Agenda - Council - 01/10/2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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focus on them. She agreed with the benefit of experiencing the information first hand. Councilmember Strommen stated staff has provided its recommendation and she supports moving forward with adjustments to fees in the future, if needed. She noted it costs time and money for staff to continually go over all of the fees and rather than delegating this to the Finance Committee, the Members should identify the specific fees it wants addressed. Once those fees are defined, the Council can focus on them. City Administrator Ulrich suggested the Council focus on development and builder fees and bring that through the process. He indicated that staff spent a lot of time going through fees and kicked out many and reduced some, but the focus was on the builder/developer aspect and that included fees such as park dedication, WAC, and SAC. Acting Mayor Wise agreed, noting after the first of the year the Council can address specific fees and work with staff on those items. Councilmember McGlone stated the issue is that the Council did identify ways to have staff help the Council make a decision and that was to get developers and builders in the room, which did not happen. He stated he does not know whether Ramsey is in line with other communities because he has not seen that analysis. Councilmember McGlone stated he will not support the fee schedule until he gets that information. Councilmember Strommen stated that information was presented by Planning Intern Brama. Councilmember McGlone stated the Council identified specific information it needed at a prior meeting and that information has not been provided. Acting Mayor Wise stated the Council can lower fees at any time and if it is learned a fee is out of line through the upcoming charette, that change can be readily made. Finance Officer Lund explained if this fee schedule is not passed, the 2011 fees will stay in place and that SAC charge is higher than proposed in 2012. Acting Mayor Wise agreed the Council did not have the benefit of participation from developers but fees can be reduced at any time so there is no reason to not move forward. Public Works Director Olson concurred and noted fees can be looked at for all of next year but at some point the fee schedule needs to be adopted so there is rational behind the fee. Councilmember Tossey stated he is disappointed because the Council had asked about this in June but it is now November and the builder's meeting had still not been held. FUTURE TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION Noted. City Council Work Session / November 22, 2011 Page 9 of 10