HomeMy WebLinkAbout#03 - Royal Golf fund discussionSTAFF REPORT
DATE: July 11, 2023
DISCUSSION
AGENDA ITEM: Baseball Field TO: Mayor and Council
SUBMITTED BY: Adam Swanepoel, Assistant Public Works Director
REVIEWED BY: Marty Powers, Public Works Director Kristina Handt, City Administrator
BACKGROUND: At the June 20th, 2023 city council meeting, staff presented the proposals from the RFP for ballfield design
services, which was sent out in May 2023. Council reviewed the proposals and discussed the potential updates to four existing ballfields within the City of Lake Elmo. Council voted to table the topic for further discussion at a work session.
ISSUE BEFORE COUNCIL: How would the city council like to proceed with spending the one million dollars set aside for ballfield improvements? PROPOSAL DETAILS/ANALYSIS: Set aside in the Park Dedication Funds is one million dollars available for the baseball improvement project. This project is currently scheduled in the Capital Improvement Plan for 2024. As part of the development agreement with Royal Golf, one million dollars was set aside for new or refurbished ballfields within the community. At the meeting on June 20th council also asked about the possibility of putting a question about ballfields on the ballot. Per the city attorney, this type of issue would not be authorized. Since Lake Elmo is a statutory city, it is only able to exercise powers explicitly given to it or implied by the Legislature. Without
specific legislative authority, the City may not hold an advisory special election. Minnesota courts have determined that a city council has no authority to pass their decision making power to voters when the Legislature delegates that power solely to city councils (which would be the case here). In addition, the
City has no authority to spend public funds on an unauthorized special election. FISCAL IMPACT: TBD RECOMMENDATION: Provide direction to staff on next steps. ATTACHMENT: NONE