Council Minutes

Minutes/Committee of the Whole
Monday, November 23, 2009 –following JDA

The City Council met as the Committee of the Whole on Monday, November 23, 2009 at following the JDA Meeting in the Council Chambers in City Hall with Mayor Brown presiding. Present: Council Members Bjerke, McNamara, Glassheim, Gershman, Christensen, Bakken, Kreun - 7; Absent: Gershman - 1.

Mayor Brown made the following announcements:

1) Wished ND Guard 188^th Air Defense Artillery a safe deployment and thanked President Gershman for representing the City at the deployment ceremony and noted that the City is proud of the service of these young men and women and will look after their families while they are gone.

2) Commented that we had a busy weekend in the community with several events taking place including on Saturday an Adoption day ceremony at which 9 children were transferred from foster care to their adoptive families, an H1N1 flu shot clinic at Red River High School gymnasium where 500 people were vaccinated, the Empire Arts Center hosted the talented Leo Kottke show, and the Alerus Center conducted their annual Holiday Ball.

3) Wished the community a happy Thanksgiving and invited everyone to attend the lighting of the City Christmas tree on Wednesday at 4:30 under the DeMers Avenue overpass where there will be singing, lighting of the tree and a time to enjoy each others company.

2.1 Applications for exemption of remodeling improvements to residential buildings at various locations.
There were no comments.

2.2 CVB Lease.

There were no comments.

2.3 2009 Sidewalk Warrants.

There were no comments.

2.4 Matter of Alerus Center Task Force

Gershman commented that there will be 4 citizen representatives on the Task Force and encouraged anyone with interest to please contact the Mayor’s Office by December 4. He continued that the first Task Force Meeting will be on Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 5:00 p.m.

2.5 2011-2014 Urban and Regional Program project requests to NDDOT

There were no comments.

2.6 Award bid for portable chemical identifier.

There were no comments.

2.7 Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP)

Christensen stated that at the Finance Development Committee meeting whether to submit an application or to seek a delay of application process to allow for more time on this matter and subsequently held a conference call on Friday with the Director of the State NSP and learned that deadline is that 12/31/09 is the deadline for application and funds must be committed by February 28, 2010 and as a result Hoover will provide a report as to activities to occur in next days and not certain that will be ready to make a decision on this matter until those activities are complete.

Hoover reported that given the deadlines for having application and construction contracts committee has recommended that proceed with redevelopment of the Civic Auditorium site as previously discussed, which included a development by Dakota Commercial on the former parking lot site and by Metroplains on the building site. Hoover continued that they have also had discussion with owner of the Guest House and they are interested in selling the vacant land adjacent to parking lot and we are working with him on appraisal and price and would use some of these funds to cover the purchase of this land. This would allow for Dakota Commercial to proceed with the larger development proposal that they had made and with balance of funds could go to SRO facility and office for Prairie Harvest on lot across from the old post office site. Hoover continued that between now and the deadline will be meeting with developers and try to firm up the hard numbers for the application that we will be submitting. He added that there is a potential shortfall in the part of the project related to the Prairie Harvest facility and have been assured by the State that if that occurs could come back to the State and request additional funding, but are working on this to make sure that we get the application completed on time.

Christensen commented that there maybe some issues with the availability of part of the project and have a different source of funds and may not be available in a timely fashion to get the project approved by the deadline at the State level and so are proceeding on a parallel path with possible alternatives in case that portion of the development can not secure it’s funding to meet the State deadline and at this time the parallel project would be a low-income townhome project which the State has assured us does qualify for the funds.

Christensen stated that this means we may need to go with two projects in the area and then defer the other project until one group gets its funding together and then use other undesignated funds that have come back to the City after the flood that could work in this area and will be working hard in next couple of weeks on the dual applications and will know significantly more in next week or so.

Hoover displayed desired development from the MPO report and areas to be included in the development for residential and commercial. Christensen stated that they may also be able to include funds for a grocery store to be a part of the development, which has long been desired for the downtown area and have had contact with positive response from those contacted.

Bjerke inquired what the admin fee is and commented that he asks to make sure that everyone knows where the funds go and how much of these monies go to fund bureaucracy. Hoover described how the administration fees are allowed to be taken by both federal and state rules.

Bjerke inquired where the money will go once it has been repaid to the City. Hoover replied that like any revolving loan the funds would go into an account that would be reinvested into other similar housing projects in the community and at this time still determining whether those funds should be a loan or a grant.

Bjerke inquired who would be responsible for tearing down the Civic building in the proposed development. Hoover stated that Metroplains would tear down as part of their project, however if need to go a different route with that portion of the development then is speculating that we would use NSP funds to demolish the building and that have the funds available to cover that.

