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Mr. Hartley stated that if it is Council's intention to maintain parody and <br />Council sees needs in both districts, those improvements can be scheduled in a <br />way that will maintain parody. <br /> <br />Mayor Heitman inquired that if a two taxing district system is established, can <br />it be required that any improvements require a unanimous vote of Council rather <br />than 4/5. Mayor Heitman stated that the Charter intended to put the power back <br />in the hands of the people and he fears that the taxing district system puts <br />the power back in the hands of Council. <br /> <br />Mr. Goodrich stated that if Ramsey uses State statute to set up storm sewer <br />taxing districts, that statute must be followed precisely and it does not <br />permit for any petitioning process as the City's charter does for special <br />assessment projects. <br /> <br />Mayor Heitman quoted the following from Minnesota Statutes Annotated Section <br />444.17 (Notes of Decisions): 'Where city as a whole was generally benefited by <br />a storm sewer, there would be no statutory prohibition to the inclusion of the <br />entire municipality within the boundaries of a single storm sewer improvement <br />tax district.' Mayor Heitman stated that this says you can do storm sewer <br />improvements with the city as a whole; that conflicts with bond counsel's <br />opinion. <br /> <br />Mr. Goodrich stated that this language is saying that benefit does not have to <br />be shown with storm sewer improvements in order to collect the tax; in the <br />particular case this language is referring to, the city was Montivideo and that <br />is a small city with one drainage flow pattern. <br /> <br />Mayor Heitman noted that the Industrial area would be included in the one of <br />the two districts; Council has taken the stand to encourage development in that <br />area; economic growth in that area will be stimulated by improvements; are the <br />residents in this same district going to be subsidizing the City's economic <br />development? <br /> <br />Mr. Hartley stated that improvements in the industrial area will favorably <br />affect all properties in the taxing district. <br /> <br />Mayor Heitman noted that the only way a citizen can oppose and force a <br />referendum on any particular storm sewer project with the taxing district <br />system would be to submit a petition signed by 10% of the registered voters at <br />the last city wide election; this is putting the power in the hands of the <br />minority. <br /> <br />Mr. Hartley stated that there is another feature of the charter that Council <br />can choose to exercise, i.e., if a substantial number of people approach <br />Council and express opposition to a project, Council can order a special <br />advisory election which will provide the entire city electorate an opportunity <br />to vote on the question. <br /> <br />Councilmember Cox stated that another option is to have developers install <br />storm sewer systems as was the case in River's bend; there would be no burden <br />put on residents but the pipe would be sized to take Gate of drainage in that <br />particular development only. <br /> <br />April 29, 1986 <br /> <br />Page 10 of 13 <br /> <br /> <br />