Agenda - Council - 01/23/2024 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilmember Riley noted that pushing a legislative issue like this that would support Ramsey makes sense. Councilmember Woestehoff stated that having the City's support on this would be good. He noted this is an existing and growing business and this location seems to be the perfect spot for something like this. He shared his support for this. Mayor Kuzma asked about the number of patients that they expect to see at this facility. Mr. Nozzerella explained that there will be traffic for the VA coming to the facility as well as the general public that will be coming to the facility. He noted that the VA has over 500 patients that come through the facility daily. He added that there is a significant number of these VA patients that are not getting the proper respiratory care that are being sent home or to another facility. He shared they believe they can increase this traffic by 50%, bringing them closer to 750 patients daily. The consensus of the Council was to move forward with supporting this project to the legislature. City Administrator Hagen reviewed the remainder of the legislative priorities for 2024, including the trunk water main improvements, water treatment plant, TIF district 14, the Mississippi River bridge project, the Metro mobility service area, and the closed landfill legislation. Councilmember Musgrove thanked Staff for putting together the updates for the TIF language for the City to pay itself back. She noted that she would also like to get together with Dayton as a Council a few times a year to discuss the Mississippi River bridge. Councilmember Riley stated that the metro mobility service area seems to be a situation of taxation without services being provided. He noted the Ramsey residents are contributing to this yet they are not eligible to use it. He stated they should either be able to use it or not be taxed for it. City Administrator Hagen discussed the State-wide policy priorities of exemption of residential gardens from water emergency restrictions, State-wide licensure of massage therapy, amending the remote open meeting law requirement that requires notification of a remote place accessible to the public, lifting hospital moratorium, the policy of Local Government Aid, and the Metropolitan Council Committee membership. He also discussed the employee sick and safe time (ESST) and shared that Councilmember Musgrove requested they discuss this more. Councilmember Musgrove noted there are some items in this policy that she would like to discuss. She said there is a proposal that small businesses with 25 or fewer employees should not have the policy applied to their business. She noted that they provide a better product than what is proposed and this would just require the City to do more paperwork and change a system that has been working. She said she is not sure what they can do to make the idea and concept of this better. She noted this puts hardships on smaller employers. She stated that if there is anything that the legislature can bring to the table for recommendations on how to make this product better. City Council Work Session /January 9, 2024 Page 5 of 9