The St. James City Council on June 8 approved a resolution to have Columbia Capital Management, LLC., provide services for the city as a municipal financial advisor.

The resolution would make the city enter into a contract with Columbia Capital for three years. City Administrator Leeann DeMouche presented the resolution to the council.

“Every city should have a municipal financial advisor,” said DeMouche. “I interviewed with three different companies and I really liked this company. They were recommended to me by RBC (Royal Bank of Canada).”

Columbia Capital is located in Merriam, Kan., and has an office in St. Louis. DeMouche said the city does not currently have a contract with a municipal advisor.

“Because of the delay from the ‘24 and ‘20 financial audits with the city, we have not been able to file our municipal securities rulemaking board electronic municipal marketing access system. I’m going to call it EMMA for short,” said DeMouche. “EMMA is what you file for your general obligation bonds. You have to file those every year. Your financial advisor will typically file those for you, using your financial audit.”

DeMouche said because St. James hasn’t had an audit they haven’t been able to file their EMMAs. The city has lost its Moody rating because they haven’t filed their bonds.

“We need this financial advisor to assist us in filing our EMMAs and then that way we will start meeting our city bond requirements through the EMMA,” said DeMouche. “They will also be assisting us in getting back our Moody’s rating.”

Moody’s ratings measure the creditworthiness of borrowers and default risks of government bodies. S&P Global Ratings also measure creditworthiness of government entities.

DeMouche said she will be working toward building up the city’s rankings with Moody and S&P. She said that the city can’t work towards improving their ratings until their EMMAs have been filed.

“In the meantime I want to contract with this financial advisor so that they can get the ‘24 EMMA out of the way and I won’t have to worry about it,” said DeMouche.

DeMouche said that Columbia Capital also provides advisory, management and investment services. She said that the group won’t charge the city until they begin working with them.

Mayor Rick Krawiecki asked for a motion to approve the resolution. Councilperson Ryan Miller made a motion to approve the resolution and it carried with a 6-0 vote.

The next council meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Monday, July 13, at 1400 Nelson Hart Drive. The meeting will also be broadcast on the St. James YouTube channel.