WTF!! How does this work? Century Signs Off On $40 Million Bond Issue For UWF Conference Center, Hotel June 27, 2013

Century is so poor they cant pour P.ss out of a boot!!!!  Yet they can sign off on a 40 million dollar bond?40 million bond issue for UWF will earn Century about $14,000 in fees upon closing. 14,000 On a 40 million dollar deal?. Damn something is just not right.


From NorthEscambia.com
The Town of Century signed off Tuesday on a $40 million bond issue that will allow the University of West Florida’s development arm to move forward with plans for a hotel, conference center, new student housing and more.  The University of West Florida Business Enterprises, Inc. has entered into an affiliation agreement with Vieste, LLC, for the project.
A bond issue totaling about $40 million by the Capital Trust Agency was approved Tuesday by the Century Town Council and was previously approved by the Gulf Breeze Town Council as members of the Capital Trust Agency, an independent public body for the purpose of financing or otherwise accomplishing development programs. Century entered into the Capital Trust Agency with Gulf Breeze in 1999 with Century essentially serving as the “second signature” for CTA.
Century has received over $650,000 in fees since the inception of CTA. Tuesday’s approval of a $40 million bond issue for UWF will earn Century about $14,000 in fees upon closing.
The CTA is structured in such a way to indemnify Century from any financial risk, whether it be from a company that defaults on repayment or any other legal liabilities, according to Matt Dannheisser, attorney for both Century and Gulf Breeze. The funds used for the bonds are from the CTA’s coffers, not from Century or Gulf Breeze.
The $40 million UWF project will include 356 student housing beds plus 54 beds dedicated to guest housing, a conference and academic center and parking amenities. The 18 acres at the east entrance of the campus on Davis Highway will also include space for retail development.
UWF will receive acertain percentage of gross revenue from the annual income generated from the student housing, hotel, conference center, restaurants and retail.
The private developer will fund,design, construct and develop the project. There will be no state or university funds utilized. UWF will continue to own the land and will execute a 50 year lease with the development partner. After the 50 years lease term, UWF BEI will own the improvements.
Vieste originally approached the Escambia County Housing Authority looking for a bond issue, the the authority declined to finance the development, but the authority won’t finance bonds that are not investment grade, Matt Dannheisser, attorney for both Century and Gulf Breeze, said.
Dannheisser said the bond issue could close within a week, depending on the bond market.
Pictured top: Development plans for the east entrance of the University of West Florida. Pictured inset: Attorney Matt Dannheisser explains the project to the Century Town Council Tuesday afternoon. Pictured below: (L-R) Dannheisser, Century Clerk Leslie Gonzalez, and Century council members Gary Riley, Ann Brooks and Sandra McMurray Jackson.  Council member Annie Savage participated in the meeting by phone. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge

Of course It aint the First time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Note the last line in this 2010 story.  I think it has been a long time since I heard that Century was "Blessed" LOL

Half Million Earned: Century Signs Off On $28 Million Bond Issue
December 8, 2010 Northescambia.com
The Town of Century has voted to approve the issuance of up to $28 million in revenue bonds for an apartment complex for the elderly and Goodwill Industries, bringing the town’s earnings over a half million dollars from a partnership with Gulf Breeze.
The approval was granted by Century and Gulf Breeze as members of the Capital Trust Agency, an independent public body for the purpose of financing or otherwise accomplishing development programs. Century entered into the Capital Trust Agency with Gulf Breeze in 1999 with Century essentially serving as the “second signature”  for CTA.
With the issuance of the most recent round of bonds, Century will have received over a half million dollars in fees since the inception of CTA.
Century and Gulf Breeze Attorney Matt Dannheisser said that the CTA is structured in such a way to indemnify Century from any financial risk, whether it be from a company that defaults on repayment or any other legal liabilities.
The first bond issue will be to Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida for up to $20 million for the acquisition and renovation of donation and distribution centers and educational, job training, career development and mentoring facilities at several locations in the Ft. Myers and Naples areas. Dannheisser said he expects the actual bond issuance to be about $12.8 million. With $20 million in bonds, Century would be paid $7,000, while at $12.8 million Century would receive a $4,480 fee.
The second bond issue will be for up to $8 million for the 68-unit Cypress Cathedral Apartments for the elderly in Winter Haven, Florida. Dannheisser said he expects the actual bond issuance to be about $5.4 million. The Town of Century will receive a fee of $2,500 to $2,800 for their second signature.
For serving as the second signature for CTA, Century is paid $350 per $1 million financed with a$2,500 minimum fee.
“Century is blessed to be part of this to receive these funds for nothing, so to speak,” Century Councilman Gary Riley said.

