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Mayor Coughlin stated he believed this matter was being researched, and that the $2,500 figure was based upon the cost of all of the hardware necessary to connect the computers to City Hall, as well as the modems, routing features and software. MOTION/SECOND: Quick/Thomason To approve the Consent Agenda for items A, B, and C as listed above. Ayes - 4 Nays - 0 Motion carried. 8. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. 9. RESIDENTS REQUESTS AND COMMENTS FROM THE FLOOR David Jahnke, 8428 Eastwood Road, stated that the last time he attended the Council meeting he had challenged the large raise they were considering for the Assistant to the City Administrator. He stated that he was concerned that the City was not hiring the right people, and explained that, after reviewing Ms. Schmidt's qualifications, he found that she was qualified to be the City Administrator. He stated, in his opinion, the City should not hire two people with the qualifications of Administrator. He stated that he was concerned that the City might be getting further into debt. He went on to ask if the City of Mounds View was currently fifteen to . seventeen billion dollars in debt. Mayor Coughlin stated that he would defer to the Finance Director regarding the City's financial standing. He stated the City had various bonds, both in the TIF District, and some of the City's own financial obligations, such as the golf course. He explained, however, that these were separate from the funds utilized for City employee's salaries. Richard Oman, 8205 Groveland Road, stated that he had watched the Work Session that evening on cable, and added that he thought the cable broadcasting of the meetings was a good idea. He stated that his understanding was that the City's TIF fund was approximately 23 percent of the tax capacity, which was, in his opinion, way too high. He stated that this is two to three times that of other cities, who had approximately 6 to 8 percent of their tax capacity in TIF funds, and that some cities have no TIF at all. He stated that he believed the result has been, throughout the time that TIF has been utilized in the City, the NSP franchise fee, the streetlight utilities, the water meter charge, the surface water management charge, and the fact that the City has no road maintenance funds available. He stated that this has also denied the citizens of the City various things, one of particular interest to him, is pedestrian and bike trails. He stated that neighboring cities have bike and pedestrian trails which all end when they reach Mounds View. He stated that he believed this was related to the practice of having goal setting sessions with an imported facilitator. He stated that he thought this practice isolated the Council from the input of the citizens. He suggested that they log and group the citizen comments, and utilize those for their • goal setting sessions. He requested the Council "visualize themselves and the citizens seated on one side of the table, and staff, developers, and any other person who is not a resident or voter of the City, on the other side of the table, and to govern with the citizens in mind." 3N:\DATA\U SERS\JOANB\SHARE\M INUTES\CC\ 1999\07-26-99.MIN