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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 9, 2006 Page 5 2 Mayor Faust noted that the City has a relationship with Salo, Finland, and invited CTV to attend 3 the June 8, 2006, Salo Park dedication at 5 p.m. so the ceremony can be taped for later broadcast. 4 Ms. Wilson stated they will be in attendance. Mayor Faust stated the City appreciates the work of CTV and what they bring to the residents and the Council supports CTV in those efforts. 9 Councilmember Thuesen asked if the National League of Cities has been involved with 10 lobbying. Ms. Wilson stated they have and are part of a coalition with five to six other 11 organizations. However, they have been a bit hampered because legal affairs staff is depleted. 12 But, as an organization, they have been active and sent out action alerts. Ms. Wilson stated she 13 does forward those action alerts to City staff. 14 15 Mayor Faust advised that you can sign onto the League of Minnesota Cities website and sign 16 their list server to receive updates on these issues. He again thanked Ms. Wilson for her 17 attendance and information provided. 18 19 VI. GENERAL POLICY BUSINESS OF THE COUNCIL. 20 A. Consider Resolution 06 -048• Adopting the Tax Increment Policy. 21 22 Mr. Morrison reviewed the resolution with the Council and indicated that it will approve a Tax 23 Increment Policy tailored after what was done on the Silver Lake Village project. He suggested 24 the draft resolution be introduce tonight, the Council discuss the policy and offer suggestions, 25 then table the resolution and bring it back for approval at the next meeting. 26 27 Mr. Morrison advised that the policy has three objectives that a project has to meet to be 28 considered for Tax Increment Financing (TIF): 1) long -term benefit to the community; 2) quality 29 employment opportunities; and 3) significantly adds to the City's tax base by providing high 30 quality benefits. He explained that the application for TIF assistance must be accompanied with 31 a signed development application and payment of a $3,000 non - refundable fee, which will cover 32 the City's costs to review the application. Then, to obtain a predevelopment agreement, the 33 applicant will need to pay a $10,000 escrow payment to help cover City fees to determine if the 34 applicant meets the policy tests. 35 36 Mr. Mornson suggested adding statements for a "look back" provision as the City had with 37 Silver Lake Village to allow the City to look back at the developer's finances and that the 38 developer must demonstrate experience in doing this development. The Policy will also indicate 39 that TIF will be pay -as- you -go only. He noted that even though the City is issuing bonds, they 40 are not issued until the project is fully developed so there is no risk to the City. The Policy will 41 require pursuit of all third party grants. 42 43 Mr. Morrison drew the Council's attention to pages 9 and 10 of the application, that addresses the 44 projected number of jobs created and wage categories. He noted that St. Anthony has never 45 provided TIF for job creation or wages because, as a first ring suburb, the City needs to remove 46 blight. He recommended that instead of listing job creation and wages, to list the number of low, 47 medium and high range jobs.