good evening everyone I'd like to welcome you to the economic develop tonight is Monday February 10th audre can you have the record show that all members are present along with our city planner and our city administrator our first item of business is to consider approval of minutes from December 9th 2024 Madam chair yes right
I move to approve the minutes as written okay is there a second second motion by Ryan seconded by Tina is there any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I all those oppose same sign motion passes next item is our bills and communication uh Madam president uh nothing in the packet this evening but I'll probably uh make a a
process out of update every so often on the ed8 least revenue bonds so they were closed on December 30th with uh deposits at US Bank uh so as of the end of January there's 17,8 40, 935 dollar left in the construction and in the bond fund there are $85,000 085
so $85,500 so we have made two draws on the construction fund uh one issuance and two to reimburse expenditures prior to the bonds issuance so the process will be uh very similar to a PFA draw request where we'll assemble paid invoices and a request form on a monthly basis and send that to us then remits that money back to the city uh that's I
have for item three unless there's any questions anyone have any questions could you give me the first bring in yes it's 17 m84 935 and that is the this is construction so at US Bank there are two accounts one for Debt Service and one for construction okay
questions okay moving on to item four new business officers is the first item uh Madam president a routine uh election here for the Board of Commissioners uh so in your packet there is an r in a possible motion but the bylaws of the Eda do outline that officer shall be elected uh on an annual basis uh those positions include a president a vice president a Treasurer assistant Tre Treasurer
and secretary I will note that typically the secretary um as a staff member usually the city clerk uh is familiar with signing documents and taking the the meeting minutes for the Eda so um a motion would be in order to nominate uh officers for the city of ATO Eda okay Council Madam president yes make a
motion to not nominate mayor stockamp is President do I have to do all all of them it's really up to the Board of Commissioners if if a member wants to nominate a Full Slate they they can do that or you can handle them individually I'll second okay we'll go one by one uh we have a motion president from
Cory second it from Ryan is there any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I all those opposed same signed motion passes Madam president yes motion to nominate Tina for vice president there a second I second okay motion by Corey seconded by Michelle is there any discussion all those in favor signify by
saying I I post same sign motion passes next treas Treasurer Treasurer excuse me assistant Treasurer and secretary oh I'm sorry what did you say sorry uh the three remaining Ser positions be the treasurer assistant Treasurer and the secretary I just didn't
know what you said sorry here Madam president like nominate Ryan for treasurer is there a second oh second motion by Corey seconded by Michelle is there any discussion all those in favor signify by I all those oppose
same sign motion passes mam president yes I could have done this in one swoop yeah yeah like to nominate um Michelle for assistant Treasurer is there a second second Cory seconded by Tina is there any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I all those oppose same sign motion passes can't
stop there yeah I'll nominate um Cory Tanner or should we secretary or is that who's the appointed staff this to the board but typically the the secretary would be a staff member but the bylaws don't require it to be a a commissioner so it can be a staff member uh the duty is typically align with that of
the city clerk you said Dr that I'll nominate Audra second right have motion by Michelle seconded by Ryan to nominate audre for secretary is there any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I oppose same sign motion passes okay moving on to
item 4.2 the official newspaper Madam president uh in the packet is an RCA uh and also a resolution designating theer a very similar process to what the city council does uh on an annual basis so if there are any noticing requirements by Statute that the Eda has to conduct uh the star news is the recommended official newspaper for the Eda Madam president yes right resolution 20251 designating an official newspaper second
motion by Ryan seconded by Tina is there any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I all those oppose same sign motion passes item 4.3 official depository Madame President uh again a slew of kind of routine transactions here but uh in the packet there is an RCA and the resolution declaring official depository uh with the issuance of
the least Revenue box necessitate that you declare a depository for those funds uh in this case there's also been an indenture of trust adopted as part of the issuance process so US Bank uh is declared as the official depository uh in the resolution and the packet yes right I move to approve resolution 20252 designating depositories second motion by Ryan seconded by
Corey is there any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I same sign motion passes item five is old business Madam president I'm not aware of any open items from previous Eda we'll move on to reports the 6.1 an report all right
Madam president uh in your packet there is a short memo outlining a few different I'll kind of walk you through and there's some supporting materials that we can have uh some discussion on at the discretion of the the Board of Commissioners uh but an outline has been prepared uh just to kind of give an update on uh funds more aligned with economic development so there is a fund within the city's financial statements
55 economic Dev revolving uh at year ends there is an un audited cash balance of 389,000 I say un audited as we have not made all of our year end acrs and or adjustments uh interest allocations so that balance is subject to change slly depending on some of those audit adjustments uh there are two components of fund balance uh the first being restricted and the second is unassigned so again those align with government accounting standards that we
report in our financial statement the restricted is consistent with Statewide affordable housing aid so this was something new from the legislature uh the city has received allocations in 23 and 24 uh totaling that 105,000 we are expected to receive an additional a 2025 uh just under 24,000 uh so we're talking about roughly 130,000 that would be restricted uh at
the end of 2025 for Statewide affordable housing aid uh there is a uh snippet of some from the State Department of Revenue uh website in terms of how this Aid can be used uh there are pretty strict restrictions about what this type of Aid can be used so I will report that as of today staff does not have a recommendation for the board on how to proceed with that uh or the city
