million in debts for a project in this city is something the public should be able to watch.” Despite Flickinger's objection, the council will consider the bond issue at a special meeting tonight. The meeting will be held with the scheduled study session, and neither will be televised on MVTV-3, the city’s local-access channel. Although the City Council’s regular meetings are televised, its study sessions are not. “The extra effort and expense to televise one agenda item isn’t of great significance,” Mayor Richard Stewart said Monday. “We didn’t want to risk the project.” The council was set to vote on the proposal during last week’s meeting, but it postponed action until tonight because staff members were still assembling the public report on the project, according to the mayor. Stewart said at the Nov. 14 meeting that the city needed another week to complete the report. Project director Carl Rowe said Monday that his nonprofit company will offer specialized care for many patients, including those with cancer, chronic pain, heart problems or Alzheimer’s disease. He said the facility will be next to Riverside County regional Medical Center. “We’re one minute from the front door,” Rowe said. “We have access to specialists and emergency rooms.” Moreno Valley is facing an early December deadline from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to approve the project so bonds can be issued, Rowe said. The Federal Housing Administration, a branch of HUD, will guarantee the bonds that will finance the facility. Moreno Valley will assume no risk in the deal. The City Council needs only to pass a resolution to enable the Moreno Valley Public Financing Authority to issue the bonds. Rowe said. If the council approves the bonds, Rowe’s group, California Drug Consultants Inc., will build a 68-bed complex near Nason Street and Brodiaea Avenue in Moreno Valley. Construction could begin in December and be completed by next fall. Germanic Construction was the winner among four builders that bid on the project. The firm is expected to make about $140,000, which is relatively little profit on a project that calls for more than 30,000 square feet of building space. Rowe said Germanic executive bob Wolf, a Moreno Valley developer, was the only one to offer a fixed price in the bidding process, a HUD requirement. This is not the first time the council has been accused on steering controversial issues into non-televised sessions. In early 1997, critics chided the current council - most of them just starting their first term then - for keeping items that needed public discussion away from the camera lens. Tonight’s study session is to begin at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 14177 Frederick St. Return to News Archive Main Menu