Whoa!!! Hey It Aint me!!! Found this for 2009 Guess I am not the first to question CTA.....



Unknown Author Called Ignorant, Cowardly After Fliers Question Century Dept. Of Justice Probe, Bond Agency Scam
January 6, 2009

Century’s attorney has essentially called the unknown author of fliers left around Century ignorant and cowardly. The fliers question if the Century council could be part of a Department of Justice probe due to involvement in a bond agency that is scamming taxpayers.
“Century Florida Subject of Department of Justice Probe?” reads the headline on the flier that was left at the entrances to Century Town Hall, the Century Branch Library and other locations around the town sometime between the afternoon of December 31 and the morning of January 2.
“The ’second signature’ finance agreement Century has with Gulf Breeze brings pennies to Century compared to the millions Gulf Breeze is able to scam from taxpayers,” the text on the flier begins.
The Town of Century and the City of Gulf Breeze have been partners in the Capital Trust Agency since 1999, issuing over $1.5 billion in bonds for public housing projects, a Seminole Indian resort and a healthcare facility in Kansas. In return for providing the second signature on the bonds, the Town of Century has received payments totaling over a half million dollars, according to Matt Dannheisser, Century’s attorney. Dannheisser also serves at the attorney for the City of Gulf Breeze.
“What kind of advise is Century getting? — Is it really a no-brainer or more like Gulf Breeze needs a easy mark to take advantage of? While you guys are pick’in cotton in the north part of the county, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and DOJ investigates Secret Agreements, Bid Rigging, Kickback Schemes and other conspiracies which involve Black Box Scams. Read about the Staggering Scandal in phantom bonds based upon Charles Lecroy public housing model that Gulf Breeze and Century use to rip off the poor,” the flier continues.
“The flier you furnished has the heading “Century Florida Subject of Department of Justice Probe?” Quite simply, that is false. Although there is currently an ongoing nationwide Department of Justice investigation of various major players in the public finance industry (e.g., underwriters, insurers, financial advisers, derivative providers, etc.), neither the Town of Century nor the City of Gulf Breeze nor Capital Trust Agency are involved in the investigation and there has not been the slightest assertion of wrongdoing on their parts,” Dannheisser wrote in an email sent to town council members.
“Another comment in one of the fliers suggests that Century and Gulf Breeze could be at risk for issuing “phantom bonds.” This remark again reflects the ignorance of the author of the fliers who cowardly fails to identify himself. In connection with every issuance of bonds by Capital Trust Agency I have explained to the Town Council and hereby again reiterate, that there can be no financial exposure to Century or Gulf Breeze (or, for that matter, Capital Trust Agency) should there be a default in any of the bonds,” Dannheisser wrote. “…a suggestion that Century, Gulf Breeze, or CTA could be made to pay delinquent bonds only serves to demonstrate the ignorance of any person making such statements.”
On the subject of “Kickback Schemes”, Dannheisser said in his email that CTA assisted the IRS in their prosecution against financial advisor Chambers, Dunhill and Ruben and AIG Insurance through one of their subsidiaries after such a violation in connection with bonds issued in 1990. But he said that Century, Gulf Breeze and the CTA had no knowledge of the violation and no part in it.
“In connection with that bond issuance, the IRS issued a letter to Capital Trust Agency clearly finding that CTA had acted properly and had not done anything wrong in connection with the bonds and their issuance. Again, suggestions by the unidentified author of the fliers suggesting otherwise are merely petty and malicious attempts to cast aspersions against people who have provided a valuable public service,” Dannheisser wrote.
“Lastly, a comment in the flier also questions the benefits to the Town of Century of participating with Gulf Breeze in the creation of Capital Trust Agency. Not only has the Town’s participation been at no risk to the Town (i.e., each financing plan includes a provision where CTA will indemnify the Town for any damages or expenses that it could incur), the Town’s participation has resulted in it receiving around $500,000.00 in revenues. There are local governmental entities in northwest Florida that are very eager for such revenues and willing to take Century’s place. Yet, Gulf Breeze recognizes the value to Century in participating in the arrangement and that Century is perhaps more in need of the financial assistance than other interested local governmental entities,” the town attorney’s email said.
Dannheisser’s email states that people associated with the CTA would like to learn the identity of the person that distributed the fliers so that civil or even criminal prosecution could be pursued.
Dannheisser’s email was sent late Monday afternoon to Ann Brooks, Century town council president. Brooks had emailed one version of the flier to the attorney early Saturday morning. His email also says that Century Mayor Freddie McCall had faxed the flyer to him. Copies of the email were also sent to council members Henry Hawkins and Nadine McCaw, Mayor McCall, Century clerk and assistant Dorothy Sims and Karen Hughes, CTA Executive Director Ed Gray III, attorney Richard Lott, Gulf Breeze City Manager Edwin “Buz” Eddy and a person with an email address username “slucasmedpa” that NorthEscambia was unable to identify late Monday night.
It appears from Dannheisser’s email that he may not have intended for his comments to be public.
“…as the attorney for the Town of Century, it is not my place to publicly respond,” Dannheisser wrote. “I will not have any public response to the anonymous and ludicrous comments set forth in the fliers.”
NorthEscambia.com obtained a copy of the email shortly after it was sent. The copy of the email we obtained does not indicate that it is privileged attorney-client communications.
But the letter became public record without a doubt Monday night when Brooks read the entire letter verbatim at the Century Town Council’s meeting.
NorthEscambia.com will continue to follow this developing story and bring you the latest details.
Pictured above: One of the fliers distributed around Century Friday that questions if the town could be part of a Department of Justice probe in connection with bonds issued with the City of Gulf Breeze through the Capital Trust Agency. Pictured bottom: Council President Ann Brooks (L) and Sharon Scott read the email from Matt Dannheisser, town attorney. NorthEscambia.com photo, cflick to enlarge.
Comments