council uh there are numerous cities throughout the area Statewide that are really trying to learn how to use this Aid to its best ability um so we're continuing to work on that uh I most potential lies with partnering with the county on this so the county received Aid and then any cities over 10,000 so city of ATO City of monacello Buffalo and St Michael were the four cities that receive direct Aid uh in
addition to write uh the county is hiring a position dedicated to um housing t uh in 2025 and they have tasked this person with providing a recommendation to the board on on how to use this Aid and very we can partner that program use the city Aid dollars to kind of collaborate on that so I can answer any questions
on that again the restrictions placed by the legislature on this funding is in your packet just kind of want to give you an up some funding that is available to use is there a timeline that we need to be working towards um well we have to spend some by yeah there are time restrictions so it outlines that funds have to be obligated by the end of the third year after receiving the spent after the fourth year or before the end of the fourth year receiving the aid so um the
first Aid was received in 2023 which means that you'd have to spend that money at the end of 2027 and then each subsequent year Adam so I I talked to you today about this because I called with some questions um and you told me about the county looking to fill a role and that would be potentially a good hair what did do you know anything more about what that role with the county is going to do because there's only limited
cities that got this money and that just doesn't seem like it would be enough for a full-time job I guess I I'm I'm not you can direct me a little bit on that uh Madam president I I don't believe position was created for the sole purpose I believe that's just something that their task to do okay and it's not like working with the economic development group is it as of right now I mean the right County um I don't want to speak for
fact I I believe they have an economic development 30 a um very similar to most cities there's just not a ton of activity through that um the the county and cities throughout right County also partners with the economic development partnership which is a separate entity County but they do provide significant funding to that organization um they're housed out of I don't know what the full slight
of responsibilities for the position is but I don't believe it's intended to be this is the sole purpose for that so is there a for that person to be on boarded and then do we have that information at this point time from the county I asked County Administration that and their goal was sometime in the fall of 2025 that person would be able to make a recommendation to the board it's not for certain that they're going to partner with cities but I think
the the cities in Wright County are are hoping for that uh just to kind of make the most of of the dollars received in the county most of these programs given this a new Aid don't exist or we don't have Staffing in most of our cities doated towards housing um so it's something that I'm I'm hopeful that we can partner can you share with them also about the City of Buffalo because we talked about that today too yeah some cities are are looking to just administer their programs uh and not tool
the funds to get that's that they ensure that that Aid stays within their own Community or they want to have control so that maybe don't align with the programs that other cities or counties are looking to implement so I think it's more of just a they want us handle it themselves so mam Bren yes what is the um criteria for cities to receive the aid so there there were two different
uh sorry president uh there were two different programs uh set up by the state legislature uh one metr Centric and the other one that the city of oo falls under is called the Statewide affordable housing aid program and so the allocation was direct to cities in excess of 10,000 otherwise the money was allocated to the county okay so it's something we could probably expect will continue uh I don't believe it's
expected to continue uh in perpetuity I think there is a sunset on the program as far as being able to provide that ongoing Revenue Source from the state okay and I'm assuming that's why so much then I think that's a fair assumption so more of an update but just wanted to kind of make that clear to the Eda um that is part of the fund
balance uh the other their amount is considered unassigned which means there's no restrictions u local control on that um is $283,900 um so all of this balance would be available to the cities that revolving loan policy that we do have uh that policy is in your packet and I think uh just wanted again to bring it up and and make sure that all of you were aware of that program uh as far as
St goes I I don't believe were have ever issued from this program uh within the city adopted in 2013 there's not been any Rance to that policy s got it was family speech and therapy at the time uh that that would have been a tax abatement program so not a Madam president I think it was intended that they were going to apply for the loan but then they didn't okay I
know that kind of got this we got it kind of set up for them originally so is this really for creating new opportunities this one isn't housing this is jobs jobs businesses jobs yeah I and again I can't speak to what the 10 was in 2013 I wasn't here but typically and this is a common program you find throughout cities in Minnesota I think it's kind of a intended to be a
gap financing so if it's a larger project uh there's owner Equity cont contributions there's Bank financing and then there might be some Gap financing through a loan program like this um that the intent is to you know and it was only a Max of 50,000 the program is maxed out at 50,000 there are certain criteria ter as to what eligible cost can be um applied for the loan what
the contri ions from private fining uh need to be so again it is a policy that we have in place it's just not been used I would say I've had a few inquiries on the program in the past uh one example being there the ceramic business that been Waterfront West was the last business that I can recall that inquired about the LA policy but didn't
pursue that so and that's same ceramic business during the covid funds too they had applied but hadn't open very long right I I think there were certain criteria that they didn't meet in order to receive that that Co a yeah looks like one of the criterias for a lot of newer businesses would be difficult I I do think it it warrants some revisiting I I did obtain a
