City Council Minutes 2021 07 27 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes July 27, 2021 Page 6 of 13 The resolution would lay out the priority of the six projects with the intent to complete all six within the $51 M budget. Council will need to finalize that priority list before approving the resolution. Mayor Stolzmann stated the community has been asking for these improvements for a long time. She thanked the LRC for their funding commitment. The Council has found significant internal funding to minimize the need to levy property tax to pay for these and Council is committed to that. This resolution will capture the intent of what the Council wants to do and how they want to pay for it. Mayor Pro Tern Maloney stated he believes these all can be done primarily using internal funds and minimizing the property tax impacts and that is clearly the intent of the City Council. He asked the Council to consider moving the Highway 42 and Short Street underpass to number two on the priority list so the Council can leverage the greatest amount of money from the LRC. Councilmember Leh stated the bond number is large therefore we need to be clear with residents that the plan is to use existing fund for these as much as possible. He agreed the Highway 42 and Short Street project should be moved to number two on the priority list so that the Council is taking full advantage of the available funds from the LRC. Mayor Stolzmann asked if there was consensus to move the Highway 42 and Short Street project to number two on the list. All members except Councilmember Brown supported that change. Councilmember Brown supported moving it to number 3. Councilmember Dickinson stated the resolution is important to explain to people Council truly does intend to pay for the improvements from existing funds. Councilmember Lipton asked if this resolution would then require Council to pay for the improvements in the way it lays out. Crawford stated the resolution lays out an intended plan but it is not binding to future Councils. Councilmember Lipton noted his concern that this does not bind future Councils to pay for the improvements in this way. He would like the language made more flexible so that if there is a better option than an underpass these funds could be used for that. Councilmember Brown agreed the intent of the resolution is important and he hopes future councils will understand the intent that is being made here and stick to it. Mayor Stolzmann asked if there was consensus the Council is committed to a $1.5M contribution from the CIP fund each year with an inflationary factor to keep the payment at the same level over the years. There was consensus on that commitment.