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good evening it's now 6:30 and I call to order the regular meeting of the Victoria city council please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible liy
and justice for all the first item on our agenda this evening is announcements our next Workshop will be held Monday February 24th at 5:00 pm during this Workshop there will be an update on Transportation projects and the council will interview applicants for both the park and rec committee and the senior advisory committees additionally we'll conduct interviews for the Planning Commission on Monday March 10th at 5:30 p.m.
during our Council Workshop committee appointments for planning commission senior advisory committee and our park and wreck committee will be considered and announced at the council meeting on Monday March 10th all meetings of the city council are open to the public and held in the council chambers at City Hall unless otherwise noted we encourage anyone wanting to attend our Council meetings or workshops in person to contact our city clerk in advance in other announcements we invite you to subm submit nominations for our community Builder award which recognizes individuals or groups who make
a difference in our community each June the city honors an individual Group business or organization that exemplifies outstanding volunteerism and a deep commitment to a brighter future for Victoria nominations are due by March 31st for any questions or additional information about the program please reach out to our Communications and public engagement director Kendrick grw that concludes the announcements for this evening and our next order of
business is to adopt the final agenda Council can I get a motion to adopt the final agenda motion to adopt the final agenda we have a motion can I get a second second we have a motion and a second all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion carries our next item is the open Forum this is the opportunity for anyone to address the Council on an item that is not in the A on the agenda and not an application form that will be coming to the council at a future date um if is there anyone no one has registered in advance to speak but is there anyone in the
audience who would like to address the council on an item that's not on the agenda and not in application form coming to the council at a future date seeing no one we'll move on to the next item which is the consent agenda items on the consent agenda are routine administrative and do not require deliberation or are housekeeping items that are required by law consent agenda items are approved with one vote unless someone requests an item to be considered separately Miss Hardy does staff wish to pull anything from
the consent agenda this evening none from staff m Madam mayor is there anyone on the council wishing to pull something from the consent agenda this evening or a member of the audience who would like to pull something from the consent agenda for separate discussion and vote seeing none I will may have a motion for the consent agenda motion to adopt the consent agenda second you have a motion and a second all in favor
signify by saying I I I any opposed motion Carri Ares now moving on to our regular agenda the first item this evening item 6.1 is a call for the business subsidy public hearing and Inland for Inland development Partners presenting this evening is our community and economic development director Jen Brewington and our Northland financial planner Tommy amdall Miss Brewington you're going to kick us off this evening please thank you mayor members of the council tonight I'll be giving a brief overview of a business subsidy application that we have received and then I'm going to turn over to Tammy
for some more details you the city has received an application from Inland development Partners requesting tax increment financing Tiff assistance to support the development of 162 unit apartment building the proposed project will include 129 market rate units and 33 affordable units designed for households earning up to 50% of the area median income known as Ami to establish a tiff district for affordable housing the city council must first hold a public hearing to review the request this hearing will allow the city
council to evaluate whether the proposed Tiff District provides Community benefits such as affordable housing and to address any public concerns following the hearing the city council will assess public input review the Project's alignment with Community objectives and determine whether to proceed with the establishing the Tiff District the project is located approximately 4.1 Acres the Marshall development is situated the northwest of the property Cony Road 11 Victoria Drive runs north south along the eastern boundary of the subject property providing
access to Mar Marsh and the surrounding areas within the Victoria Ridge Development I will now turn over to Tammy omdal for an interview of Tiff and the request from Inland development Partners when Tammy is finished there will be an opportunity to talk with the developers who are in the audience tonight very good thank you Miss amdall welcome thank you mayor council Tammy UMD with Northland Public Finance I'm going to speak to Tiff in general I know for some of the council it's been a while or maybe the first time that you're considering a tax increment
financing district and note tonight the resolution is the start of the process it's calling for the public hearing so tonight I'm not here to present on the proposed terms for assistance that are specific those details will come over the next several weeks and there's a statutory process that first must be followed tax increment financing um there's a bunch of bullet points I'll let you read those but in general tax increment financing is a Public Finance tool it is the main Public Finance