similar policy from uh another city in right County that I could kind of cross reference and determine um items that are similar and it that are not and um make some recommendations for some minor changes I do think it's a nice policy to have in place um and maybe there's ways that you can make it a little more appetizing without creating too much risk on behalf of the city Cory Madam
president um Dan in have you ever heard of cities really utilizing this like in Lakeville or so Lakeville does have more aggressive Economic Development efforts and assistance program so kind of use it for in correct especially in the older industrial part where it would be used similar to what was done here with um family speech and therapy taking a out
moded building and bringing it up to standard yeah generalize that that's your target Mar get a historical downtown or an older uh retail environment that they're looking to Fresh their appearance on the exterior Mak it more appealing to Consumers and Boondock said same time had inquired about this right that building got an update
when that went from Godfathers to mam president what's the what's the source of the funds the tax levy Madam president uh again most of the the funds that are housed here uh were originally deposited from a conduit and bond policy that the city has so the city will on occasion issue as a
conduit issuer the two outstanding uh issues that we have right now one are Kaleidoscope charter school and the other is eans Park which is the parent company for Guardian Angels it's when they the property in Albertville they conduit for guardian angels and then Clyde is scope yeah so certain private organizations will issue financing for projects under the city's name but they actually are not liabilities or obligations of the city they don't have impact on your credit rating uh but
the city has a place a certain percentage of the par M of bonds issued come back to the city as a fee for being able to use that um our the city's name as the issuer um so that's really the the primary source from where these funds came from there's been interest rather applied to that balance and and allocated out each year okay at the time it was just a good use
of those funds um to put it in hopes as as incentives for other businesses to that process was on that but so technically it's unrestricted though we could use it for any purpose Madam president that's that's correct the the unassigned balance of 283,000 it's not restricted for economic development way okay I would say um
given your comments Adam about other programs that are similar potentially different I I would like to see what those are what other cities have in place yeah would too agreed get some IDE you could get us that information Madam president I I could easily re the the policies or trying to obtain another one to see where they're similar and where they're not City that
I did obtain the policy from I I know they' just recently issued a one from it and so is relevant in that Community okay so mam president has anybody apped recently no no oh but it's not that that's not an option for them but Adam
and I talked about it today too it's sometimes a lot of work for dollars and that this isn't an a need or it hasn't been toate but it is but it is a tool obviously that we want to be able to use if businesses need that yeah so we do get inquiries from time to time about especially industrial projects you know what kinds of incentives
do the city offer so you at the top end of course for a big major project would be tax income and financing or abatement the typal uh incentive provider assistance would be assessment of development fees like sack and whack fees or the connection fees and then you know it would have to be a relatively small project for the loan project to or program to assist so if something came up for example in the the industrial park at the South End
of trunk Highway 101 one of those properties maybe that's something we can use money from that Source from or the older Mississipi Shores commercial de are there really I mean what buildings are not necessarily new you know now that lior yeah bonds if they wanted to do something Christ Church property potentially
could it could it apply to um additions and stuff like that to existing buildings yeah it's it's not completely limited to Renovations it can be used for any construction L acquisition is part of the overall package so good
info thank you uh president city planner like kind of weeded into the the next p outlining the strategies and priorities policy and that policy again has been in place last amended in 2018 uh staff is looking for a little Direction on this policy whether the board wants to consider it uh to help assist staff in those conversations
on when Financial incentives are applicable to a development and and when they're not again it outlines uh some mentioned already tax increment financing tax abatement the economic development law policy uh certification of sack and whack fees um where it probably lends benefit on the staff set of the equation is centered around on the second page
of the policy about high priority medium and and low priority projects and um you know there's been quite a bit of development since 2018 and I think it would be uh good for the board and the city council to review this policy to make sure it aligns with your current viewpoints on incentivizing economic development so uh there may be something in the high priority that uh you as a group no longer feel would warrant financial assistance which then streamlines the convers ation with
prospective developers that Council just review this policy in 2025 we don't support providing incentive uh to this type of project and we can really save ourselves a lot of time Madam president yes Dan would possibly might have to depending on what we would come back the comprehensive plan mayor no this essentially helps implement the recommendations of the comprehens plan so
we already have um you know areas guided for commercial or industrial um and then there are policies that direct the Eda Andor City to establish economic development programs and incentives so oh this is just a step of implementing the comprehensive plan okay I think it would be good to just um I mean I know
that I look at senior housing development with amenities at one time that was a high priority for us so we have moved things around on this list as those have come into the city so I do think making were all in agree on that are you anticipating like a different meeting or would this be kind of with the council we have some time uh I I
do think that um it would align well with strategic planning potentially uh goal setting conversation but if if there are things that you're absolute about um here this evening we can certainly take that into consideration so I guess I see it as a really good tie into goal setting for the council just because as we are setting those other goals it falls in line with with the
priority of where we want to see the city going to so I mean I wouldn't feel like that low you know housing we just we haven't had the issue of people not able to come to the city and and build here so I can't think of a reason why we would move that up higher at this point um but that's just me but I I would I'm willing to do the exercise with everyone to