2 Responses to “Unknown Author Called Ignorant, Cowardly After Fliers Question Century Dept. Of Justice Probe, Bond Agency Scam”
concerned citizen on January 6th, 2009 8:04 am
How can Dannheisser fairly represent Century when he is the counsel for Gulf Breeze? How much does Gulf Breeze pay him to ensure they get their needs met? Is that not a conflict of interest??? Whoa everybody….are we getting sheared here? I am talking about Dannheisser not the bonds.
Lana B. on January 6th, 2009 6:30 am
Those fliers were all around where I work for a couple of days. Most people didn’t even read them. My boss just kept throwing them away. Dannheisser is a litte sensitive isn’t he? Criminal and civil lawsuits over some words on paper. What happened to freedom of speech? The issue is too complicated for a simplistic flier most probably didn’t read.
Will Dannheisser now charge Century for writing an email? Be interested to know wouldn’t you? Now that Ann Brooks read it publicly I bet he will. What is his hourly rate to the town of Century? If Mayor McCall faxed him a copy of the flier what was his cost for reading it? Bet this little flier cost us a pretty penny.
Don’t know Dannheisser, just every time I read his name I wonder what the cost to Century is…
Name (required)

Century Loses Again: Health Dept. Dental Clinic Closing
April 23, 2013


The Escambia County dental clinic in Century will close effective April 30.
The Florida Department of Health in Escambia COunty announced Monday that it will “merge” the pediatric and adult dental clinics service North Escambia into one location by closing the Century clinic while the Molino clinic remains open. Both clinics are operated under contract by ProMed Healthcare Services.
The Century clinic currently averages about 160 patient visits per month.
“We are very disappointed that they feel like…our people can get to the office in Molino for services,” Century Mayor Freddie McCall said. ” They don’t realize our transportation challenges.”
“When I learned of the impending closure of the Century clinic,” Escambia County District 5 Commissioner Steven Barry said, “I felt nauseous, another blow to a reeling community. I spoke to (health department Director) Dr. John Lanza last week and he assured me the Molino clinic will gladly serve the patients who are being displaced.
“I also spoke to Don Turner, Executive Director of Escambia Community Clinics, last week. Escambia Community Clinics may well be the future of the Medicaid dental programs in Escambia County. The vast majority of our residents served are adolescents, who potentially face life long stigmas and repercussions from a lack of access to dental care during their early years. I’m optimistic that as a community and as a county, we can formulate a workable solution to the issue,” Barry continued.
“We would love to see them reconsider,” McCall said.

]Over the past several years, Century has lost numerous county and state facilities, including all public schools, a tax collector’s office and medical service from the health department.
NorthEscambia.com f

Those silly Century people pay gas tax to subsidize ECAT, so they can ride the bus to Molino.

