Agenda Packets - 2005/09/26 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View City Council August 22, 2005 Regular Meeting Page 13 for eight years to have someone address Spring Lake. She asked what is the bottom factor, and 1 whether the $5 million the City is getting is going to improve the highway corridor for the next 2 five to six years, or whether the City will have to wait for the TIF to come in. 3 4 Mayor Marty stated he still questions where the $5 million will come from because the golf 5 course owes $4.2 million and is selling for $8.56 million so the City does not have a full $5 6 million left. Also, the money going to MnDOT will not benefit the City to spend. Mayor Marty 7 reviewed a calculation he made and stated it equals $148,000 a year (without interest or 8 investment). He stated the City could invest that money. 9 10 Ms. Scotch stated Medtronic wants to come to Mounds View and she would like to see them in 11 Mounds View but just wants the best deal. She stated that a lot of residents think this deal is 12 done but she feels there are other ways this can be addressed. 13 14 David Jahnke, 8428 Eastwood Road, stated a lot of comments have been made but there is also a 15 silent majority. He noted the City took a survey and even if the petition had 2,000 signatures, it 16 would be a small percentage. He stated he also went to homes and heard the opposite. He noted 17 that senior citizens don’t come to the meeting or speak out but they are worried about a small 18 majority taking over. Mr. Jahnke stated the Council, attorney, and Ehlers studied this deal. He 19 stated he thinks all have looked at it closely and he gives them all credit. He stated this is a big 20 project and it is not easy to sit on the Council and take the criticism. However, when you look at 21 the petition it is a minority, not a majority. He stated they are not speaking for the residents of 22 Mounds View and he will speak for himself. Mr. Jahnke stated the survey is what spoke for the 23 residents. He noted this minority group is now asking for another two weeks but it is only a ploy 24 to delay this project that is very important for the future of Mounds View. Mr. Jahnke stated the 25 Council has done an excellent job and the lawyers can be depended on to decipher the contract 26 and assure it is done correctly. He stated you could pick on small issues in the contract for the 27 next five years and while it isn’t a perfect world, he thinks the Council did a perfect job. 28 29 Bill Schweigert, South Gray Cloud Trail, stated he does not live in Mounds View but has 130 30 acres and wonders if there is an amount of money that would kill the opposition, maybe an extra 31 fifty percent. He stated everyone likes Medtronic and it will be a “feather in the City’s cap” to 32 have them in Mounds View but there is a question of fairness and some people think this is not a 33 fair deal. He stated what makes this deal seductive is the number of jobs and economic boost. 34 However, bringing in the jobs will also bring in school-aged children who will have to be 35 educated. He pointed out that if the City’s portion of property tax is $43,000, and if the 36 Medtronic units cost $25,000 each, selling two units a year would be enough to pay their 37 property tax bill. He stated Medtronic is a $4 billion company, which is equivalent to 4,000 one 38 million dollar bills. They are going to count out ten of them for the City. He stated this is like a 39 man buying a used car who can easily pay another $1,000 but enjoys the game of negotiation. He 40 stated the car buyer may walk out, but he thinks Medtronic would be a fool to walk out of this 41 area. 42 43 Naja Werner, 50 year resident of Mounds View, stated she has spoken to a lot of people about 44 the Medtronic deal and is getting opinions contrary to those presenting the petition. She stated 45