see if these all match yeah and I mean you you can look at this category and say Well they're all priorties for the city to add each kind of development that's listed out here it's it's more of a conversation which type of project would you entertain an application for an incentive um because it is a lengthy process the developer would be required to deposit escr maybe engage a fiscal consultant uh to help the city Ed
evaluate those type so it does turn into a a long process and it puts the Eda the council you know spot where you have to make a decision on something if you allow to get there but if you know it's gr ahead of that you don't want to see itation a tiff request for this type of project then we can stem that off about earlier sense everybody go it's always easier to
say no up front yeah it's your favorite word Dan everybody go with yeah for discussing it at the at the work session yeah it sounds like there's more desire to have more of a focused conversation around just generic up there I
agree and research y sliding down the memo I did include U an update on each of the three Tiff districts I apologize I did not it's a bait District but uh uh so there are three active tip districts I provided a brief uh summary of what each of those was for when they were issued uh and when they will ultimately expire so District number one in Great River
Center is nearing end so that will be tax increment District through 2026 and then the last note payment is of that second half 2026 uh tax settlement so for taxes payable 2027 the capacity for this property be inserted back into uh the net tax capacity uh and help distribute that amongst the city when setting the tax rate at tax level so the
other two are sorry go ahead mam president is that um the three is it Rivers Ben already named the apartment complex uh Great River Center is uh the PNF Machin oh property River be landing would be the senior housing facility and Riverbend North is the Mini Storage two commercial logs and the apartments that were constructed so they're each different type of districts and you have different
criteria they had to meet uh one is economic development uh one is housing so there's an affordability requirement that 20% have to be available to those at a certain percentage of the median income within the county so affordable housing uh and then the last one was a Redevelopment District so it it removed blight uh from a certain Development Area and allow new development and provide tax spas and new
opportun there so so that timeline sorry madam president so that from my understanding the timeline for those those particular projects or or say that timeline's running out for them for the tax incentive reductions right so the uh a tip district is more of a a reimbursement for improvements that were made on the site so
the the developers the property owners these properties they pay all of their property taxes just like any other property would and then the city uh issues a note to them for the improvements that were made so there's a wide range of costs that can be applied to that and so we're essentially using the the new generated from their development to help repay uh for certain s improvements but that is coming to an end so those are dollars that will
remain within the city then and not being dis that they would be dispersed back to is that time and after the the N payment in 2027 then the taxes get redistributed so the the increment that comes in is actually all three taxing authorities from the county the city and the school district are being applied to incentivize that development once that note in the district is desertified then all three of those entities go back to receiving
the allocation based on the market value tax capacity of a project M so essentially what happens is they they're no longer able to get certain reimbursements for improvements on their property Madam president that's correct okay and all of that's defined up front this is an an evolution the time of
application as part of the creation of a tip District the council and Eda go through a process to vet that uh and then Define a certain dollar amount that um is substantiated by improvements say that this is what the note amount will be and that's based Onis we usually engage a consultant to help say we know what the tax value is today we have an estimate from what the Improvement will provide and using that uh increment or
or that Delta to help Define what that not and how much the generate to repay those notes uh the the one I didn't include I'll just give a brief update on the tax abatement uh the Park View retail area so this is a joint abatement between the city and R County uh so the city uh provided uh some infrastructure improvements in the Park View retail area uh in pledge The Upfront cash
to make those improvements which then in turn um created development in that area so what the city and the county are uh the county captures and the city captures the increase in in tax capacity and ultimately tax revenue and we are reimbursing uh for the infrastructure investment that was made in that area so the county will reimburse the city up to 400,000 and then U has the balance of
the project so each year we um estimate what the tax bill for those properties will be on the city side and then we use that to reimburse the infrastructure investment that was made and then the county does the same thing they take of the new taxes developed in that area uh and reimburse the city for that M prison so park retail is that the cob area yeah so the tax AB bment program
uh for the slightly different than what the county so the county uh agreed to the taxes from the coburns development and the apartment development okay the cities did include some of the accessory outlots around the edge so ours would include uh Duncan in the center uh Al the um OTB kidss daycare Ace Hardware so it was a slightly larger
area that we're easing to repay ourselves mam president I think if I remember guys can correct me if I'm wrong but I think it was right counties the first time they had really done that with a city correct was that right with the round and everything M president that is correct and they have since implemented a policy to help other cities and this type of situation yeah they had worked with Sherburn County I remember dere F yeah
having a conversation with him and they had worked with Sherburn County to see how they had done this in the past but I help get that project off the ground yeah really took off uh last item in my memo and I can feel any questions after that but just giving a brief update the city does own three Parcels if you were not aware uh one in Great River Center and two in Waterfront East um so those prop
