City won't make Friday deadline to borrow funds for USOC work

Colorado Springs will miss today’s deadline to issue up to $38 million in certificates of participation to finance a new headquarters and other improvements for the U.S. Olympic Committee, even though a judge’s ruling this week cleared the way for the funding package to proceed, City Attorney Patricia Kelly said Thursday.

However, Kelly said she doesn’t expect the missed deadline to derail the city’s efforts to provide the USOC with the new facilities. She said she anticipates the USOC will work with the city to extend today’s deadline, based on a telephone message from a USOC attorney whom she said was gratified by the judge’s ruling.

USOC spokeswoman Lindsay DeWall Hogan issued a statement Thursday that said, “if deadlines are missed, we’ll deal with that as appropriate.” She couldn’t be reached to elaborate.

LandCo Equity Partners of Colorado Springs has said it’s willing to work with the city as well, Kelly said, based on a conversation she had with one of LandCo’s attorneys. The attorney couldn’t be reached for comment. LandCo owns the downtown building at 27 S. Tejon St. that will house new USOC offices and that the city plans to purchase with proceeds from the certificates — a form of borrowing that doesn’t require public approval.

Meanwhile, Springs attorney Lindsay Fischer said Thursday he will appeal a Fourth Judicial District Court judge’s ruling this week that dismissed his lawsuit seeking to block the certificates. Fischer had argued voter approval was needed; he has 45 days to appeal, but doesn’t know when he’ll file, he said.

Fischer’s lawsuit and today’s delay in issuing the certificates were the latest episodes in the city’s 2-year-old, problem-plagued effort to provide new facilities for the USOC and to keep the organization’s headquarters in the Springs, where it’s been since 1978. A March 2008 deal signed by the city, USOC and LandCo called for a $53 million incentives package for the sports organization, including new downtown offices for the USOC and several Olympic-themed national governing bodies; millions of dollars in upgrades also were supposed to have been made at the USOC’s training center in the Springs. That deal fell apart for a variety of reasons, including the bad economy and LandCo’s financial troubles.

LandCo later sued the city and USOC, alleging they had failed to live up to their part of the 2008 agreement. That suit has since been settled, contingent in large part on the city’s issuance of the certificates. A revised, $42.3 million agreement approved by the city and USOC in August called for the city to issue up to $38 million in certificates of participation by Friday to provide a funding source for the improvements.

Kelly said Thursday she doesn’t know when the certificates might be issued; the city’s bond attorney and financial advisor still are working with a bond rating service and insurance company, standard steps in such an issuance. A revised agreement with the USOC spelling out new deadlines might need City Council approval, Kelly said.

Vice Mayor Larry Small said based on his experience with Colorado Springs Utilities bonds, the city could issue the certificates in about five days, although he didn’t know for certain.

Fischer’s appeal shouldn’t hold up the issuance of the certificates, although the city’s bond counsel would have the final say on that question, Kelly said.

Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera said Thursday he has no immediate plans to ask the USOC to extend a separate, Nov. 18 deadline to raise $1.5 million to help pay for the USOC work. That deadline was spelled out in the revised city-USOC deal approved in August. About $230,000 in contributions and pledges has been raised so far, Rivera said; donations slowed while Fischer’s lawsuit played out, but should pick up now that it’s been dismissed, he said.

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Brian Gomez contributed to this report.