Oh, wait! There are no busses that run up that way?

I have no idea how this works.  Looks like a racket. 

Lessee.  We co-sign on a loan and, if the debtor defaults on the loan... so solly, we not liable.  Huh?

Holy shitfire, HG... you are on to something. If I lived there I would be at every goddamn city council meeting there was, and I'd be so up that no good, double-crossing lawyer's ass I'd be able to chew his food for him. Obviously we do things differently (and I clearly do not mean "right" by saying "differently") in California, but can someone explain to me how the F*** they can pass a bond without the people voting on it??!!

Google search: ""Capital Trust Agency" + "Bond Scam"":

Quote :

Friday, January 16, 2009
A Democrat Culture of Corruption
The Municipal Bond Scandal that Bloomberg markets exposed in 2006 with their story Broken Promises is emblematic of a culture of corruption that exists in the Democratic party. Using the poor and needy as an excuse, CDR Financial Products along with several other businesses including J.P.Morgan Chase and AIG, teamed up with significant elements of the Democratic party in a nationwide scheme that routinely left parts of this country devastated.

Pay for Play is a misnomer, in reality that is only half the equation. Yes the bribery of Democrat politicians is an offense all by itself. But even more threatening were the black box deals and financial schemes using the municipal bond market as a means to pilfer millions of dollars. The deals were opaque by nature and complicated by design. In short they involve insurance companies, banks, and CDR floating municipal bonds for local government agencies with the purpose of funding improvements, but with the real goal of merely of enriching the companies.

A summary of black box deals:

Step 1:Issuer sells Millions in Municipal Bonds to finance civic improvements
Step2 :Financial firms make millions in fees from bonds Sales (Some have secret agreements to make more from investment gains and insurance)
Step 3: Cities buy back bonds from investors, citizens get nothing.
Step 4: IRS says the agreement cheats taxpayers, demands a tax penalty to keep the bonds tax exempt.

CDR and the Democrats
The withdrawal of Bill Richardson recently made the headlines. In his case CDR gave money to Si SE Puede, a PAC formed to help pay Richardson's expenses at the 2004 Democratic Convention. In exchange its argued that CDR received favorable treatment in regards to bids to do business for GRIP (Govenor Richardson's Investment program) , bid rigging in short.

Another aspect of pay for play, and one more likely to land a politician in jail is CDR's tactic of finding friends, fundraisers and associates of elected Democrats, and hiring them as "Consultants". In New Mexico it was Richardson friend Mike Stratton who was hired by CDR. On a side note the Director of Si Se Puede Fred Duval was hired by UBS ,a Swiss bank, as a consultant. UBS was also one of several banks that ended up receiving a cut of the GRIP pie. The collusion of CDR, elected Democrat, and consultants that occurred in New Mexico is similar to other CDR linked scandals. In Philadelphia it was Ron White (now deceased) who received money and super bowl tickets from the company and was hired as a consultant. He was also an associate and fundraiser for Philly Mayor Sharpe. In Pennsylvania as a whole it was Alan Kessler who was the chief lobbyist for CDR and a top fundraiser for Ed Rendell. The most egregious example would be Mayor Larry Langford of Birmingham Alabama, who is accused in a 101 count indictment of using his friend William Blount and lobbyist Albert LaPierre to funnel money, jewelry, cloths, and watches into his hands in exchange for government favors while he was President of the Jefferson County Commission. Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham is on the precipice of the greatest municipal bankruptcy in history. There are also questions of CDR's actions in Atlanta and several of municipalities and CDR is currently being sued by over 20 school districts and cities in addition to the criminal investigations.

Donations to Democrats
Over the past 16 years David Rubin, President of CDR, has managed to funnel 279,000 dollars to various candidates across the country. In total 95% of that money went to Democrats. Of those Democrats, Obama, Clinton, Ken Salazar, and Henry Waxman were some of the top beneficiaries. In addition he has spread 91,000 dollars to Democrats on a state and local level, with Ed Rendell, Governor of Pennsylvania being the top recipient. It should be noted that Rubin was on Rendell's transition team when he became governor a couple years ago. And where was our former Chairmen for House Oversight and Government Reform Henry Waxman when all of this corruption was going on? Broken Promises exposed CDR in 2006 and the SEC had fined that company in 2007, why no headline grabbing hearings for the country to sick its teeth into? Oh wait CDR in addition to being pouring hundreds of thousands to the Democrats happens to be located in CA-30, that would be Waxman's own district.