have been under listing agreements with commercial realy Solutions since uh 2019 the city does unfortunately still own each of those three lots uh and hasn't been approached with an author that was acceptable to the city council uh for development of those so uh kind of just giving an update and can answer any questions but they are being marketed currently so those did we choose at the time to go with a
cou developer or um sales company like Wayne elim was one Wayne Elum represents commercial re Solutions but at the time the council did solicit proposals from multiple Ste agents um shows CRS at that point in time and there are some restrictions on to Guardian uh there are deep restrictions uh the two
Waterfront East Parcels when that was subdivided by Guardian they did Place some deed restrictions on it yes I had a quick question on that Dan like when Beed requirements are are set up does the city have any involvements in that or mayor in that situation we would have since it was all part of the landing most cases know for example if
you look at where coburns is and where their gas station is yeah their original acquisition was the properties on the corner right but there was a deed restriction on that corner property because the original owner that for development was the same that owned the Holiday gas station so he deed restricted to say he couldn't put another convenience gas station on that parcel which then runs with the land and he's the only one that could release that so okay that's why the gas station is where it is on pointed the
other direction much like the Great River Center and Target right because they have those deed restri they have deed restrictions both regarding uh uses as well as structure height uh within that development so that there's always kind of a view shed of Target from 101 uh in kindy for so the ones in riverv viw landing the city basically agreed on use limitations so not going to put a convenience gas station out in front of the senior housing even though they
probably Wander over there to get snacks if not drive but then also height limits they have the first they don't have the right first they only there's certain excluded uses okay but they have no ability to control beond okay M brisen yes right the property at 85th in park uh uh the city does own
I don't know the exact acreage just shy of three acres um at the intersection well it's not an intersection uh Park Avenue comes from the South 85th Street West near the k um round bar so it's just west of County 42 the city does own that piece of property was purchased by the city from the property owner the pent uh
Public Safety purposes um it was included as owned property within um the fire study done in 2018 um helped guide the layout for where station locations could be is there any to sell that at this point Madam president I would defer that to the elected I've never received Direction um up until now is to that we have been approached by uh land
developers on whether the city would entertain that um I've never been given direction to pursue sale of that paral up until M president so the parish Meadows development adjacent to it they move forward with their second phase they're required to build the street that would be along the east side of the city's property all utilities for which we would have stubs to it the way out of that subdivision anticipation that you could basically either
develop it as a substation or develop three single family logs in the manner same directly to the north so that it protected the city either to potential reuse the fire study in 2018 did look at that location it said the ideal location for a second station uh would be slightly to the east and south basically directly across from Latigo Elementary um but that the station had to or that Loc had a comparable response
time so the intent as outlined in the study was that this would be a substation of the main station at sub not president yes so Dan you're saying you know it wouldn't it wouldn't be a good time right now because we're going to get possible future stuff and a road going in
and utilities so why way or less Madam president I mean that's one position to take is that somebody else is going to build the streets and utilities that make it into three potentially developable Lots increasing its value so right mam pres president um in regards to the properties that we have listed and stuff um is there a time line
that we're concerned about in regards to how long we hold on to those properties really M president they are considered I mean they're tax exempt so the city is not paying taxes on them currently um so there is not much in the terms of holding cost to the city other than highest and best use would be for indust Andor commercial
development um so there's not really a a need to sell them to you you know the beauty of the the city owning them is that you get to control with the end user that come um you know it's as part of a property sale if you know the intended use of a property and it doesn't align with the city's goals for economic development or job creation or tax-based um you could certainly
sale of that based on that whereas if you outright sold it to a land developer to kind of turn that cash over and get rid of that that asset on the books you you lose some of that control um but you gain more of the your term cash flow okay and the and the property next to PNF I mean we've had multiple conversations with that family way
yeah there there have been offers made to the city which didn't align with comprehens our job creation Economic Development goals um so there there have been offers on that parel the two and Waterfront East there's not ever been a formal offer made um there was a daycare center that had kind of looked in that area but yeah I think they could get their finance and we probably meet with developers about the the water I'm sorry the Great Center industrial lot quite
frequently I would say three to six times a year we're getting questions about that lot how big of a building they could put on it of those typical preapplication type of questions and there was a clause that PNF got the first right but and that's where I guess I'm going with this that Dan from PNF has brought up multiple times that his intention is to business
and to buy that other lot eventually but either slowdowns in his business or just contracts not coming through have hindered that part right there there was a agreement that is no longer ballot time passing or there was a a right of first refusal that was granted to the developer of of p& all of those have lapsed in terms of time at this
point Madam president does guardian angels do they still talk of a phase to like they were before and those properties right brought have restrictions right height restrictions M president so Guardian Angels owns the area north of their building up to Highway 101 basically to carrick's landing park so um they do have the intent at some point in the future to develop that it's like a mirror they we're talking a miror