tool that allows a city or an authority that's established by the city to capture the increase in local property taxes to assist that development a development that you find ultimately um when you would conclude the process that that proposed project whatever that may be specific to a tiff District would not occur but for that assistance so it's a very powerful tool because it allows you to capture not only the city property
tax but the county the school district and the the other special taxing jurisdictions it does not allow when there is commercial property that is subject to State Property Tax which is not the case with the Inland application because that is for housing but commercial property that is not housing pays state property taxes Tiff under Minnesota law cannot be captured for that purpose and the school referendum tax cannot be captured so when this project comes before you and you see
more details on the increment just note that that the school district would enjoy immediate benefit from that increase related to the school referendum taxes if you can go to the next slide so the purpose of tax increment financing is to stimulate development where it would not otherwise occur and there's some statutory language when you get to that point after a future public after the public hearing is held where you make that finding that but for this assistance that the project as proposed
would not occur in the reasonable foreseeable future so it's a a very prescribed process that you go through before I would note that um even though the city has a business subsidy policy that this falls under under state law housing does not fall under a business subsidy so really the purpose of providing tax increment financing to housing is to assist with that ordable housing development in this case it's a market rate project with an affordable
component that would be in compliance with the requirements of the Tiff law so some background on that if you can go to the next slide to the examples of types of Tiff District on slide six I'll let her get there so tonight and sticking with the kind of a tiff 101 just note there are different types of tax increment financing districts under state law the most common types are listed there Redevelopment district with the Redevelopment District not
applicable to this application it's really on land that has buildings and those buildings are found to be substandard as well as meeting certain coverage tests Redevelopment districts have a very longterm up to 26 years renewal and renovation districts are similar to Redevelopment districts but the bar is not as high with respect to the findings Economic Development districts for the most part that
refers to Industrial Development warehousing distribution not relevant here but that is a type of Tiff District that is available to cities the last one housing District which allows state law allows for a term of 26 years to capture the increment that is relevant to this application that you received um the type of Tiff District it would qualify for a housing District if you can go to the next slide Tammy just to just to confirm that is up to 26 years it doesn't mean that that's
just the m maximum right that is AB correct that's true with those other type of districts that I had listed that state law allows up to that really the amount of years depends on the amount of assistance that is needed for the project to be feasible so under no case can it exceed in a case of a housing District 26 years but there are examples where it it can be less than those the 26 years depending on the facts for the project yep so a
housing Tiff District on slide seven just checking in there um that is the type of Tiff District which would be applicable to this application with respect to the city's numbering this would be Tiff district 10 so Tiff districts are established within boundaries of development districts in the case of Victoria the city council has established Municipal development District number one and that is coterminous with the boundaries of the city
so there will be a modification to to the development District because the proposed area of this development was subject to annexation so the boundaries of the development district will change as a result of that it's just the way that state law um works and when pooling is applicable that development District boundaries mean something in this case it will the assistance and the project be will be geographically specific to where the housing project will be the Tiff District um the developer
has made application I I have reviewed it I am not here to present terms tonight but I would note that preliminarily that this would be proposed to be a 15-year District that could change before it is brought the final agreement before the council but mayor in line with your question that you asked of Me based upon preliminary review and discussions with the developer it looks like this may be limited in that case um the Tiff District would be established with a 15-year maximum and then it would end
after the developer is re paid or the 15year term is reached whichever occurs first and we will get into more of those details at the public hearing when that resolution of approval is before you the third bullet point here Revenue derived from a housing District must be used solely to finance the cost of the housing project so you can't say well if we only give x to the developer in this District could we used y to assist with other development in the city or parking
or other things that is not allowable with the housing District it has to be used to provide for those affordable housing units that are proposed if you can go to the next slide slide eight with a housing district and your ability and authority to establish it that the city must require that the developer meet certain um income requirements and the state law is written as such for rental housing projects that either 40% of the units
