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