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Regular City Council Meeting <br />Monday, September 12, 2016 <br />Page 2 <br /> <br />Another member of that same Task Force quit because of her anger over the handling of <br />the County Road C2 construction. Ms. Ramundt stated other concerns are that Walmart <br />was built despite strong objections from the community and the Twin Lakes Neighbor- <br />hood Association was formed to fight a parkway and is struggling because they felt they <br />were not heard even after organizing. Ms. Ramundt suggested that instead of debating <br />whether these projects should have moved forward or not, or debating about specific pro- <br />jects, especially since some members were not on the Council at that time, the Council <br />provide multiple and historical examples that could be used to evaluate how the City <br />Council has made decisions that affect Roseville residents. Ms. Ramundt stated she does <br />not socialize with any on the Council but has had conversations or exchanged e-mails <br />with most of the Council at some time, which leads her to believe that, in general, each <br />are a decent caring individual. She stated she has been struggling to understand what <br />happens when the Council gets together as a group to make decisions for Roseville resi- <br />dents. Ms. Ramundt stated when she has come before the Council the past three times <br />regarding the formal complaint process, the Council was, at best, slow to react and now <br />the City is left with a resident with a restraining order and an unflattering article in a ma- <br />jor metropolitan newspaper. She stated she loves the City and knows we can do better. <br /> <br />Ms. Ramundt stated in looking at the composition of the Council there is an engineer, a <br />marketing person, a teacher, a realtor, and a retiree. She suspects that none have been of- <br />fered a class or seminar on conflict resolution, which she thinks would be very valuable. <br />She stated her belief that if the Council had the right tools, it would do things differently. <br />At a minimum, she suggested when making decisions where residents have expressed <br />strong disagreement, the Council would and should publicly respond to specific concerns <br />from residents so they know they have been heard, using language such as: ‘We have <br />heard and understand the concerns expressed by ‘X’ number of residents who currently <br />reside on County Road C2 and that extending County Road C2 will negatively impact <br />their housing values by ‘X’ dollars of percent. We have read the reports on Walmart that <br />show it will increase crime in our neighborhood by ‘X’ percent.’ Ms. Ramundt stated <br />people want to know that they have been heard. Then the Council would and should pro- <br />vide clear rationale for their decisions including addressing resident concerns such as: <br />‘Although County Road C2 will negatively impact the housing values of current resi- <br />dents, we are going to move forward with that construction because...’ ‘We are going to <br />accept the risk of increased crime due to Walmart because…’ <br /> <br />Ms. Ramundt stated our residents are intelligent and according to the article, even above <br />average and mature. Residents know every decision will not go the way they want; how- <br />ever, if the Council can’t or are not willing to provide the rationale for their decisions, it <br />suggests the Council is not confident they are making the right decision for the right rea- <br />sons. <br /> <br />Ms. Ramundt continued stating she has been before the Council before saying if the <br />Council doesn’t address resident’s concerns when they are small, they will continue to <br />escalate until the Council is forced to address them. She thinks this article proves her <br />point. Ms. Ramundt stated you can rationalize this article any way you want, but she sees <br /> <br />