The Developer is hoping to entice a resident board to purchase a utility company, headed by a who’s who of The Villages.
Members of the North Sumter County Utility Dependent District board will meet at 9 a.m. Thursday at the District Office at Lake Sumter Landing to pursue the possibility of purchasing The Villages-owned utility company.
NSCUDD members are being asked to consider the acquisition of the Central Sumter Utility Co., which owns and operates a potable water treatment and distribution system and wastewater collection, treatment and disposal system. The system provides services to a portion of The Villages in unincorporated Sumter County, Wildwood and Fruitland Park.
NSCUDD currently provides water, wastewater and reclaimed water service to Villages properties south of County Road 466 and north of County Road 466A. Additionally, NSCUDD is the provider of solid waste sanitation services for Marion and Sumter County, and the Fruitland Park portion of Florida’s Friendliest Hometown.
Thursday’s action calls for:
NSCUUD to have 30 days to investigate CSU.
Within five business days, both utilities are to retain, at their respective expense, a valuation firm and notify the other party of its selection. The preliminary valuation is to be completed by Oct. 15.
But utilities agree that if the lesser of the two preliminary valuations is not greater than 5 percent less than the higher preliminary valuation, the purchase price will be set at the lesser of the two figures.
If the lesser of the two preliminary valuations is greater than 5 percent lower, but not greater than 10 percent lower of the higher of the figures, the utility boards will agree to set the purchase price at the average of the two valuations.
If the lesser of the two figures is greater than 10 percent lower than the higher of the valuations, the utilities will instruct their valuation firms to meet and agree upon a determination of value.
Two firms will be needed to perform due diligence and necessary valuation of the proposed sale. PFM Financial Advisors LLC, which currently works with NSCUUD, will perform a valuation of CSU. And Jones Edmunds would provide an update to a previous asset condition assessment they performed on CSU several years ago.
Once the above conditions are satisfied, the process to issue bonds to finance the purchase will proceed. NSCUUD will have the right to terminate the agreement by providing written notice to CSU by Oct. 5.
This isn’t the first time NSCUDD’s board has entered into an agreement to purchase CSU. A similar plan was approved on March 19, 2015 that also included the Sumter Water Conservation Area LLC.
The 2015 action included a resolution authorizing the issuance of revenue bonds not to exceed $185 million to complete the acquisitions. But that plan eventually fell apart when the two valuation firms involved in the process couldn’t reconcile the difference between two appraisals for CSU and the water conservation area. At that point, CSU exercised it option to terminate the agreement, records show.
If the sale goes through this time, Jacobs, a contract operator, would continue to manage the utilities and the Village Center Community Development District would keep providing customer service and billing operations for the Utilities, which officials believe would lead to a seamless transition.
According to the Florida Division of Corporations, or sunbiz.org, the officers for CSU are:
- President Mark Morse, Developer of The Villages;
- Vice President Martin L. Dzuro, who serves as assistant to the vice president of The Villages;
- Vice President Robert L. Chandler IV, vice president of development for The Villages;
- Vice President Harper D. Boone, son of Villages owner Jennifer Parr;
- Vice President Ryan McCabe, operations manager of The Villages and husband of Parr’s daughter, Paige;
- Secretary Kelsea Morse Manley, director of operations for The Villages;
- Treasurer Kenneth D. Stoff, treasurer of the Holding Company of The Villages.
All of the officers, as well as registered agent and Villages attorney Brian Hudson, listed their address as 3619 Kiessel Road in The Villages, which is the Morse family’s headquarters in Brownwood Paddock Square.