must be leased to persons with income at 60% of the areawide mediate income or 20% of the units rented to families with incomes at or below 50% for this project in the application the developer is proposing 20% of the units at 50% of Ami the way the Tiff law works and the financing that is proposed for this project there's not rent restrictions there are restrictions on income and that
the developer over the life of the district will have to certify to the city that they in fact have income qualified a minimum number of units pursuant to the requirements of state law and what will be pursuant to the requirements of the development agreement that will be before them so can I ask a question so the numbers you have there the so it's e it's those two right there's no you know we're going to up it by two right it's it's the 40%
at 60 or 20 at 50 that's that is correct and their minimums so for example the city couldn't say well we would be comfortable if there were 10% of the units at 50% Ami the city pursu your development agreement could require more than what state law requires but you could not um require less than what is required or in statute thank you Tammy can you also tell us what 50% of Ami is do you know that number so I think and I I have this in that
memo I think it's add mayor I don't even want to I was about ready to say number let me get that number to staff to share with you so I quote the correct number thank you Jen if you could make note to have me follow up that thank you so on um analysis for Tiff assistance on slide nine so the analysis involves determining how much Tiff is needed for the project questions asked and answered that must be answered is the
Tiff assistance necessary this isn't to increased returns to the developer this is to provide for affordable housing that otherwise would not occur if there is a a need for it how much assistance is needed the preliminary analysis suggests the 15-year term and I'll get into some dollar amounts in a moment and keep in mind I'm not here tonight to present on that development agreement but we thought it would be helpful to give you some preliminary indication in this case the developer and their applications and discussions it has
moved quickly meaning they been very forthcoming with information so we're further along and having some of this to share at a very early point which is not always the case when you're calling for the public hearing so um I'm going to um jump to or excuse me the objectives provide the minimum assistance for project feasibility I like to use the term win-win what is the amount of assistance needed in order for the city to accomplish its goals and objective and for the developer to have a successful
project mitigating risk to the city city as proposed and requested from the developer this would be entirely Pago the city would not be providing any fun funds UPF front the um pledge would be the increment that is available if the increment is less than what is projected at time establish on the district the city would only provide up to that amount and if it's more it means the developer would be paid reimburse sooner for those eligible costs than what was projected this would not be a
general obligation of the city meaning you're not putting the full faith in credit pledge behind that assistance is solely will be payable from the tax increment on a payo basis which mitigates the risk to the city on slide 10 preliminary Tiff assumptions for Tiff District 1- emphasizing the preliminary again the estimated average annual taxing increment from the project is approximately 380,000 um the annual over
the life of the district the developer would receive 90% of the increment for reimbursement of up to 3 million of Housing Development costs on a payo basis with interest based on a maximum term of 15 years project costs would entirely be financed by the developer the developer would be reimbursed semiannually for project cost as Tiff revenue is generated over time the reason it's semiannually is
because taxes are paid semiannually the Tiff Revenue note issued to the developer as noted would be payable solely from the tax increment generated which varies we don't know what future tax rates will be we don't know what future assessed value will be each year over that 15-year period so the actual increment will vary but what we do know is it would not exceed the agreed to amount at the front City would
use up to 10% of increment to reimburse Administration cost and can you go to the next slide I'm going to show you a snapshot here and this is just a snapshot of ultimately what will be in What's called the tax increment financing plan but just to give you a big picture so for the total life of the district about 5.7 life of the district here's 15 years 5.7 million of increment generated to give some room for potential while the city sits not sits has cash on hand before payments
are made interest and investment earnings of 50,000 that's a placeholder amount but what I want to draw your attention to how Tiff would be used it would be used to reimburse land acquisition costs of approximately 2.2 million and site Improvement and preparation costs that the developer would Finance in addition to the land acquisition of 1.2 the administrative cost is not a windfall to the city that's only to reimburse actual costs City will
not encourage I can't imagine 576 72,000 of cost what the city does not use of that for admin cost would be excess increment it is returned to the county at the end of the district for redistribution to the city the county and the school district but those numbers are estimate depends on actual cost there's also an interest expense component because you are paying pay on a payo basis means as they pay their property taxes twice a year they
get reimbursed from that that's payable with interest that is very common practice in assisting private development and the reason for the interest payment of the from the increment to the developer is the city is not providing any assistance upfront they have to finance that cost of the land acquisition and the site improvements so the present value is the reimbursement of that um site Improvement cost so again this is early