The Impact
The greatest threat would be to the integrity to the 2.6 trillion dollar municipal bond market. If "phantom" bonds and scams infect the bond market, what could happen? We have all seen the past couple years the damage fear, panic, and fraud could do to markets and economies. But there is a human impact as well, not just the corrosive affect of bribes and corruption, but an increase of pain and anger for people across the country. In Florida, housing called Oakwood Terrace was left a cesspool when muni-bonds floated in the name of helping low income neighborhoods was never used for improvements. In Philadelphia the people have had their gas rates increased to make up for the 60 million dollars lost from CDR deals gone sour. And in the greatest disaster of all, Jefferson County Alabama, (Mayor Langsford's jurisdiction) is now on the cusp of complete financial meltdown.

If this is not a culture of corruption, what is?

//From the COMMENTS section://

Anonymous January 17, 2009 at 1:24 PM
A tiny cottage behind the police station in Gulf Breeze Florida (pop. 5300, is home to a multi-billion dollar municipal bond scam. It seems everyone in the tiny town's political hierarchy is in on the deal, and the local climate of apathy has allowed this to go on for 20+ years. The mayor is running the show, and the ex-mayor is raking in the dough. This has been perpetuated for almost 30 YEARS!

robert verdi January 17, 2009 at 1:29 PM
anonymous,
You described the Capital Trust Agency that was used by CDR and Chase as a means to carry out their scams. Do you have any more information?

Anonymous April 9, 2009 at 1:22 PM
I will give you (6) six hints that will lead you to the prize;
Watch these along with the SEC, DOJ, FBI.

Capital Trust Agency.
Ed Gray
Lane Gilchrist
Charles LeCroy
Matt Dannheisser
Buz Eddy
Century Florida

http://46in08.blogspot.com/2009/01/democrat-culture-of-corruption.html

Quote :

Update of October 16, 2006: On JPMorgan Chase's role in the "block box" bond scam: " In the Florida deal, a little-known government body called the Capital Trust Agency turned the work over to its advisers: Anchor National Life Insurance, a subsidiary of AIG; CDR Financial Products, a financial advisory firm in Beverly Hills, California; and the underwriter J.P. Morgan. These companies and other middlemen extracted $12 million in fees from the bond issue; the rest of the money went unused. The AIG unit and CDR had an agreement that the agency said it did not know about. The agreement allowed CDR to increase its fees as long as the money was not spent for its intended purpose, according to a Nov. 18, 1999, letter from CDR's president, David Rubin, to AIG's Anchor National vice president, J. Franklin Grey. The less money that was used to acquire and renovate apartments, the more money CDR stood to make, and the less risk AIG's affiliate faced as an insurer since all of the money stayed in a safe account. 'Black box deals, pooled deals, blind pools - people call them lots of things,' said Sherman Golden, an Atlanta-based bond lawyer, who said that he experienced one of these deals firsthand when he was a municipal official. He said that he has seen too many deals that benefited banks and other promoters at the expense of taxpayers. A spokeswoman for J.P. Morgan declined to comment. Black box bond deals also rob the U.S. Treasury of about $100 million a year in revenue." -Bloomberg News.
http://www.innercitypress.org/jpmchase.html

Office of Matt Dannheisser, Atty at Law (3rd Floor; click to enlarge the image):


For further reading, execute a Google search of ""Capital Trust Agency" + "scam"" omitting the word "bond"... it looks like there's fodder for a good day or more's reading.

Oops!!!!
$40 million UWF project funding falls apart
Construction of Argonaut Village faces delay as plans to sell bonds collapse.
The bond transaction relies on the participation of two city governments, Century and Gulf Breeze, whose total populations number less than the student body at UWF.

Small in size, the two cities furnish financing muscle in a common arrangement known as “conduit” bond issuance, a system that lets nonprofits such as BEI sell municipal bonds in the name of economic development.

Capital Trust Agency had approval from the city councils of both Gulf Breeze and Century.

Thursday night, Gulf Breeze Mayor Beverly Zimmern expressed disappointment the transaction as proposed earlier this month won’t work.

“Capital Trust decided that it’s no longer economically viable,” she said. “We are going back to the drawing board.”

Gulf Breeze City Manager Edwin “Buz” Eddy said in an interview Thursday that CTA and the university have work to do to secure financing.