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EDC Minutes September 19, 2003 Page 3 opportunities, and that Mounds View will benefit from Arden Hill’s redevelopment. We still need to watch things closely. One concern is road access and layout. 5. Mounds View Community Center—Banquet Center: Backman has spent time over the past month gathering information regarding the Mounds View Banquet and Conference Center and trying to find an end user that could lease the space vacated by the School District. During the past year and a half the City of Mounds View has lost $53,506 under the present Banquet Center Management ($37,133 for all of 2002, and $16,373 in the first half of 2003). Moreover, the trends are not entirely encouraging—banquet revenues from all major categories have declined an average of 35% from 2002 levels, and the gap (as a percentage of gross revenues) between expenses and revenues for the Banquet operations have grown from 15.5% in 2002 to 24% in the first half of 2003. Presently the only profit center for the City at the Mounds View Community Center is the Creative Kids Child Care Center. Given the sizeable cutbacks in Local Government Aid (LGA) support from the State of Minnesota, the City of Mounds View is having to scrutinize all areas of General Fund expenditures. The Banquet Center management contract is being looked at closely with the goal of making changes so that the City can move to a breakeven point or better for banquet operations. There is a party that has expressed an interest in obtaining a lease on the Banquet and the vacant Community Education space. The latter space may need to be modified (eg. leasehold improvements). 6. Oops Dinner Theatre—Prospect Activities: Backman connected Pam Docken & Mary Kay Fangel, the principals of Oops Dinner Theater, with representatives of Colliers Towle, a real estate broker/developer. On August 22nd the principals had a very good meeting with Ted Leines whose specialty is the hospitality arena. The basic concept is that the dinner theater could be part of a co-development that could include another hotel in Mounds View along Co. Hwy 10 across from the Saturn dealership. The site currently has single-family homes on it and encompasses over 5 acres. Both Colliers Towle and Oops Dinner Theatre were attracted to this visible location. Field asked about market demand. Backman indicated that demand is there for specific niches (mystery theaters are expanding in the Twin Cities). The development process then got waylaid. Pam’s father died three weeks ago, so naturally she had other matters to attend to. In talking with Pam this week, she indicated that Mary Kay and herself will meet with Colliers Towle reps next week. Also, she received a favorable review in the Star Tribune for her latest comedy—The Day Karoke Died. 7. Planning Assistant Hiring Process: Nine people were interviewed for the vacant position in mid-August. Two finalists were interviewed a second time on August 29th. Either would have been excellent additions to the department. However, one declined due to salary considerations and the other accepted another position. Therefore we are now interviewing five more people this week and hopefully a decision can be made over the next two weeks. 6. EDC BUSINESS A. Final Approval of Mounds View’s Tax Rebate (Abatement) Policy: Backman noted that the proposed Tax Rebate Policy will be considered at a public hearing next Monday, September 22nd Based on input from the City Council from the August 25th EDA meeting, Backman presented a handful of changes to the policy. The most notable were a reference to fiscal disparities, and price in excess of fair market value. Field and Johnson requested that the policy be amended to make the $1,000 application fee a non-refundable fee. The EDC members agreed. Johnson moved and Field seconded the approval of the Mounds View Tax Rebate Policy as amended. Motion passed 5 to 0.