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Regular City Council Meeting <br />Monday, October 10, 2016 <br />Page 34 <br />through the lowest bid available, but opined schools, police and fire services did <br />not fit in that category. <br />While local policing services may cost more, Ms. O'Brien stated it wasn't about <br />money. Ms. O'Brien stated she was very impressed with the Roseville Police <br />Department's professionalism and their community engagement; and stated she <br />was not convinced the same quality of services would be realized with Ramsey <br />County. <br />Cynthia White, 21 Churchhill Street <br />Ms. White stated her agreement with the previous speaker; opining to her it <br />wasn't about money when it came to police services. Ms. White stated she had <br />spent the last eight years attempting to understand the annual municipal budget <br />process, but stated this was the very last thing she would imagine being proposed, <br />especially in this hostile day and time. <br />Ms. White noted the significant work put into the proposal by Councilmember <br />McGehee, and opined if the proposal had been a joint proposal presented and rec- <br />ommended by City Manager Trudgeon, Police Chief Mathwig and Councilmem- <br />ber McGehee, she may be able to find room for discussion. However, under the <br />circumstances, Ms. White strongly urged the City Council to allow Roseville res- <br />idents to continue receiving the fine services currently available from its local po- <br />lice force that remained directly accountable to the City Council, Roseville resi- <br />dents and the City Manager. <br />Also speaking as a senior on a fixed income, Ms. White stated her advocacy with <br />current police model, and offered her willingness to pay more for those services if <br />necessary. <br />Michal Bilsky, CEO of North American Banking <br />Mr. Bilsky noted that Roseville city property taxes remained some of the lowest <br />in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, owning in part to the community's commer- <br />cial area. Mr. Bilsky asked that Councilmember McGehee not forget about all of <br />those businesses, noting his business property taxes alone exceeded $48,000 an- <br />nually. However, Mr. Bilsky stated that he had chosen Roseville as the communi- <br />ty in which to start his bank due to those city services, including its local police <br />department. <br />Mr. Bilsky cited the example when one of his banks was robbed, and the Rose- <br />ville Police Department quickly apprehended the robbers within 500' of the bank, <br />and recovered the stolen funds. <br />Mr. Bilsky stated the community could not be represented by anyone other than <br />its own police department; and opined that he found the analysis done by Coun- <br />cilmember McGehee appalling to say the least. <br />