HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-01-18 JDAJoint Development Authority
Monday, October 1, 2018
Arden Hills City Council Chambers
Minutes
5:30 pm
Present:
Joint Development Authority: Chair Jonathan Wicklund, Commissioner Blake Huffman,
Commissioner Dave McClung, Commissioner David Grant, Commissioner Rafael Ortega
Also present: Dave Perrault, (Arden Hills); Josh Olson, (Ramsey County)
Roll call taken.
Approval of Agenda
Commissioner Grant requested the MOU, Budget, Delisting, Procedure for Cancelling Meetings
and Schedule E be discussed under Old Business.
Chair Wicklund reported the MOU, Schedule E and Delisting would be addressed under Item 6
A and noted the Budget would be addressed under Item 8A. He recommended Item 6B be
added to address Procedure for Cancelling Meetings.
Motion by Commissioner McClung seconded by Commissioner Huffman to approve the agenda
as amended. Motion carried.
Approval of September 19, 2018 Minutes
Motion by Commissioner Huffman seconded by Commissioner Grant to approve the minutes as
presented. Motion carried.
Public Inquiries/Informational
None
Consent Agenda
None
Old Business
Master Development Agreement Summary
Director Olson stated the City, County and Alatus continues to work through issues pertaining
to the MDA. He reported no resolutions has been reached regarding the tension points, which
included the development fees and other issues.
Commissioner Grant noted the MOU has not been delivered to the City. He reviewed the
comments that were made regarding the MOU at the previous JDA meeting. He believed it was
in the best interest of this group to discuss the MOU and supported the JDA instructing Alatus
to revise the MOU or to send the City a letter rescinding the MOU.
Bob Lux, Alatus, commented the document cannot be rescinded because it was not fully
executed. He suggested all of the agreements that will be executed between Alatus, the City,
County and JDA be further discussed. He explained if the City would like a valid MOU for the
Civic Site, this document could be negotiated between the City, County and Alatus.
Commissioner Grant asked if Alatus could respond to the City in writing that the current MOU
was invalid.
Mr. Lux stated he would respond to the City regarding the invalid MOU and that it would not be
executed.
Commissioner Grant explained the JPA states the County will act as the Fiscal Agent as defined
in Schedule E. He expressed concern with the fact there is no Schedule E in the JPA.
Chair Wicklund commented on a PDF form of the JPA and noted a Schedule E was included. He
requested staff provide Commissioner Grant with a copy of this document.
Procedure for Cancelling Meetings
Commissioner Grant reviewed the language within the JPA regarding the procedure that should
be followed for cancelled meetings. He explained bylaws and procedures were supposed to be
in place.
Chair Wicklund stated he would have to review the bylaws to learn more about meeting
cancellation procedures.
Commissioner Grant requested an update on this matter at the next JDA meeting.
Public Hearing
None
New Business
Financial Procedures Update and Budget
Director Olson reported Jenny Bolton from Kennedy & Graven was present to address this item
with the JDA.
Jenny Bolton, Kennedy & Graven, discussed the JPA from a big picture standpoint. She stated
the overarching concept was that certain costs were identified that would be incurred by the
two parties ahead of the development. Those costs were assigned to the two parties and a
system was put in place for recovery of these costs. She explained the City would recover its
costs through fees, assessments and charges in the development, when development occurs. It
was noted the County will recover its fees through land sales. She reported the agreement
states not all costs and revenues are known. She commented during the interim period each
party was responsible for covering its own costs. She indicated the County was acting as the
fiscal agent at this time and noted there were provisions for a budget to be approved.
Ms. Bolton reported an annual budget was in place for 2018 and noted JDA staff had begun
working on the 2019 budget. She commented on the language within the JPA regarding
quarterly reports and noted staff was looking at updating that procedure in order to stay on
track. She discussed the reimbursement policy and noted this policy was not prepared at this
point. She indicated the City and County would need to identify how fees will be collected prior
to development occurring.
Commissioner Grant asked where the JPA allows the Fiscal Agent to reimburse itself expenses
that were within the budget. Ms. Bolton stated this was written into the Bylaws in Section
4.7D.
Commissioner Grant questioned if the Bylaws could contradict the JPA. Ms. Bolton advised the
Bylaws were intended to implement or supplement the JPA.
Commissioner Grant commented on a statement from the JPA that read: No disbursements
shall be made from such accounts except by check or EFT, nor unless a verified claim for
services and or commodities actually rendered or delivered has been submitted to and
approved for payment by the JDA. Ms. Bolton stated in the process of approving the Bylaws,
and the JDA approved a procedure which was laid out in the Bylaws.
Commissioner Grant questioned how the JDA was to proceed when there was a conflict with
the financial procedure. Ms. Bolton stated there was not a total conflict, rather the County was
supplementing noting the County was serving as the Fiscal Agent.
Chair Wicklund commented staff upon conversation with Ms. Bolton was working on a process
for the annual budget and anticipated the JDA would be reviewing this soon. In addition, staff
was working on quarterly reporting and a reimbursement policy. He asked what would be the
one issue the JDA needs to address at this time. Ms. Bolton explained the reporting can be
handled by staff, along with the budget. She suggested the reimbursement policy be addressed
by the JDA along with the arrangement that has to be negotiated within the cooperative
agreement between the City and County.
Chair Wicklund questioned if reimbursements were to occur prior to revenues coming in. Ms.
Bolton indicated the agreement for the identified costs and revenue sources were for after
development.
Commissioner Grant stated he would be reviewing these sections of the JDA and Bylaws in
further detail.
Commissioner Grant reviewed the minutes from the last meeting and noted Commissioner
Huffman requested further information regarding the delisting of the site. He asked for further
information from staff on this matter. Director Olson stated he would be addressing this
matter under the Administrative Director's Report.
Communications
None
Development Director's Report
Director Perrault stated he had nothing additional to report.
Administrative Director's Report
Director Olson provided the JDA with background information and an update on delisting of the
TCAAP superfund site. He explained the delisting only addressed the soil and not the water. He
reported the water would be the Army's obligation. He indicated the Certification of
Completion meant the County had achieved its cleanup goals and was ready for development.
He stated the County had submitted its delisting materials to the EPA's local office and this
information has been passed along to the Federal EPA office. He commented the County could
begin grading work in 2019 and would be working closely with environmental regulators.
Commissioner Grant asked how long it would take to delist the property. Director Olson
reported he was seeking clarification from the MPCA on this. He indicated the State and
Federal EPA would be working on this matter concurrently.
Commissioner Grant commented on the deep water contamination that has occurred on this
site and noted shallow water contamination was recently found. He requested further
information on this recent finding. Director Olson stated he could investigate this item and
would report back to the JDA.
Commissioner Grant requested a budget update. Chair Wicklund reported the Directors would
be providing the JDA with a budget update at the next JDA meeting.
Commissioner Updates
Chair Wicklund asked when the JDA wanted to hold their next meeting on October 17th or
November 5th.
Commissioner Ortega suggested the October meeting be held unless there was nothing new to
discuss.
Commissioner McClung supported keeping the October meeting on the calendar, but did not
expect there would be anything to discuss until November.
Commissioner Grant stated he preferred to hold the October meeting in order to assist the JDA
in making continual progress.
Commissioner Huffman concurred.
Director Olson stated he would have information for the JDA to address on October 17th
Future Meeting Schedule
The next meeting will be Wednesday, October 17, 2018, at Arden Hills City Hall.
Meeting adjourned at 6:15 pm.
Approved 1".t'aLP-0 t' (14 6, v-- t® 1-7 I
Jonathan Wicklund, Chair Date