Supervisors loan Mission Solano $750,000 for project

Supervisors loan Mission Solano $750,000 for project
By Barry Eberling | Daily Republic | April 28, 2009

FAIRFIELD - Mission Solano should soon have a loan of as much as $750,000 from Solano County to put toward the construction of a 154-bed homeless shelter.

The county Board of Supervisors Tuesday decided it was willing to have the county make the loan. County and Mission Solano officials must now work out such issues as the interest rate and the time span for the repayment. Those matters will come to the board at a future meeting for approval.

Construction of the buildings on Beck Avenue is to begin in May, Mission Solano Executive Director Ron Marlette said. The shelter should be ready to provide beds for the homeless in October, he said, although future phases of the $10 million project will remain to be built.

The project would have been launched even without the loan, Marlette said, but there would have been no guarantees that construction would not stop at some point if cash flow became a problem.

Also, Mission Solano Board Chairman Tim LeFever said, the nonprofit would have missed a deadline related to an earlier grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank. That would have cost it $143,000 in grant money and an opportunity to apply for $500,000 more from that organization, he said.

Supervisors decided to make the loan by a 4-1 vote despite a county report stating that Mission Solano cannot provide adequate collateral. The report also state that Mission Solano's ability to raise money to run the shelter can; be guaranteed and Mission Solano's financial situation is uncertain because of a nonprofit's day-to-day nature of existence.

Former Fairfield city manager Kevin O'Rourke spoke on Mission Solano's behalf and said the county can't apply the same operating standards to a nonprofit as to the private sector or government,

Marlette thanked the county for advice on how to approve Mission Solano's financial procedures. The nonprofit has been a mom-and-pop operation since its founding in 1998 and is ready to take the next step, he said.

Supervisor Jim Spering said he could find reasons not to make the loan. He attended the opening of a Fairfield park recently and was impressed that, despite hard economic times, Fairfield is investing in the community.

'It really shows the character of the City of Fairfield,' Spering said.

Helping Mission Solano is as an investment in the county, Spering said. The homeless problem is growing, he said. He envisions the loan interest rate will be around 4 percent.

Supervisor Mike Reagan said some of the people served by Mission Solano otherwise might end up in jail or using county programs.

First-year Supervisor Linda Seifert voted against making the loan, saying she wants county standards for such loans and that Mission Solano's request didn't meet those standards.

The county could instead help Mission Solano seek grants and federal stimulus money, she added.

Supervisor John Vasquez saw reason to make the loan.

'Sure, there's risk,' he said. 'It's not a bailout. It's not a gift. It's a loan.'

It's not a handout, but a hand-up, he said.

Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646, ext. 232, or beberling@dailyrepublic.net.