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Page 4 <br /> May 13, 1996 <br /> Mounds View City Council <br /> Sara Weeks,2653 Scotland Court, stated she is opposed to the purchase of the BelRae Ballroom. She <br /> stated she believes the number of those in opposition to the purchase is far greater than the Council would <br /> like to believe. She also believes the Council Work Session on May 6th should have been publicized. <br /> Ms.Trude explained that the Five Year Goal Plan in the Focus 2000 sets a vision for the community. One <br /> of the goals was to have a community center for Mounds View. The purchase of the BelRae Ballroom <br /> was first discussed two years ago. She noted that she had received several telephone calls over the <br /> weekend from residents who would have been disappointed if the city had lost the opportunity to purchase <br /> the property. She explained that another party had come forward and offered the owner of the property a <br /> larger sum of money. Failure to act on the purchase could have resulted in the city losing the purchase <br /> opportunity. <br /> Ms.Hanker stated she wished to add some comments,which she requested be included verbatim in the <br /> minutes. Her comments were as follows: <br /> "I am submitting these written comments to the Mounds View City Council minutes and for the general <br /> public because I believe that the residents of Mounds View should be given information regarding the way • <br /> business is being conducted by this city council. <br /> Within the last eight months this city council has made very large expenditures with very little public input. <br /> The first time was October 1995 when action was taken to spend$190,000 on a pedestrian bridge. The <br /> item was already moving through the budgeting process and would have been part of a public hearing, but <br /> the council decided to not notify the public and taken action at a different time. No public hearing was <br /> held before action on the expenditure was taken. It was done when it was known that I would be out of <br /> town on business. The general public and one council member received virtually no advance notice. <br /> On May 6, the council called to order in a posted work session and took action to purchase the Bel Rae <br /> Ballroom. Mayor Linke, Council members Trude and Blanchard voted to buy the Bel Rae. Council <br /> member Quick voted against it. They said it was a crisis situation. No public hearing was planned nor <br /> held. The general public and one council member were not given proper notification of possible action. <br /> The council knew that I would be out of town on business for my employer. <br /> The following is a list of points I want to make concerning the purchase of the Bel Rae: <br /> Sequence of Events <br /> A. The council adopted a resolution giving staff authority to have the property assessed and to begin talks <br /> with representatives of other public entities that might lease space. The Mayor objected to talking with <br /> others but ultimately agreed to it in a public meeting. Council received an appraisal and very little other <br /> substantiated information. <br /> B. On April 22, council approved an option to buy agreement that would expire on July 9, 1996. This <br /> route was chosen because it would tell Mr. Jambor that the city was interested enough to put some money <br /> down and to allow itself to go through the necessary planning steps to determine if the purchase would be <br /> worthwhile for the city. <br />