MOBERLY (AP) – The city of Moberly is working to repair its credit rating after plans for an artificial sweetener factory collapsed.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports the city council passed two resolutions designed to convince a financial investment services firm that the city was a safe investment.

Standard & Poors firm downgraded Moberly’s credit rating from “A” to “B” in 2011 after it defaulted on payments on the plant’s construction.

Moberly’s city manager says the new policies takes practices the city has had for years and puts them on the books.

Bruce Cole, CEO of Mamtek U.S. Inc., convinced Moberly officials to issue $39 million in bonds and $17 million in tax credits for the plant he said would employ 600 people. Cole pleaded guilty to two counts of securities fraud and one count of theft.

The plant never materialized as the plan collapsed financially before construction finished. Cole has pleaded guilty to two counts of securities fraud and one count of theft.