Item 23 - Pension Debt Refinancing Update and Underwriter Selection

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STIFEt Taking Pride in Crafting the Rating Presentation. The rating agencies area human beings. They see dozens of presentations made by investment bankers all year long. Many of our competitors believe that since S&P's rating methodology is mostly quantitatively -driven that the presentation k,- does not matter — therefore they do not put a lot of thought or time into �� City of Orange a story board. Stifel believes the opposite. A substantial amount of � 2021 Taxable Pension Obligation E S&P's rating criteria is based on qualitative factors which require careful j:� Prasentationto5tandard&Poor's - � Fenr.ary e, zau explanation and positioning of a city's strengths and weaknesses relative to its peer group (i.e. other cities that received the same ratings recently). Stifel takes pride in crafting our credit presentations and focusing on these qualitative factors. In addition, we use the insights garnered by being the #1 ranked CA bond underwriter to advise our clients on how to layout their pension management plans more thoughtfully and advocate more effectively for a higher rating. Especially during the COVID pandemic, Stifel has more experience securing General Fund ratings for California cities during this stressful time and we understand how to use the UAL policies and POB strategies employed by our clients as an asset in the rating discussions. Revealing the "Real" Santa Ana for Wall Street Investors — A Marketing Plan Like No Other. The City has a lot to be proud about. Its history, central location, growth, and diversity are core attributes which Wall Street should appreciate as real credit strengths that will only grow over time. Words on the page of a prospectus or rating report alone cannot describe these qualities adequately. We've had great success using full-scale video productions to convey our clients' stories to Wall Street and have produced videos for successful POB sales in 2021 for the cities of Chula Vista ($349M) and Orange ($287M). Our excitement in telling the City's story led us to conducting research on the City and storyboarding ideas with a professional video production team. To provide an example of the creativity and passion we would bring to the City's effort, we produced a 3-minute video [https://vimeo.com/522542200/d55a767815] for your review that encapsulates how we would present the "real" Santa Ana to the world. Being the `Quintessential' Team Player. Whether'leading the charge' or serving in a more complementary role, we pride ourselves on being the quintessential team player. Our goal as lead manager is to foster a collaborative environment that leverages the strengths of each co -manager to secure the best possible outcome (lowest borrowing cost) for our issuer clients. We have had the pleasure of serving as lead manager of a multi -firm syndicate on several recent POBs, including the Orange POBs that priced last Thursday (3/3) and upcoming Huntington Beach POBs, which are scheduled to price next week (3/15). As an example of our teamwork and collaboration, at the request of the city, its advisor, and in coordination with our co -manager, we seamlessly expedited the pricing of the Orange POBs from a 2-day process to 1-day in order to lock -in aggressive interest rates amidst market volatility. Also of note, Stifel supported the City by underwriting roughly $17 million of unsold balances at the end of the order period. While we believe our talents and experience are best suited as lead -managing underwriter of a syndicate, please know that as a potential co -managing underwriter, both our bankers and underwriters will take an active role in supporting the lead -manager to best structure, market, and sell the City's POBs at the most aggressive rates possible. We understand the importance of this borrowing for the City of Santa Ana. We have assembled a team that brings to the table credit expertise and structuring/marketing experiences that will be valuable to delivering the best results for the City. Thank you for the opportunity to present our qualifications. Sincerely, John Kim, Managing Director jkim@stifel.com (213) 443-5203 / Tom Jacob, Managing Director tjacob@stifel.com (213) 443-5010