The Exponent Telegram

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

by Jeff Toquinto, BRIDGEPORT NEWS EDITOR

BRIDGEPORT – Although money from the State Economic Development Grant Committee has yet to arrive, Bridgeport City Council took care of another bureaucratic hurdle involving the funds last night.Council unanimously agreed to allow City Manager Kim Haws to sign a memorandum of understanding with the committee to help facilitate the process in which Bridgeport will receive $6 million. The money will eventually be used for a conference center and infrastructure at Charles Pointe.

Haws said the memorandum was "boiler plate" in nature. It spells out the terms for the use of the money. There was also an attachment that lists where the money will be spent and in what amounts.

"The major function of this is to give them the background when they need to go out to bond for all of the projects," Haws said.

The committee has yet to provide the entities statewide that were awarded a cut of more than $200 million the ability to draw down funds. That will be done once a bond sale takes place.

According to Haws, it won’t be the last agreement the city will sign involving the grant money."We’ll probably have to have a reimbursement agreement with the state and a host of others," Haws said. "I will say that this is the primary agreement that binds the state and the city to move forward with the project."

At the end of Monday’s meeting, Council went into executive session with members of Genesis Partners, the developers of Charles Pointe. Genesis Managing Partner Jamie Corton and several others were in attendance to discuss advance construction and the sale of property. No formal announcement was set to come from the session.