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<br />make-up has worked well for eight to 10 years. There are two Councilmembers on the <br />Board, which gives us a good feel for what the Council has in mind. We like that we <br />have five members of citizens as a whole, which he feels, gives the EDA a broad <br />membership. The decisions of the EDA are all approved by the City Council. He is not <br />sure what would be gained by having another member of the Council serve as an EDA <br />board member. <br /> <br />Councilmember Look stated that he brought this item up. The reason was not to try to <br />ram something down the throat of the EDA but to just have another member of the City <br />Council on the Board. He stated that former Councilmember Strommen was an at-large <br />Councilmember, she is no longer on the Board, and he felt an at-large Councilmember <br />should be a member. He expressed his interest in serving on the Board and stated that he <br />would abstain from voting on this item. <br /> <br />Councilmember Dehen asked if there is any action of the EDA that does not come back <br />to be ratified by the City Council. <br /> <br />Attorney Goodrich did not believe so. <br /> <br />Councilmember Dehen asked what the theory is of having any of the EDA members be <br />Councilmembers - why not have them all be residents. <br /> <br />Attorney Goodrich replied that State Statutes says the Board must have a minimum of <br />two Councilmembers. <br /> <br />Economic Development Coordinator Sullivan stated that the Council approves the budget <br />of the EDA but every expenditure within the budget does not come back to the City <br />Council. <br /> <br />Councilmember Wise commented for that reason (budget) he felt that there should be a <br />third Councilmember on the EDA because we are talking about spending taxpayer's <br />money. <br /> <br />Councilmember Dehen asked if there would be any disadvantage to having an eight- <br />person Board - adding one new member but not having to remove a current member. <br /> <br />Attorney Goodrich reported that under the State Statutes, the EDA is limited to seven <br />members. <br /> <br />Chris Riley stated that there is an alternate position - maybe that position could be made <br />a more active position. <br /> <br />Councilmember Jeffrey stated he served in the role of alternate for the EDA in the past <br />four years and thought the vacancy would be filled by him since Councilmember <br />Strommen decided not to run for re-election. He continued that the EDA works well the <br />way it is. He added that he can go either way on this but he wanted to make sure the <br /> <br />City Council/January 13,2009 <br />Page 17 of31 <br />