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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes 7 <br /> October 14, 2003 <br /> Page 14 <br /> 1 the City had a lift station in desperate need of repair and the Met Council had placed the <br /> 2 City on hold until it had a mandate to do the infiltration. He noted the City was now so <br /> 3 far ahead of the Met Council that it wanted to use the City as an example. He added the <br /> 4 Met Council was considering providing some funding for the City. Target completion <br /> 5 date: Ongoing. <br /> 6 Enhancement of community involvement in critical City issues—Three public open <br /> 7 houses were held, three newsletters on task force were distributed and Mayor Hodson <br /> 8 gave his State of the City address. Target completion date: Ongoing. <br /> 9 <br /> 10 Mr. Mornson also presented a proposal from LCC International to lease the City's water tower <br /> 11 site for a telecommunications facility. He stated the lease, as proposed, would be for a year term <br /> 12 with four options to renew. He noted the rent received by the City would be $1,350 per month <br /> 13 or$16,200 per year. <br /> 14 <br /> 15 Mr. Morrison indicated the City had rejected this type of use of the tower in previous years due <br /> 16 to the low amount of revenue received. He added proposed monthly revenue in previous years <br /> 17 was $600 and Council did not want to clutter the water tower with telecommunication apparatus. <br /> 18 <br /> 19 Mr. Mornson explained that cuts in state aid funding had caused staff to explore additional <br /> 20 revenue options to fund operations. He noted, if Council was interested in exploring this <br /> 21 revenue source, staff could enter into negotiations with this company or the company could <br /> 22 make a presentation to Council first and then enter into negotiations. <br /> 23 <br /> 24 Mayor Hodson stated he would like to give staff direction to move forward with negotiations. <br /> 25 <br /> 26 Councilmember Horst stated the discussion had been regarding the aesthetics and Council <br /> 27 should see what was being proposed before negotiations began. Councilmember Sparks agreed. <br /> 28 Mr. Mornson noted negotiations had already begun and staff was coming to Council for further <br /> 29 direction. <br /> 30 <br /> 31 Councilmember Horst stated he was not opposed but wanted to understand what was being <br /> 32 considered. <br /> 33 <br /> 34 Councilmember Thuesen stated he felt this was worth exploring, as dollars were not the only <br /> 35 benefit. He noted this would be a benefit to those with cell phones. <br /> 36 <br /> 37 Councilmember Sparks asked if the residents on 33`d could be notified that this was being <br /> 38 considered. Mr. Mornson replied this issue did not need to go before the Planning Commission, <br /> 39 as it involved City property. He added a public hearing was not needed for the same reason; <br /> 40 however,he suggested the neighborhood could be notified. Councilmember Sparks agreed the <br /> 41 neighborhood should be notified. <br /> 42 <br /> 43 Councilmember Faust stated"in a previous life"he had access to all of the leases for the towers <br /> 44 and this appeared to be approximately 35%higher than normal. He explained how the leases <br /> 45 were calculated. He suggested Mr. Mornson consider putting in the escalators,which was <br /> 46 typical in the contracts. He noted this was a valuable piece of property due to its elevation. <br /> 47 <br />