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Special City Council Meeting <br /> Thursday,July 18,2013 <br /> Page 13 <br /> Councilmember McGehee spoke in support of the department expanding beyond <br /> the Karen community to the Somali community in support of the City's commit- <br /> ment to make Roseville as welcoming as possible by reaching out to all communi- <br /> ties. <br /> Mayor Roe noted that the Karen community remained so vulnerable based on <br /> their culture versus Somali immigrant groups seeming to be able to better inte- <br /> grate in to the United States, Minnesota and Roseville; opining that the focus <br /> should remain on the Karen people due to that big cultural difference and their <br /> past negative history with their own government authorities. <br /> Councilmember Etten concurred, opining that the Somali were more established <br /> in Roseville; and referenced a recent candidate for the Planning Commission va- <br /> cancy, expressing interest in getting involved in and helping his Roseville Com- <br /> munity. Councilmember Etten strongly encouraged using him as a contact person <br /> if another Forum was scheduled; and as a great resource to tap into other re- <br /> sources in the Somali community. <br /> Community Development Department <br /> Community Development Director Patrick Trudgeon distributed a handout outlin- <br /> ing his presentation. <br /> As detailed in the bench handout, Mr. Trudgeon advised that the Community De- <br /> velopment Department typically generated $1 million annually, whether consid- <br /> ered good or bad years, with the majority of operations funded via fees. Mr. <br /> Trudgeon advised that only nuisance code enforcement efforts and staff were <br /> funded by the general levy. Mr. Trudgeon advised that he saw no major increases <br /> in the 2014 budget, remaining status quo, with many areas anticipated in the 2015 <br /> budget impact year and beyond. <br /> In listing the Community Development Department priorities, Mr. Trudgeon stat- <br /> ed that, without question, implementation of the compensation study was of the <br /> highest priority. <br /> Mr. Trudgeon reviewed the status of the Rental Licensing Program, anticipated <br /> for implementation in 2014, with the Housing & Redevelopment Authority <br /> (HRA) having done additional research and comparisons with other communities, <br /> as preliminarily reported to the City Council, with a more refined program antici- <br /> pated in the near future. Mr. Trudgeon advised that the intent was to begin base <br /> line multi-family rental inspections in 2014, and have the program fully opera- <br /> tional by 2015. Mr. Trudgeon advised that the initial program costs would be <br /> mostly fee-supported. Mr. Trudgeon noted that the HRA and staff were respond- <br /> ing to multi-family rental property owners and managers to make the program less <br /> of a negative financial impact to them; and the need to balance staff resource re- <br /> quirements with fees realized in future years, based on the cost of third party in- <br />