Ramsey Resident - 2001 - November/December

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CITY NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001, VOLUME 16, NO. 7 SPECIAL ELECTION — NOVEMBER 6 Based on the recommendation by the Ramsey City Charter Commission, the City Council has scheduled a special election on November 6th to consider a variety of City Charter amendments and advisory questions. The Charter amendment questions are binding question, which means the prevailing vote will be implemented. The advisory questions would have the same effect as providing a poll to assist the Charter Commission and City Council in important decisions that may be on the horizon. The four Charter amendment questions are as follows: • Creation of a Ward System. This Charter question would authorize the City to be divided into wards, or districts, and that a Councilperson would be elected from each Ward. • Establishment of a Primary System. Authorization of this Charter amendment would allow the City Primary to be held at the same time as the State Primary for the selection of two nominees for each Council seat for a run -off between two nominees for each Council seat that will be elected during the general election. • Comprehensive Plan Adoption. This question would allow for adoption of a Comprehensive Plan by a majority vote of all its Councilmembers rather than the 2/3 majority vote which is currently required for Comprehensive Plan adoption. • Initiative and Referendum Petition Requirement. This Charter Amendment would increase the number of petition signatures from 10% to 20% of the registered voters in order to call for a citywide election. The three advisory questions will be as follows: • Mayor's Term. In 1996 the Mayor's term was increased from two years to four years. The advisory question held during the 2000 election recommended that the majority of the City Council turn over every two years, however, the only way to do that is to shorten the Mayor's term. The question would advise the Charter Commission to reduce the Mayor's term to two years. • Mississippi River Bride Crossing. This advisory question would determine support for construction of a bridge across the Mississippi River. • Town Center. This advisory question would determine the voter's support of a Town Center that would include restaurants, shopping and other amenities along the Highway #10 corridor. MOVING TO RAMSEY Star Exhibits & Environments, a fast - growing Twin Cities based national business that designs, builds, and warehouses custom trade show exhibits and point -of- purchase displays, has reached a tentative agreement to build its $8.1 million, 185,000 square -foot headquarters in Ramsey. The firm has been based in Brooklyn Center since its founding in 1993 and currently has 90 employees. It now leases two buildings totaling 153,000 square feet. Star Exhibits & Environments has been among the region's fastest growing private firms, appearing repeatedly in CityBusiness' "50 Fastest" ranking and posting $17.2 million in 2000 revenue, up from $12.6 million in 1999. The decision to build in the soft economy was easy, said Star Exhibits President Bruce Dreblow, and City officials were pretty proactive in pursuing us as well. City Staff indicated TIF subsidies and other tools could be used to assist the project. The new office /manufacturing/ warehouse facility is planned for a 14 -acre site near the intersection of Sunfish Lake Boulevard and Industry Avenue (County Road 116) and can accommodate an expansion of up to 40,000 square feet. Star Exhibits & Environments is in the process of gaining necessary City approvals to proceed with its development plans. Star Exhibits has hired Burnsville -based Amcon Construction Co. LLC as its design/build partner on the project. If everything goes forward as planned, Star Exhibits will begin construction in November and move into its new facility in July 2002.