you will see this again with final numbers when we're at the hearing and you're considering approval of the development agreement I'm going to turn the presentation back to Jen to talk about the timeline and then mayor council I'd be happy to come back with there's questions thank you Miss alall Miss brington please all right well excuse me a timeline has been established for the Tiff District in the approval of the plan so after this evening uh March 18th the County Commissioners will be notified of the hearing on March 28th the county and School District are notified of the hearing
and receive a copy of the draft plan on April 1st the plan commission reviews the draft plan and adopts the resolution of findings for its Conformity to the general development plans of the city then that hearing notice is published in the newspaper on April 17th and then finally on April 28th a public hearing is held and a resolution is adopted to establish the Tiff District along with the approval of the development assistance agreement so with that mayor and council members I have a sample motion on
the screen here and like Tammy mentioned the developers are also here in the audience for questions very good thank you Council questions comments discussion I don't think I have any questions um we have the developers in the audience if you would like to approach the podium and share anything with us that you would like us to know please do so
um mayor members of the council uh my name is Tom shaer I'm a managing partner at Inland development Partners so we're pleased to be uh in front of you today with the project uh uh working closely with Tammy and staff uh they're very good I happen to chair our housing Redevelopment Authority for my community for past 20 years and I can bring Tammy up to give the tip 101 she did a very good job and it's a she does a wonderful
job with that so I'm here to address any questions you've seen us before relative to our our proposed project its size scope and the things that we're trying to do a schedule working with the Jen and staff here working through the schedule it can move fairly quickly we're um moving a uh whis speed on it so we're I'm here to address any questions you have over our project associated with the Tiff component of it at this time and I I do have a question for
you Mr schaer um you know we've you know affordable housing is a big buzzword all around the state of Minnesota everybody's looking for it everybody's trying to find some is is this Tiff tool that we're we are looking to be providing you will that be enough to allow you to provide the number of units that you're proposing or are you seeking additional support from other like state is are there any state resources out there Federal resources that can help on this project there are but not for
kind of this combined market rate because we're facing the same thing with our within our community and trying to yeah develop in this uh day in time given the cost and affordability of new construction um using your tool you know Tiff as the tool and the uh areas that we're bringing down to 50% Ami which you've heard explanation I do have a chart that I'm going to share with Tammy so she might be able to come up and address your question may Rel to what Ami means relative to you different
household SI size but what that does provide us is you know 20% of the units within this project to remain affordable through the duration of the district and it's a a very powerful tool that can be used absent of that uh there are State uh opportunities uh Lite credits you may have heard of these but they're very competitive and hard to get the pool of litech dollars is not significant and the applic applications are significant so those pools get drained fairly
quickly there's no federal programs that I'm aware of to support what we're all trying to do within our communities with more affordable housing within our new developments or even for that matter our naturally occurring and maintaining the naturally occurring affordable within our communities as well very good um another question and I lost it that's okay I hate when that happens um oh I know what I was going
to say what what's the makeup of the affordable units are they you know are they just a mix of two-bedroom three bedroom what are you guys what are you proposing for that they're going to be a mix of uh all product type so we've got it broken down and I can in plan right now we've got uh um of the 33 units that are being proposed four will be Al Cove units which are smaller kind of one-bedroom units uh 14 uh units are going to be one bedroom and then 15 units are two-bedroom we're not building any three-bedroom projects in this
particular project given the housing that's going to be surrounding us to support those three-bedroom families okay thank you all right Council other questions for the developer mam doll I guess I have a couple questions are these units do they look any different than the market rate units are they exactly the same all right some of these questions I have are for public record and just for the public to hear and understand and I'm not sure if this
should go more to you Tammy but 10% administration fee on a tiff district is the maximum that a city can charge correct mayor council member so the 10% is is not charged to the developer the city can use up to 10% of the Tiff that's collected from the county to reimburse or pay for administration costs in this case and it's actual Administration cost so it can't be used to go into the general fund for
other purposes it's given the amount it's highly unlikely that the city would use that roughly half million dollar for admin cost so to answer your question yes it is limited but it is not a charge to the developer it's just a maximum that the city can use of the increment that it receives from the county that we get and withhold and then don't pay back but then we will have to pay it back at the end of the Tiff duration and that will be up to the city um and finance director recommending to
