Minutes - Council Work Session - 12/13/2022

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Councilmember Musgrove asked if there are a lot of other cities in the same situation where they are needing to build water treatment plants. She also asked if they would be more successful by asking for a moderate amount. Mayor Kuzma said they should ask for all that they need. City Administrator Hagen stated he can look into what the league is putting together as far as Met Council representation. In regard to the bonding ask, the estimated excess budget is at $18,000,000,000 and he hopes that there is a lot more funding available. Councilmember Howell concurred with Councilmember Woestehoff that the likelihood of representation on the Met Council is slim. Councilmember Woestehoff acknowledged that other cities also have needs for water treatment plants. He thinks the advantage is that they got their bill on the table last year and they have advocates. Councilmember Musgrove stated she is in support of the $20,000,000 ask. City Administrator Hagen stated this can be discussed more at the next meeting, if they ask for $20,000,000 if the State can come back with a counter offer that the City would appreciate. Councilmember Heineman asked about the closed landfill legislation that allows the landfill to be put back on the tax rolls. He asked what that would look like and what other cities have done it. City Administrator Hagen stated this was on last year’s legislative priorities list. He said that good progress has been made on this. With the City’s landfill, funding has been approved to pay off debt on the landfill. He stated they have gone through this process before with the land to the south. He added that Connexus Energy is on board with a solar farm project. Economic Development Manager Sullivan stated that they met with MPCA and they expressed the statutory problem of selling land for this purpose. He explained how they were able to do this in the past in a way to maneuver the State statutes. He stated the City asked them to consult with their attorneys, who looked at it and they do not agree that this is okay or how it was done in the past. They were charged with doing more research. He shared that there is the potential to do something legislatively to enable the transaction. He said this could be added to the list of legislative considerations. He thinks bringing this land online for industrial purposes has proven to be a good partnership with MPCA. Councilmember Heineman thinks this is a great idea. Economic Development Manager Sullivan added that the tricky part is that there will be a third party that works on the Connexus project which is a lease situation not a purchase situation. City Council Work Session / December 13, 2022 Page 5 of 9