Laserfiche WebLink
<br />met with the EDA on November 30 and the EDA expressed support for the use of the <br />space for this purpose. <br />o Opportunity to demise the space into two separate office spaces. The southern office <br />space could be separated into two distinct office spaces; it was constructed with this in <br />mind. The HV AC systems operate separately and the life safety and restroom <br />requirements are addressed on both sides of the space. This would allow for the <br />southwestern portion of the office space to be leased to another party. The estimated cost <br />to demise the space would be around $6,000 to $7,000; this would be an expense that <br />would either need to be paid by the building owner (the City) or by a partner of Youth <br />First in support of the program. <br /> <br />Heidi Geiss explained that if they are able to utilize this building for their programming they are <br />going to apply for a 21 st Century District grant with the school district to install internet access at <br />the site. She stated that this space would be ideal because of its size and they would be able to <br />offer many other programs to the kids in Ramsey, not only to the Oak Terrace residents. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamec inquired if Youth First would be paying rent. <br /> <br />Assistant City Administrator Nelson explained that the City would be foregoing the lease <br />revenue on this property. The property was purchased utilizing RALF funds and any lease <br />revenue collected would be returned back to the RALF fund, but there are no defined <br />expectations to provide lease revenues back into the fund. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamec inquired if it would then be possible for the City to lease out the building for one <br />dollar. <br /> <br />Assistant City Administrator Nelson replied yes. <br /> <br />Councilmember Elvig inquired as to how many square feet they would be utilizing. <br /> <br />Ms. Geiss replied 5,000 square feet. <br /> <br />Councilmember Elvig stated that he would like nothing more than to make this work, but his <br />concern would be how would the City justify the costs of framing the building. He stated that <br />they needed to find the rationale to justify the City spending the money. He also questioned how <br />much tax revenue they would be foregoing on the 5,000 square feet. <br /> <br />Ms. Nelson replied that she did not have that information available, but would find out and report <br />back to the Council. <br /> <br />Councilmember Elvig stated that there is definitely a benefit to keeping the building active and <br />the merits of Youth First are overwhelming. He requested that Staff put together a sort of <br />findings of fact for supporting the project. <br /> <br />Councilmember- Elect Matt Look inquired as to how many kids would be served by the <br />programs. <br /> <br />City Council Work Session / December 4, 2006 <br />Page 7 of9 <br />