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Mounds View City Council August 22, 2005 <br />Regular Meeting Page 13 <br />. for eight years to have someone address Spring Lake. She asked what is the bottom factor, and <br />whether the $5 million the City is getting is going to improve the highway corridor for the next <br />five to six years, or whether the City will have to wait for the TIF to come in. <br />Mayor Many stated he still questions where the $5 million will come from because the golf <br />course owes $4.2 million and is selling for $8.65 million so the City does not have a full $5 <br />million left. Also, the money going to MnDOT will not benefit the City to spend. Mayor Marty <br />reviewed a calculation he made and stated it equals $148,000 a year (without interest or <br />investment). He stated the City could invest that money. <br />Ms. Scotch stated Medtronic wants to come to Mounds View and she would like to see them in <br />Mounds View but just wants the best deal. She stated that a lot of residents think this deal is <br />done but she feels there are other ways this can be addressed. <br />David Jahnke, 8428 Eastwood Road, stated a lot of comments have been made but there is also a <br />silent majority. He noted the City took a survey and even if the petition had 2,000 signatures, it <br />would be a small percentage. He stated he also went to homes and heard the opposite. He noted <br />that senior citizens don't come to the meeting or speak out but they are worried about a small <br />majority taking over. Mr. Jahnke stated the Council, attorney, and Ehlers studied this deal. He <br />stated he thinks all have looked at it closely and he gives them all credit. He stated this is a big <br />project and it is not easy to sit on the Council and take the criticism. However, when you look at <br />the petition it is a minority, not a majority. He stated they are not speaking for the residents of <br />• Mounds View and he will speak for himself. Mr. Jahnke stated the survey is what spoke for the <br />residents. He noted this minority group is now asking for another two weeks but it is only a ploy <br />to delay this project that is very important for the future of Mounds View. Mr. Jahnke stated the <br />.Council has done an excellent job and the lawyers can be depended on to decipher the contract <br />and assure it is done correctly. He stated you could pick on small issues in the contract for the <br />next five years and while it isn't a perfect world, he thinks the Council did a perfect job. <br />Bill Schweigert, South Gray Cloud Trail, stated he does not live in Mounds View but has 130 <br />acres and wonders if there is an amount of money that would kill the opposition, maybe an extra <br />fifty percent. He stated everyone likes Medtronic and it will be a "feather in the City's cap" to <br />have them in Mounds View but there is a question of fairness and some people think this is not a <br />fair deal. He stated what makes this deal seductive is the number of jobs and economic boost. <br />However, bringing in the jobs will also bring in school-aged children who will have to be <br />educated. He pointed out that if the City's portion of property tax is $43,000, and if the <br />Medtronic units cost $25,000 each, selling two units a year would be enough to pay their <br />property tax bill. He stated Medtronic is a $4 billion company, which is equivalent to 4,000 one <br />million dollar bills. They are going to count out ten of them for the City. He stated this is like a <br />man buying a used car who can easily pay another $1,000 but enjoys the game of negotiation. He <br />stated the car buyer may walk out, but he thinks Medtronic would be a fool to walk out of this <br />area. <br />• Naja Werner, 50 year resident of Mounds View, stated she has spoken to a lot of people about <br />the Medtronic deal and is getting opinions contrary to those presenting the petition. She stated <br />