you that you can return it sooner as you go but are not required to you just can't exceed that 10% probably should have asked this before but this development I mean it's going to happen without the Tiff we just wouldn't have an affordable housing component of the development is that correct so the developer would have to answer that but the developer has already attested that the affordable units would not happen without the Tiff
assistant so I can let them if you'd like them to come back to speak to the market rate council member Pon if is there anything else for Tammy I think I'm good with that but thank you I appreciate it you're thank you Mr Schaefer if you approach the podium I'm curious about that question too but for the will the will the project go forward with or without the Tiff just on an affordable component um uh without the affordable component I should say mam mayor uh the the reality
is no Tiff is going to be required regardless and the affordability component does go to offset some of the cost relative to hitting a minimum yield threshold that we've been sharing through performer with staff and with your fiscal consultant okay thank you yep right member Pon that answer all your questions yeah I'm not sure if this is the proper time but what if it doesn't work out or is there a limitation to selling the actual development once it's been built um you know let's
say it's put up and 3 years from now there's 50% residency 10% of it is affordable housing um you know basically have vacancies because there isn't enough out here have problems paying the the property taxes what happens then uh that would be a failed project obviously for whole host of reasons we're s um putting up relative our debt and financing package significant equity as
well so the other thing the equity would be you pushed out um you know first and so we would be our debt provider would then take over the project and secure it uh you know with financing I don't we're not assuming that to happen that's not something that has happened on any of our projects you know to date it's something that we play for that downside risk though and we' mitigated to a point where feel we feel very comfortable with the growth in the community that will be successful so it's a great question one of those that
developers wake up uh in the middle of night sweating sometimes well I wake up sweating just thinking about the community go we have got this giant complex down here with nobody living in it but rabbits and possums and I don't want to see that happen so I'm assuming you've done your due diligence but it's a question I just would like to ask I quite frankly that's one of the areas that we focus a majority of our attention before we're even here before you tonight is this uh market feasibility we've got a in-depth Market
study looking at the various competition you know through our team we've got uh over 2,000 units under management we built several thousands of units as well and so I say that to try to give you some comfort that we don't come into these meetings without doing significant due diligence beforehand it's not a trust me but I mean it's our money that has rest so I appreciate your your concerns and it does keep us up at night
sometimes understood thank you you're welcome okay any other questions comments from Council all right seeing none I will entertain a motion motion for approval of the resolution calling for a public hearing on modification of the development program for development District number one in a tax increment financing plan for tax increment financing District number 1-10 thank you
can I get a second second let's give that to council member peton we have a motion and a second all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed motion carries next item on our agenda item 6.2 is our 2024 year and strategic Plan update presenting that item this evening is assistant city manager Lissa Nelson Miss Nelson welcome hello mayor and councel thank you for having me um tonight we are going to
be doing our year end strategic plan report for the 2024 year um for those new and for those Folks at home that are watching um just as a recap Council went through a very long Workshop discussion in 2021 and as part of that discussion they adopted eight different strategic priorities which include um infrastructure and transportation economic Vitality Housing and Community character service Excellence engagement in communication Public Safety Recreation and culture and
then environmental sustainability and within those eight priorities there was also 123 initiatives or projects that were adopted as part of the Strategic plan that Council and staff the city overall um work together on to hopefully finish um within that threeyear time frame now as you see this uh strategic plan is more than three years at the end of 2023 Council made a decision to extend the Strategic plan an additional year as the priorities and initiatives still um met the the
needs of the city at the time so now we're looking at the end of the fourth year and the completion end of the Strategic plan so tonight what we'll do is just do a brief recap of how we met those goals and then what we'll do is we pulled out a few different highlights uh a few different project highlights um that were done in the last year and we just want to share that with you as well as the community um I do note that all 123 initiative uh
reporting is in the Agenda Report for tonight and then after this uh presentation we will be taking this information making it into a formalized reporting document which will then be posted on the website so with that um out of the 123 initiatives um at the end of the Strategic plan report we have completed 114 of them so that's 93% so it's still an a um the nine that were not completed were either um not funded or
