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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION <br />APPROVED <br />1 CITY OF LINO LAKES <br />2 MINUTES <br />3 <br />4 DATE November 4, 2019 <br />5 TIME STARTED 6:00 p.m. <br />6 TIME ENDED 8:20 p.m. <br />7 MEMBERS PRESENT Council Member Rafferty, Maher, <br />8 Manthey, Stoesz and Mayor Reinert <br />9 MEMBERS ABSENT None <br />10 <br />11 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Public Safety Director John <br />12 Swenson; Community Development Director Michael Grochala; City Planner Katie Larsen; <br />13 City Engineer Diane Hankee; Finance Director Sarah Cotton <br />14 <br />15 Susan Vento, Metropolitan Council <br />16 <br />17 Metropolitan Council Member Susan Vento, who represents District 11, introduced herself to <br />18 the City Council. Ms. Vento encouraged the Council and staff to contact her about any issues. <br />19 <br />20 As the District 11 representative, Vento represents the cities of Columbus, Centerville, <br />21 Linwood, and Lino Lakes in Anoka County, and ten other jurisdictions in the counties of <br />22 Ramsey and Washington. <br />23 <br />24 Steve Markuson, Executive Director of Twin Cities Gateway (TCG) <br />25 <br />26 Steve Markuson appeared before the Council to give an update on Twin Cities Gateway <br />27 activities and to review the TCG 2020 budget. <br />28 <br />29 Twin Cities Gateway is a 501(c) (3) organization governed by an 18-member board from the <br />30 nine member cities. In 1983, the Minnesota legislature enacted a three percent lodging tax that <br />31 can be used to fund a local convention and tourism bureau for the purpose of marketing and <br />32 promoting a city or region as a tourist or convention center. According to the statute, the City <br />33 can retain five percent of the gross proceeds for administration, which it currently does. <br />34 <br />35 Markuson reported that the occupancy rates within the TCG tourism area are running at an all- <br />36 time high of 65 percent. <br />37 <br />38 The City of Blaine is the fiscal agent. Any of the nine member cities could take on the fiscal <br />39 responsibilities, but it would be a board decision to move it to another city. TCG pays $1,500 <br />40 a month for financial services. <br />41 <br />42 Fund reserves are held in two separate bank accounts. The fund reserve got as high as <br />43 $678,622, but this was an anomaly because of significant revenue increases that year. <br />44 <br />1 <br />