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HRA Special Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, June 30, 2015 Page 19 1 those populations for long-term housing outside apartment living. Mr. Bilotta noted that this may prove 2 to be on the cutting edge for Roseville, and accomplish something not being done well so far by other 3 communities; and may address some infill sites in SE Roseville that could provide unique and different 4 options. 5 6 Ms. Kelsey noted, when the HRA work plan was last updated in 2012, Ms. Raye and she visited the 7 Cities of St. Louis Park, Richfield, as well as Dakota County’s Community Development Agency 8 (CDA); and noted that Chair Maschka had also met with the Dakota County CDA as well. Ms. Kelsey 9 noted that the CDA provided bonding for affordable housing at rates better than developers could find 10 in the private market, and offered sub-secondary bonding options. However, Ms. Kelsey noted that the 11 CDA also had more resources available, but the Roseville HRA was unable to partner with non-profits 12 or for-profits to accomplish the same thing due to current law. 13 14 With re-enactment of the Housing Replacement Program, in hindsight, Ms. Kelsey opined that maybe 15 should have been done with the real estate market died, as there were more opportunities at that point 16 and not in competition with other options. Ms. Kelsey advised that she worked closely with the City’s 17 Building Department and Officials to track homes that may qualify – or not – for reinvestment (e.g. 18 burnout home as a consideration for the replacement program), but noted there was a lot staff had been 19 able to pursue further given the limited staff time available. 20 21 Ms. Kelsey advised that she was putting together a visitation program with businesses beyond that done 22 in 2013-2014, noting that the purpose was not only to see who could be recruited into the community 23 but who could be retained and expanded in the community. Ms. Kelsey opined that a priority should be 24 to make that visitation program a priority and the next step should move beyond just one person’s 25 relationship with that business to avoid losing that connection; but to determine how best to retain that 26 broader relationship as an area of long-term focus. 27 28 Member Wall opined that the best ambassadors for the City were its existing businesses and 29 connections with competitors, suppliers, and/or customers. Member Wall further opined those 30 relationships were very valuable and could reap many benefits for the City through networking and 31 improve the reputation of Roseville. 32 33 Ms. Kelsey recognized that those efforts had been very successful during Member Wall’s tenure on the 34 City Council; and noted staff had just started to mimic those efforts in December of 2014 with monthly 35 and/or quarterly business councils and educational outreaches. Ms. Kelsey advised that this allowed 36 businesses to visit together and get to know each other, which had been a lost piece of the 37 communication efforts until then. 38 39 Ms. Kelsey spoke in support of the HRA continuing or initiating efforts and activities for study of 40 issues and including having an intern in board to study issues in more detail and in-depth and more 41 methodically than current staff could allot time to accomplish (e.g. rental registration for single-family 42 homes as an example). Ms. Kelsey opined that those opportunities could provide resident engagement 43 as well. 44 45 Member Wall opined that, as in the past, an unpaid position such as an international trade representative 46 would provide a favorable perception of the city, and provide a lot of mileage and attention to the City. 47 48 Member Wall asked Ms. Kelsey to suggest her preferred allocation of dollars between housing and non- 49 housing needs. 50 51 For the HRA, with the City of Roseville being a fully-developed community, Ms. Kelsey suggested 52 involvement in economic development efforts to prevent slum and blight; but still suggested retaining a 53 50/50 relationship between those two efforts for long-term benefits. Even when the City staffed a full- 54 time economic development specialist, Ms. Kelsey noted that they were still not accomplishing 55 everything the City wanted accomplished.