Minutes - Council Work Session - 04/08/2014

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attached to it. He stated his biggest concern goes back to the 1990s, Agenda 21, which is called GreenStep here. Mr. Buchholz offered to provide information relating to the EPA and connection to the United Nations. He felt that cracking this door would bring a monster to the City that you cannot get rid of. Mayor Strommen thanked Mr. Buchholz for the information. Sue Biken, Princeton, Minnesota, stated this information is only as good as if those members read it. She urged the Council to read this information prior to making a decision. Councilmember Backous asked whether any cities have said no to joining the GreenStep Program. City Planner Anderson stated he knows other cities have had discussions and Rogers had revised the resolution to strike some components of concerns and adopted an amended resolution. Be stated he has not surveyed cities to learn whether they opted to not participate. Mr. Bentz stated Lino Lakes may have said no. The consensus of the Council was to move this to the next stage, to bring a resolution forward to a future 'Council meeting, and to assure the GreenStep Program is focused on the City and is a resource. 2.03: Discuss Dissolution of HRA City Administrator Ulrich reviewed the staff report, noting the Council had directed staff to set forth a process to dissolve /eliminate the Ramsey Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA). To do so, the HRA's assets would have to be transferred to the EDA if it is also acting as an HRA. City Administrator Ulrich stated the Council can determine if it is comfortable with that and whether to give the EDA levying powers. City Attorney Langel explained that in order to accomplish that goal, all of the existing HRA assets and debts must be dealt with according to State law. In addition, the City must decide who is to hold title to the assets once the HRA no longer exists. It was noted the HRA currently owns 28 parcels of real estate but has no full -time employees to deal with, nor does it have any bonded debt. City Attorney Langel explained provisions within the 1998 enabling Resolution and that, regardless of where the assets are placed, the question is how much power the Council wants to give the EDA, including levying authority. He stated if the Council wants to do more than included in the enabling Resolution, it can be amended. In terms of timeline, the HRA has a levy so it cannot be dissolved while that is in play. However, the Council can decide how to handle its assets so that beginning 2015, there would not be a separate HRA. Councilmember Riley stated it seems like an easy decision to do away with the HRA now and let the EDA have the same powers it had before so that is available. He stated he would not want to do away with a tool, even if it is not intended to be used now. He suggested The COR properties City Council Work Session / April 8, 2014 Page 5 of 10