Agenda - Council - 10/08/1991 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I I I I I I I I i '1 I I I I I I I I I CASE CREATION OF AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY By: Ryan R. Schroeder, City Administrator Background: In the past, the Economic Development Commission and the City Council have both talked about starting up an Economic Development Authority. Attached for your review is the resolution which would create such an authority in the City of Ramsey. Prior to passage of that resolution, however, Council must schedule and hold a public hearing. Because of publication concerns, it is suggested that the public hearing, if you so desire, should be held on November 12, 1991. If Council wants to proceed on this proposal, there are several issues which will need to be decided upon passage of the by-laws. The two largest issues are who the commissioners are and whether Council wants to pass any restrictions beyond statutory restrictions on the powers of the authority. Under statute, the authority can have either three, five or seven members. If it is a three member authority, all three must be Councilpersons. If it is either a five or seven member authority, at least two members must be Councilpersons but the rest can be citizen members. There are advantages and disadvantages of entirely public or some citizen members. In the City of Robbinsdale, for example, the old Housing and Redevelopment Authority used to have three citizen members and two Councilpersons. Two advantages I can think of immediately are that we were able to have citizen members that had expertise in transportation, banldng and real estate development when these same levels of expertise may not have otherwise been available within the City Councilmembers themselves. The other advantage is actions of the I-IRA, in this case, having been taken by citizen members, sometimes had an opportunity to shield the Council from unpopular projects even though these projects may have been in the best interest of the community as a whole. The down side of a citizen member organization is that non-elected persons are making decisions for the electorate and at times the public did not perceive this as being all that positive. Economic Development Authorities can provide for any activity that traditionally a Housing and Redevelopment Authority can do or they can provide for most activities relative to economic development conducted by a city. The exception would be that they cannot levy taxes but they can request that a city levy taxes for them for either general operating or for debt repayment. They can also conduct such activities as purchase of land of construction of a building and then lease or sell that building to any public or private entity. Dependent upon the composition of the board itself, Council may wish to provide for restrictions on their activities such that any sale of bonds or obligations are approved by the Council before issuance so that official actions of the authority are consistent with adopted plans of the City or such other provisions as the Council deems appropriate. Recommendation: At this time, the recommendation is to schedule the public hearing as noted above and to provide for any discussion on composition of the board or board restrictions as Council deems appropriate. Council Action: Based upon discussion. Review Checklist: City Administrator Finance Officer CC: 10/08/91