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City Council Study Session Minutes • August 14, 2001 Page 3 1 item with the Council. Bob Kost, URS Corporation, indicated there was a bid opening 2 for Central Park on August 7, 2001 for a second time, after revisions were made to the 3 first bid. Mr. Kost noted the estimates were around $1,600,000 with Veit& Company 4 coming in as the low bidder. 5 Mr. Kost indicated along with the park redevelopment, the City Hall would be receiving 6 an irrigation system at a fee of$28,100. He noted it is the Park Commission's 7 recommendation to approve the bid to Veit& Company. 8 Councilmember Horst stated $1,000,000 was originally budgeted for the park 9 redevelopment and asked if the $625,000 tax abatement would still be available. He 10 indicated his understanding was that this would be approximately half of the original 11 estimate. City Manager Mornson noted this was news to him as the City has an 12 agreement with the school district for these funds. He indicated he was under the 13 impression the school district would be providing these funds and noted he would need to 14 check with the school district on this item in conjunction with Springsted. 15 Councilmember Horst asked how the abatement funds worked. Mayor Cavanaugh stated 16 the school is on the hook for these funds as it is not TIF funding. • 17 Councilmember Horst stated it was his understanding the $250,000 general fund reserves 18 were meant to be used as rainy day funds. He indicated additional funding from the 19 County was being lost and stated using these funds may not be the wisest decision at this 20 time. 21 Councilmember Sparks asked if there were contingent funds within the budget for rainy 22 day issues. Mayor Cavanaugh indicated the budget has approximately $900,000 in its 23 budget for overages within the budget. 24 Councilmember Horst indicated all available funds were being used from the water 25 filtration fund to fund the park and tha this was a high price for the City to pay. He 26 added that the City Manager identified these funds as spendable funds, which means it 27 can be removed from the fund without damaging the principal. City Manager Mornson 28 stated this was not a correct statement, as the original principle would not be touched and 29 that only interest would be taken from this fund to be used for the park improvements. 30 Councilmember Horst asked if there were other sources of money available for Central 31 Park. City Manager Mornson stated $1.2 million was put into the City Hall and $500,000 32 into the Silver Lake bridge project just recently, which makes additional funding sources 33 unavailable at this time. 34 Councilmember Horst stated, it was his opinion, if the Council moves forward with this 35 item the City would be spending down its reserves without any way of replenishing them. 36 City Manager Mornson indicated the City has taken on numerous projects in the past 37 several years and stated future projects will be able to be taken on as funding allows. He