Bjerke commented that in the staff report states that other funding for the SRO will depend on CDBG, NSP, and other government program dollars so wants it noted that this project does not stop taking tax dollars with construction of this facility and by voting yes on this then are also committing to further future funds. Hoover stated that this is a case where could go back to the State for those additional funds and hope is would do that and not have to utilize the other sources listed. Bjerke stated that it’s his belief that the government should not be building homes and are in debt and will be voting no.

Bakken stated that while he does not totally disagree, the money will be spent and if not in our community somewhere else, so we should use it in our community.

2.8 2010 Special Events Program

Gershman stated that he has a concern with the stipulation put on the Grand Cities Children’s Choir allocation and believes that Arts funding should be arts and Events should be events and plans to vote against this item and sees a precedent being set where an arts group not funded by NOVAC will then start coming to events for funding and that is not the intent of these processes. He noted that if you look at some of the others on the list there are several that are seeing reduced amounts from prior years and that is part of the process to wean them off these grant funds as the events become established and able to make them more self-sufficient and there are some that have become very successful at that, such as Potato Bowl. This will free up dollars for new events and noted the Legends of Terror Event that in its first year had 800 people.

Glassheim commented that choir has not been able to get arts funding in the past and no reason to believe that will change in the future and that leads to the reason that the committee made the recommendation they did, as they viewed that as more of a community event than a fine arts performance, so if we keep them out of here they have nowhere to go.

Christensen stated that when he was researching another item found a website with funds that can be applied for to be regranted to arts programs and could be potential $250,000 that we could bring into the community if it’s still available for regranting. He continued that we have in the past discussed forming a municipal arts council and statute allows us to have such and fund it with tax dollars and may be an opportunity to use some of the stimulus money as seed money to get this established and will ask that Hoover research this and refer to Finance Development Committee.

Bjerke commented that all members of the committee that allocated these funds come from independently funded entertainment, community and recreation organizations and that we could take back this 1% and instead we give to this purpose and then raise taxes and fees to provide the functional things for the citizens and seems to be backwards and like to see the important things come first and then if want these other things raise the taxes for those and will be voting no on this because it is not the right priorities.

Bakken stated that the issue we currently have is our sales tax and not sure where that will end up for the rest of this year and next and there may be some things that we have funded and may need to revisit if the tax comes in lower than expected and that federal funds will be decreasing and we need to plan accordingly for those changes and be very careful with what we do with the money we have.

Gershman stated that our city is functioning very well and has been done since 2000 and the Council has reduced the operating budget by $4 million every year and we cut taxes and maintained services with less and the City is a mosaic and not just the functional things, but also the events and people and building community and people don’t want to live in a City that does not have any amenities, good schools and the functional items and have done all that with over 30 mills less that we could have and continue to do it.

McNamara asked that could get comparative numbers for prior years to help the Council evaluate. Mayor Brown stated that we would make that available for the next meeting.

Christensen commented that we worked hard on the mill cuts, and have learned that people that extract taxes also need to give back and we have come to recognize that need to assist these organizations, many of which struggle on their own. He cited an example of the 4^th of July fireworks and Potato Bowl and the tradition and benefit that we bring to the community from these events. He continued that perhaps use a mill and some of these other funds to help organizations in the community. He stated that perhaps may need separate meetings in the future about Pension and Water Treatment Plant and how we fund those going forward and will need to look for diverse funding from grants, rate increases, and other sources, but not going to solve that problem by deleting the $100,000 for arts.

3.1 Statement of Changes in Cash Balances as of October 31, 2009.

There were no comments.

3.2 Portfolio Management / Summary as of October 31, 2009.

There were no comments.

4. Citizen Requests

There were none.

5. City Administrator Comments

There were none.

6. Council Comments.

Bakken commented that was reading an article about concerns Fargo has with the water quality and salinity effect from the Devils Lake outlet and effect it may have on there water treatment plant and wondered if we have similar concerns. He also commented that he would like to see citizen members of the task force be individuals without a preconceived opinion so get a real honest input.

Kreun responded that Lake Agassiz Water Authority is mindful of concerns from the Devils Lake Outlet and will effect the Water Treatment Plant that we will build and are working also with Garrison Diversion and other communities, as all the communities upstream and not just Fargo and are staying abreast of it.

Gershman commented that he had privilege of speaking at the National Guard send off yesterday and is amazed that while only 1% of the population serves in the military or Guard, amazed at how much we gain from the responsibility and service of that small number of people.

7. Adjournment.

Motion by Council Member Kreun, Second by Council Member Gershman to adjourn meeting.

Respectfully submitted,


Saroj Jerath, CPA
Director of Finance and Administrative Services

SLL