actually that one time they discussed more like a senior independent living oh single level Town development uh that would help transition into the building that's there because they have independent Apartments assisted and then Memory Care within that so it would make it that much more complete campus okay makes sense I mean that seems to be the model right for example St Tre buil in cor [Music] CR M president
set curiosity do we know how crs's marketing properties that are available I would say your your generic marketing efforts for commercial or retail or industrial and broker so a website uh listing a property flyer which we do have also on the City website um they
do have signage at um I assume that they're mentioning those those Parcels when they're approached by people looking for land within the city as options you know if they suit what they're looking to develop summarize it as that mam president CRS did just bring in a potential inquiry that probably isn't right for that site but they are because them they came in and talked with us now we've helped them locate a different site
that hopefully we can put them on a Queens AV so that's good so I guess it is moving so one of the benefits of CRS is that they also deflect inquiries that the city's not interested in um the city could have developed Mini Storage 10 times over on that site but definitely not a priority for cability location so makes sense um just a comment
attended um some other communities um Area Chamber events one of the things that I've seen for other communities um it's advertisements um on the screen like for you know sponsors or what have you it's advertisements build in Maple grad build in Woodburry you know you know certain sites and certain things and it's um I thought it was kind of
inter at other communities are sponsoring events to help facilitate sale property not I'm not suggesting that we need to do that at this point in time um it's a interesting idea does so to kind of picky back on Michelle does that right County basically help us with that since we all are part of the group that they're kind of marketing each City that joins that group for us so it's more of a
larger pool right there there group called The Economic Development partnership I mentioned earlier there kind of a pseudo Eda on behalf of all of BR County and its member cities that would also help um you know they commonly send out um greater MSP or often send out RPS for development the right County DP does that kind of Ro they they have a
strong business membership and can help advertise for that when the time is right but they're also County light and and represent other cities so they entirely on behalf of the city of ATO but they are a resource to people looking to locate here M president yes do we still um we have we have the Elk River chamber but we still belong to the I94 and advertise then we I think we stopped it
one point because we didn't find any benefit is it just the AL chamber we have Madam president uh both Chambers the city is uh um at one point the city was including paid advertisements within certain yeah uh Economic Development magazines or distributions where the city was advertising for development and and
paying for that Ser um we have ceased that up until now um again it's something that there aren't funds available in the budget to help with marketing efforts if if that's something that you believe is is helpful um for the C to does the chamber itself like try to bring business like that with land or promote land or typically the a chamber is more a member Society they have resourcing networking right they're
they're not an economic development agency okay Madam president uh we are running up against our time so there's any other questions motion toour don't move there secondy seconded by Tina any discuss all those in favor signify by saying I I all those oppose same
sign meeting is ended thank you all for attending and our meeting will start in six minutes questions council member
good evening everyone I'd like to welcome you to the ATO city council meeting Audra tonight is Monday February 10th can you have the record show that our City attorney is online our city planners present our city Engineers present along with all MERS and our city administrator at this time I will ask you all to join us in the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States
of America and for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you our first item this evening is our open Forum this is the portion of the meeting where you can come to the state your name and address and limit comments to five minutes or less would anyone like to speak at this time okay seeing the
one audience member shake his head no we're good all right we'll move on to our agenda for approval does anyone have anything that they would like to add or delete at this time Adam nothing for me okay M May oh ran we'll go you both said say we'll go with briyan and then we'll go Cory and move to approve the agenda is written is there a second I second it okay uh
motion by Ryan seconded by Michelle is there any discussion Adam yes am I able to pull 3.3 to to move it yeah to bring it down yeah and are you okay with that yeah so I will amend my motion to bring down 3.3 okay I second it okay you're okay with the
amended you're okay amended motion okay so Audra you have that reflected all right is there any more discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I all those oppose same sign motion passes moving on consent agenda a motion would be in order Madame mayor yes right I move to approve the consent agenda as amended okay is there a second second motion
by Ryan seconded by Tina is there any discussion all those in by saying I I I all those oppose same sign motion passes item under we'll do 4.1 which was item 3.3 okay Corey uh thank you Madame mayor I just had a had a question maybe to interpret the rules for for spe special pay
I was looking back in um some of the historical uh meeting minutes from when I was on before and um it seems to me like and I'm not not calling anybody out specifically but that you are eligible to get special pay if you were an alternate um for for a sub or commission um
or the liaison and if you were not um you were not eligible to get special PID for that so I just looking um the staff or the rest of the council um what your thoughts are on that I I would agree with you Corey I have brought this up before um if you're not
part of parks or a lison then I feel that you shouldn't pay you can join you can come but if you're not a part of that I don't feel that you should get special P my personal opinion I guess that's what my recollection was from before I didn't know if the the rules have changed or um I Madam mayor there there is city code language around this but ultimately it references the needs to be placed on
the agenda for Council approval and so staff really leaves um this up to you to deter what should be applied for special meeting compensation or event attendance compensation so there's the city code language but uh staff puts it on the agenda usually as as submitted by each of you and um you are the ones approving it but look for a direction uh from all of you on if you want city code