not budgeted for strategically or um they happen to be currently in progress an example of one that happens to be in progress is um placemaking opportunities with downtown and downtown west as we look at Phase One and phase two of that project so moving into some of our highlights the first one we have for you is under the infrastructure and transportation umbrella um we're highlighting the connectivity of our list stations to fiber um in 2024 we
saw a great achievement in um bolstering the reliability and security of our communication systems between our critical infrastructure sections um previously what we had and it's a standard um radio connectivity um however that system provided challenges due to the vulnerability that uh weather interference played into that and sometimes cause occurrences of false alarms so what we ended up doing is leveraging arpa dollars to light dark fiber connections dark fiber connections that
were ready in the ground they were installed um in 2016 17 18 and 19 however at that time there was uh not funding to purchase the equipment and the staff time to actually light them up for that actual connectivity leveraging those arpa dollars we were able to provide um the equipment to to light those and now there is a direct connection between those specific sites and the water treatment plan now for areas where fiber connectivity isn't available
yet um we did uh explore alternative options and install alternatives to our radio system um that includes cellular as well as pointto Point um providing again a more secure more reliable connectivity between you know things like our lift stations and our booster stations to our water treatment plant and then additionally um the city's participation in Carver County's Carver link program um with Metronet will help us expand our fiber connections um throughout our city and throughout our
city facilities as Metronet continues their project of installing fiber throughout the throughout the cud so our next highlight is economic Fatality and our initiative we're highlighting here is development of our downtown west um as you know this has been a project years in the making over 15 years that the city has held on to this site and just within these last couple of weeks we've actually broke ground on the site so that's been a pretty exciting update um specifically in 202 for um Council
you issued a request for a proposal an RFP to look at the development of phases two and three of this site um and then even at last meeting um Council you selected Victoria DT LLC previously known as Monarch development to help guide you through that development process and guide the visioning um of what downtown west is going to look like for phase two and or phase two and phase three and you can't forget um obviously phase
one um we just had our successful Brown ging ceremony a couple of weeks ago um which features a 145 unit market rate apartment building um that will be right at the Cornerstone of our downtown area on the Southeastern Corner next we are highlighting Public Safety specifically exploring future policing Services um we're pleased to introduce our first ever Community
safety officer CSO Rachel dorf um following extensive conversations um at the council level the city partnered with Carver County Sheriff's Office to bring this very important um Public Safety position to our community and Rachel started with us in April of this last year 2024 um as a CSO Rachel plays a pivotal role in enhancing our Public Safety in our community she assists with crime prevention she maintains a visible presence in our community um and
most importantly she Fosters a positive relationship between law enforcement and community members specifically what you might see your around town uh getting into is performing Animal Control both domestic and Wildlife uh assisting with traffic control responding to non-emergency calls uh educating members of our community on statutes as well as uh ordinances and then um enforcing our city ordinances and then lastly um attending Community engagement events and you
can see her as well as con member right you're spotlighted on the screen um where she attended our night toight event in this last year and then our last highlight for you is under environmental sustainability which is exploring ways to improve Water Treatment Plant efficiency we do this in a number of ways obviously there's ways to maintain our equipment and our facility better but also there's an educational practice that we try and do this last year we introduced water
drop educational program so you might have saw us at different City events or community events such as classic cars with our big jugs of water trying to educate the public on how the water from the ground gets to the water in their facets and their homes um and then in addition this last year we also worked with Carver County to provide a program that encourages homeowners to be more efficient with their irrigation um and their sprinkler system and this program um is more or less a
rebate program through Carver County where residents can purchase a smart irrigation controller that can help save them up to 50% on water out uh of outdoor water usage they this specific controller um can connect to your smartphone it can link to weather um local weather so it won't actually turn on in the rain um and you can customize the schedule for individual yards as well and this is in addition to the many other rebates that the City offers when it comes to water efficiency we have a grant through the
state of Minnesota so if people are interested they can get a rebate for um smart dishwashers um clothes washers toilets faucets shower heads such and such and if anyone is interested in those type of programs we have all the information on our City's website the applications are on there as well you can also call the city's main number and someone will be gladly to help walk you through the process now that's mayor and Council that's just a brief up update but again
