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Chairperson Steffen referenced the comment made by staff that the program has never been used <br />but noted that he recalls two restaurants that used the program. <br />Deputy City Administrator Gladhill confirmed that Acapulco was the first project to use a similar <br />program and one other applied, was awarded but never used the program. <br />Economic Development Manager Sullivan explained that his comment was related to the program <br />since last updated in 2018. <br />Member Cords asked if the allocation would come from the EDA budget. He asked if the $16,000 <br />would come from the $50,000 amount proposed. <br />Economic Development Manager Sullivan stated that he would suggest having this $16,000 loan <br />come from the $50,000. He confirmed that staff would recommend that the $50,000 come from <br />the EDA cash balance. <br />Chairperson Steffen commented that the loan dollars would still fund the City WAC charges. <br />Economic Development Manager Sullivan confirmed that the loan dollars would still be used to <br />pay the City WAC fee and the only dollars that would go outside of the City would be the SAC <br />charges that are paid to the Metropolitan Council. <br />Member Heineman asked if this information would be made public to all Ramsey businesses, so <br />that businesses that wish to expand could apply. <br />Economic Development Manager Sullivan commented that when the City Council approves <br />something it is public information. He stated that it could make sense to publicize this information <br />further. He noted that the intended use of the program is to attract new businesses but there is a <br />provision that allows exception for existing businesses. He agreed that the program could be <br />highlighted further. <br />Member Heineman commented that if this is going to be used for this business to expand, it would <br />be wise to make other Ramsey businesses aware that if they wish to expand this program would <br />be available. <br />11 <br />Chairperson Steffen clarified that this is a restaurant program and would only apply to that type of <br />business. <br />Member Riley agreed that it should be used for a new or existing business but noted that the change <br />has to be big enough to add enough seats that it would change water use. <br />Member Cords stated that he was under the impression that the term exception applied because <br />typically this is only applied to one of the charges and in this case, it is applying to both WAC and <br />SAC. <br />Economic Development Authority/ January 14, 2021 <br />Page 2 of 3 <br />