to be modified uh or if you want to just continue approving it like you have been so it's really up to the five of you mam May yes I think just to be consistent with history um you know the dollar amount hasn't changed in many many years and I think the rues there for a reason um I guess that's my take on it you
know we're trying to do our best to um nobody's gonna make huge money in in local government and uh I I just think we all need to be on the same Playing Fields with that to start off with you know clean mayor I I can add an agenda item to the uh special meeting on February 26 was kind of the council orientation
discussion is a a topic for discussion if you want or general concurrence on what the city code says or what you want to authorize each of your council members to be compensated for it might be a better advocate for discussion on the topic so everyone good M mayor I think I can just say right now because I know the only one that could be discussed right now is me because I'm the only one that attends
other commission meetings and I put it on my time card because my understanding of precedent and code is that anytime a council member goes to a commission meeting they are receiving information they are representing the city perhaps not as liais on but they are attending and I have attended every commission meeting in person I can this in the past where members of the council have attended
via zoom and still put the um charge uh on their time sheet I don't think that's consistent but I've approved it in the past um see why we would change it now um just for the record I worked I clocked 1,091 hours last year working on city council business for that I was compensated around $6,000 so I'm making about $6 an hour
this is not anything this is a following the policy following the ordinance and uh I believe that council members should be compensated for the work that they do so can I make another comment in regards to that then so what about Council you put in your $45 uh you were the only one that did that that is I would disagree with that um we had something that evening in regards to that in in past years we've had it
on opposite evenings so in regards stated I would neglect to say that Council photos should be charged $45 it we've done that in the past it's usually a separate night from what I had asked Audra and usually photos are separate night from a meeting or anything else we have I'm not sure I'm following your point
my point is we're not doing you're putting in for Council photos when they're photos you're not doing work you're taking you're getting photos done okay we had to arrive here early to take the photos that was a special meeting it had to be noticed I would agree that no one else put
it on time but I I I can recall we've done it in the past I again this is we're talking $45 here I'm the the insinuation that I am somehow trying to get some extra money here I it's well when you put down for every single thing that you attend yeah it does look that I'm following the ordinance the ordinance says council members shall be paid that's not an option mayor I I
still believe the point is better served as all getting on the same page and being consist about what is applicable and what is not and not about individual charges so I think having a a special meeting topic so that you five can have this conversation and if so necessary direct staff to either revise or or keep city code the same but the important piece is consistency in terms of what each you are believing in um having conversation around that l
so about the individual items Madam M yeah it was there was no way to to call out you Ryan or I just it's something I noticed over the past three or four years and um you know stuff changed after Co you know rules got loose of course with zoom that was all new to us so then I noticed and I brought up at the uh um administrative
committee sub committee as I noticed so it's just kind of you know for Michelle she's new too for El all get on the same page so and and and I have attended every single city council meeting special meeting subcommittee meeting commission meeting and I have done so in person and it's nothing to take away from the effort your effort it's awesome I'm just not just you I've n it
I would tend to agree that I think we do need to get on the same page I've talked to Audra about that before too I think sometimes things were when she's out of the language where in the past some things were not covered or they were covered so I don't think we should this should become a point of us fighting over agreeing to each other's time card I think that seems a little silly too so uh having a discussion at
our Council Workshop would make sense and so maybe we approve our January time card till after we have that in place there's nothing that says we have to do it tonight correct my interpretation would be except again city code outlines that it should be approved by the city council so if the city council wants to table action on that I I can do so what are everyone's thoughts I move to approve the
city council special compensation for January 2025 if there are council members that think that I should not get paid for the work that I did then they shouldn't by motion second motion by Ryan seconded by Corey there any discussion mam mayor that's great yeah I think just to prove it it's just kind of you out there that I think we need
to discuss this so I think we should approve it m mayor I think we should not approve it and um have our discussions because it's it's a good time to do that it's the first of the year it's the beginning of the year and I think we should have that discussion for all of us to be on the same page moving forward I think as part of that discussion as well we should probably maybe set some ground rules for when people do not attend meetings and maybe we should pull back some of their compensation in that
scenario I know Ryan that you don't work and others do such as myself and I know you're relying on me because I may not attend every council meeting I do work um full-time unlike yourself so unfortunately I can't attend every single council meeting it's not because I don't do it's I I can't I'm out of town so I apologize for that but that's or that I think this is better serve that we talk about it I mean it's
it seems like we have some strong opinions here I do believe if I look to Adam on this that state statute Council attendance is different than our special pay since this is we don't approve the council that is just paid and I can appreciate your comment Ryan I can appreciate all of the comments that we've had tonight um right now we have a motion and we have a second um said also agreed that I think that there this could be discussed so it it it
