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Mounds View City Council November 13, 2023 Regular Meeting Page 5 ROLL CALL: Cermak/Gunn/Lindstrom/Meehlhause. 1 2 Ayes – 4 Nays – 0 Motion carried. 3 4 11. REPORTS 5 A. Community Center Discussion. 6 7 Mayor Lindstrom reported the sales tax initiative was voted down for Mounds View on a 65/35 8 vote. He explained he spoke to numerous residents who had questions about this topic. He 9 understood there was interest in updating the Community Center but in a manner that works for 10 the entire community. He believed everybody’s heart was in the right place, but there may need to 11 be more context if this matter were to move forward. He supported the City forming a community 12 task force in early 2024 to further investigate this issue. He asked if there were any comments from 13 the public regarding the vision for the community center going forward. 14 15 Kris Lillemo, 5132 Long Lake Road, stated he would like to see the City start working for its 16 residents. He commented on how busy the Community Center was and discussed the great event 17 space Mounds View had. He supported the Community Center becoming an event center. He 18 recommended the money made from these events be saved for future expansion of the Community 19 Center. 20 21 Rene Johnson, 7385 Pleasant View Drive, explained her vision for Mounds View Boulevard would 22 be to have a brand new Community Center where one wing could be a fitness center and the other 23 wing could be a senior center with space in the middle for food trucks. She anticipated residents 24 were willing to spend money on something new if they understood the vision. 25 26 Valerie Amundson, 3048 Woodale Drive, stated she loved the idea of creating a task force for the 27 Community Center. She believed there were a lot of great people in this community and bringing 28 a group together would allow people to brainstorm ideas. She anticipated there would be a great 29 deal more buy in if this was the starting point for the Community Center. She encouraged the City 30 Council to remember Mounds View was a smaller community that was not hugely wealthy, and it 31 would be burdensome to overtax residents. 32 33 Bethany Dickert, 5109 Rainbow Lane, recommended the Mounds View Community Center have 34 things that surrounding community centers don’t have, such as an archery center or rock wall. She 35 believed this would greatly assist in drawing people to the community center. 36 37 Kathy Lee, 7719 Woodlawn Drive, supported the City upgrading the men’s restroom/locker room 38 facilities within the Community Center. 39 40 Kris Lillemo encouraged the Council to create greater connection between the businesses and 41 amenities along the Mounds View Boulevard corridor by creating greater pedestrian connections 42 for students, children and the elderly. 43 44 Bob King, 7408 Silver Lake Road, explained the Community Center was currently costing the 45 City $400,000 per year. He stated with City had a hard time getting residents on board with the 46