More than 18 months into the pandemic, COVID-19 still reigns as the most pressing concern for California issuers.
During a panel discussion Tuesday at The Bond Buyer’s California Public Finance virtual conference, every discussion involved the pandemic in some way.
Sandy Kerl is expected to be selected as the next general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority when the board meets on Thursday.
The 36-member board announced Friday it is negotiating contract terms with Kerl to head the region’s wholesale water agency following a national search.
Kerl has served as acting general manager since March when Maureen Stapleton retired after 23 years at the helm of the water wholesaler.
“We are excited about what Sandy brings to the water authority – deep experience with water issues and her top-notch skills managing an agency that’s so critical to San Diego County,” said Board Chair Jim Madaffer.
Poseidon Resources received a one-notch upgrade to BBB from Fitch Ratings ahead of plans to privately place a $45 million note to finance construction of a new intake system for its desalination plant in Carlsbad, California.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the right to purchase the three-year note, expected to close in November, according to sources close to the deal.
The wildfire liabilities that sent investor-owned Pacific Gas & Electric into Chapter 11 are beginning to have a rating impact on California’s public electric utilities. PG&E filed for bankruptcy in January, facing billions of dollars in claims for property damage and loss of life from wildfires in its service area. Rating agencies have also downgraded California’s two other large investor-owned utilities because of similar risks they face from operations in high-risk wildfire areas and California’s inverse condemnation law.
The San Diego County Water Authority’s long-time general manager, Maureen Stapleton, informed the agency’s board this week that she will be retiring. Sandy Kerl, who has been the authority’s deputy general manager since 2009, will serve as acting general manager, while the 24-member water wholesaler conducts a search.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s effort to distance himself from his predecessor’s priorities sowed confusion about the fate of the state’s bond-funded high-speed passenger train project. In his first State of the State speech Tuesday, Newsom took aim at high-speed rail and water tunnel projects championed by former Gov. Jerry Brown. He created confusion about high-speed rail when he said he wanted to prioritize construction on the already underway Bakersfield to Merced segment in the state’s Central Valley. The initial impression was that Newsom planned to scrap the San Francisco and Los Angeles ends of the project to leave the shortened Bakersfield-Merced line.
Municipal bond buyers spent most of Wednesday in a defensive stance as the Federal Reserve met to decide the course of monetary policy. The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 2.25% to 2.5%. The Fed “will be patient as it determines what future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate may be appropriate to support” a strong labor market and inflation near 2%,” the FOMC said in a statement.
Katano Kasaine, director of finance for the City of Oakland, Calif., and Noreen White, co-founder of Acacia Financial Group, will receive the 2018 Freda Johnson Award for Trailblazing Women in Public Finance. The Northeast Women in Public Finance will formally present the awards at The Bond Buyer’s Deal of the Year ceremony in New York City on Dec. 6. The award is named for Freda Johnson, a founding board member of the organization who was an executive vice president and public finance division head at Moody’s Investors Service from 1979 through 1990.
A joint powers authority has been formed to oversee design and construction of California’s delta water tunnel project, a milestone in the multibillion-dollar plan that has been in the works for more than a decade. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Santa Clara Valley Water District and Zone 7 Water Agency, three agencies that agreed to fund the project, have seats on the board of the newly formed Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Joint Powers Authority. A board slot is reserved for the Kern County Water Agency, whose board will vote May 24 on whether to accept the seat.