seems like if we're going to change some understanding of what the pay should be then it seems silly to agree to pay this before we have all I guess agreed to what is said and Ryan you're seeing it one way it sounds like as Cory brought it up and Tina's comments that you're not assigned something should you be attending it or or chart you can attend it but should you be charging for it I don't know that's for all of us to decide and move forward do you have
anything else Adam um mayor this one comment I guess that if if there is to be a a new standard or a new code language that that would be applicable going forward not to change past practice or attendance so that's what opposite way to look at it I guess okay Dave you're online do you have any comments well I would agree with Adam in terms
of if there's going to be some change to the understanding or there was not a meeting of the minds previously I guess I'd recommend that if this is just the January uh pay cards that you probably approve those because that was on the previous understanding and then any change going forward everyone will be on the same page um so that's just my recommendation doesn't mean you have to do that there is a motion and second to I think approve the January time cards uh if
you want to make a a change to the policy after that everyone would understand what that is and could adjust their time cards going forward there any more discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I all those oppos same sign motion passes and Adam you will add that to our agenda for discussion uh yes mayor
for February 26 with I was Reon all right we are under city council reports and updates does anyone have anything yes um I just wanted to let you know I had a chance uh meet with Kurt and his crew and take a tour of the biosolids building it was my first chance to see that so I got the full Grand Tour um the smell wasn't the most Pleasant
thing in the world but at certain points but I was really you know for the facilities and how everything was run appreciate Kurt and the guys showing that umos to the plow I'm sure the guys were really excited to get out and Ed plows this past weekend I didn't get any emails so we must have in mail boxes can I confirm nor Den well I guess
I should say my email was down and so I'm struggling in with new emails with the conversion maybe there's an email in there that waiting for you at home ex does anyone else have anything for city council reports and updates I uh will say last or two Tuesdays ago um we had our I94 chamber event that let you guys would be attending Adam and I Audra and Heidi attended that the Tuesday
after our last city council meeting was great to showcase the city um it was the soldout attendance at Rockwoods lot of good things happening in other community stud nice nice event they do a really good job putting that on mam president yes I'm not president thise um so I attended the um League
of Minnesota City trainings last weekend I it was very educational I did appreciate it great um it was um a wonderful opportunity to understand uh the risks involved in um and what what the city taking on somebody like me so I apprec I appreciate the opportunity to get educated and um met some wonderful people bumped into um I'm trying to
remember his name from from manelo new council member um and uh for for the most part it was you know Southern State attendees um uh but very very beneficial I found it um extremely helpful to understand the different scenarios and then there there was some really uh good um kind of talked about different engagement uh strategies um between West St Paul
and St Peter and Carver City of Carver so that was really interesting shared some my comments with Adam or takeaways and stuff with Adam from from that glad you got to go yeah they're very good we three of us are attending in two weeks yep and right yeah Adam yes cor um I had
spoke with uh Chad the right County um streets right yeah engineer um he had mentioned I think that there was going to be an open house coming up for on the 18th next Tuesday yes um to discuss the the road construction the virtual is tomorrow oh okay you should have gotten a little postcard in mail is it and we got you know mayor the postcards only went to the people on West Side basically either side of gu that's what
I was wondering a certain radius I was like I did not get a I did there is also I am on the east side there's also information linked on the city's website to the right County page that was set up so is it limited to just that radius or can I plan to attend on public open from what he told me it was proposing two roundabouts one at mckyer and one at is it marks there's roundabouts
at the two exit ramps 94 one at Lyman Avenue which is where you turn to go to Em's MacGyver Avenue MacGyver Marlo which would be a city roundabout so five just for this year I think well three will be built this year and the last two on The Interchange Bridge would be built in 2026 and there's there's a lot of questions about Costco like we talked about before or was working closely mayor Costco's planning on starting work
as soon as possible this spring so you'll see TRS moving they've signed their development agreement the final plan it's in the process of being reported good de thank you all right does anyone else have anything for city council reports and updates right moving on to staff reports and updates Adam mayor uh Council we are City will be closed next Monday uh February
17th for the president State heall uh this coming Friday I'll will be conducting a session here in the chambers uh the leadership Elk River Group which is a sub chapter of the Elk River Chamber of Commerce uh so we'll be doing a presentation for 15 to 20 people that are um interested in gaining Leadership Learning about government and from here they'll go visit um other cities and Elk River also usually make a stop at sh County government as well so uh doing that Friday morning
no additional updates thank you for doing that for them you're welcome yeah that's awesome thank you mayor um this Thursday just remind everyone we have our advisory commission interviews and there are 13 interviews scheduled and we're doing that up front yes fire side Okay C Center what's the time limit we give 15 minutes for each interview 15 minutes between each one so hopefully it takes maybe 10 minutes and you can discuss the applicants
along for a little time in between we we usually uh each take questions each of us and ask them determine that Thursday yeah of wherever we sit and take same questions thank you that's all I have Dave I have no updates thank you mayor Okay danan no Okay Ron
uh next Council M we'll have a trunk water M before you for plan approval it's Odin Avenue from uh Casa 38 North to 77th Street to provide another loop and node for the city perfect anything else no okay all right if no one else has anything then a motion to adourn would be in
order motion by Tina seconded by Cory is there any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I all those oppose same sign meeting is ended thank you all for attending