we do have the the complete report on the 123 initiatives on the city's website and again or will be on the city's website but it's also currently in the agenda packet um but with that I will pause here and see if you have any questions thank you very much Miss Nelson this this has been a a yearslong project and I need to commend the staff on their good hard work on this we uh 130 43 initiatives is not a small number and uh they have managed that very well
and and uh done a beautiful job on that so um my kudos to the staff on all of that Council questions comments on this great job over 90% yeah excellent we like an to get through the next 10% with this extension what could we do to make it easier for you you know we actually did do the extension so the extension was for 2024 year but um I do believe we're going to start looking
at the next upcoming strategic plan for 2025 and I anticipate a lot of those nine will continue into that next three years of strategic plan fair enough very good all right anything else from Council all right I don't think uh we we don't need to take any action on this item this was informational only so thank you very much Miss Nelson for that and uh please share our gratitude with the rest of the team we appreciate that so with that Council there are no more items on our regular agenda this evening
so let's move on to reports and emerging issues attorney B you're up first here Council um nothing particular but just give me one minute um I I you you thank the staff mayor for the good work on the Strategic Plan update I want to thank you for staying on that uh keeping your staff on that you know I've got eight cities where I sit here and and give legal advice none of the Cities I work with are as um intentional about keeping up on their plan and Reporting on their plan it's really fun frankly for me to
see the things that the work the little tiny piece of work that I get to put into things and the good result at the end of it so I I appreciate that and then I would just say about in in the plan um Alissa rightly pointed out that one of the things that your staff's going to work frankly really hard on um let's be honest is this code update uh project which I'm probably the only person that's excited about that because lawyers are get excited about code updates it's a it's a it's an arduous process though so and we that's been kicked off and I've gotten to have a
few touches on that and I appreciate the work that staff is doing on that that's it's just not an easy job and there last thing I I don't want to I shouldn't get to steal the Thunder but I'm excited about a project that may bring some additional Telecom connectivity to your community that you might have heard a little bit about and your community will hear more about and that's I think that's exciting for any community and great for yours so appreciate appreciate being able to get a little insight into all the work that your staff is doing yeah well thank you I it's we think we do a great job but it's always
nice when somebody who's got some experience with othere yeah it's self-serving of me to say to you that but it's true I mean it's just you're very intentional about it so I appreciate it very good thank you all right uh Miss Hardy anything from staff um yes mayor there's actually two things one for me and then I'll pass it over to our city clerk um to talk about the artwork but um just wanted to note and I know you all know but we wanted to make sure that all of our community members also know that um we went through our bond uh rating
call which is required when we issue bonds those bonds are going to be used to fund the construction of our new fire station and so there's a process that we need to go through that includes writing um I'll say telling our story about why we need the financing and how we're going to support that um and then we sit through a panel of interviews um with the credit rating agency um and just like a normal interview you go through and answer a bunch of question questions related to
the finances and so that process has been complete and we uh have our AAA Bond rating uh reaffirmed so very proud of that that's really great news for all of us what that means for the general public um is that it's savings to you so we get the most when we go out to issue and sell those bonds um we will get the most competitive uh most competition and
most competitive rates and that translates into direct savings over the over for interest over the course of the the bonding so congratulations thank you for your your financial policies and strong financial management that is key as to why um this rating was reaffirmed so congratulations to you all and back at you with the staff I know um Miss Pollock our finance manager works very hard on that along with the rest of
the staff so thank you very much on that Miss edtis fold you're up next uh thank you madam mayor and council members I wanted to point out uh we have our continued partnership with The Talented Deb Zeller and this exhibit uh features um it's called in the footsteps of the Modern Masters and this collection focuses on watercolors they have dis been displayed in Council
chamber since February 3rd and welcome residents to come and explore our artwork and we're open it's available normal business hours 8 to 4:30 Monday through Friday thank you beautiful pictures again thanks to Deb Zeller and her studio for the beautiful artwork that that uh changes over every so often here in the city council chambers anything from the council this evening announcements reports none for
me mayor all right seeing none there are no more items to come before the body this evening so I will entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn we have a motion how about a second second we have a motion and a second all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed motion carries We Stand adjourned