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Councilmember Woestehoff asked if it would be more informational to share on the ballot question <br />that property taxes could go up a certain percentage rather than a dollar amount. <br /> <br />City Administrator Hagen said they can try to provide both a percentage and a dollar amount. <br /> <br />Councilmember Specht asked if the trail around the lake will be paved. <br /> <br />Parks and Assistant Public Works Director Riverblood said yes. <br /> <br />The consensus of the Council was to direct Staff and the architect to move forward with plans to <br />produce a more accurate cost estimate which they can use on a ballot question. <br /> <br />2.02: Old Town Hall Discussion - 50th Anniversary <br /> <br />City Administrator Hagen reviewed the Staff report concerning the old Town Hall and the 50th <br />Anniversary of the City. <br /> <br />Councilmember Specht shared that when Economic Development Director Sullivan took them on <br />a tour of the building, he was impressed with how well it was put together and how it was close to <br />being able to be utilized as a facility again. He said it would be a great thing to find a way to utilize <br />this historic building, especially during the City’s 50th anniversary. <br /> <br />Councilmember Howell noted that this building is a historic building that the City owns and it will <br />sit there and rot if they do not do anything with it. She added that when the EDA looked at this, <br />the revenue it could bring in versus the cost to fix it up would take a long time to break even. She <br />explained that in other cities, they use these old buildings as one room schoolhouses which was a <br />good use. She noted that preserving this building and getting it back into use would be great. <br /> <br />Acting Mayor Riley said that there was not a funding source for this project which is why they <br />have not done anything with the building. He added that the parking for the building is also an <br />issue. <br /> <br />Economic Development Manager Sullivan shared that when they looked at this from the EDA <br />perspective, they were close to pulling the trigger to getting the building ready to go for <br />development; however, the pricing was very expensive, and prices have not come down since they <br />first looked at this. He explained that another option for this would be to potentially move the <br />building; however, there are strong recommendations to not move it as they would have to do a lot <br />of structural work to make the building strong enough to be moved and it would also lose all <br />historical significance. He said a small boutique shop would be a good use for this building. He <br />explained that the original interested party would have weekend and evening hours that would <br />operate outside of bank hours to accommodate parking with the bank next door. He said this <br />location is a cute venue and it would be able to preserve it as Ramsey does not have a lot of <br />historical locations. <br /> <br />Councilmember Woestehoff asked where the funds would come from to get this building up and <br />running. <br />City Council Work Session / April 9, 2024 <br />Page 6 of 8 <br /> <br />