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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday, September 23, 2019 <br /> Page 14 <br /> velopers do who are doing business in the city, what tools are available to them so <br /> the city can make some suggestions as to what the expectations are for the devel- <br /> oper to be informed and to inform their subcontractors and staff. <br /> Councilmember Groff echoed that comment and noted this is not a one-off inci- <br /> dent since it is happening in the construction industry and other workplaces as <br /> well. Wage theft is a big issue and the city is just seeing the tip of the iceberg and <br /> needs to start working diligently on it as a city, state, and county. He would also <br /> like to know that if the union side does not seem to have this problem, why the <br /> developers are not using unions one hundred percent of the time. He wondered if <br /> that is something the city can look into and require. <br /> Ms. Gundlach indicated staff did ask the developer why Reuter Walton only uses <br /> union workers eighty-five percent of the time and not one hundred percent and <br /> learned it was a cost savings piece. Some of their sites are one hundred percent <br /> union but most of the time it is to save money. <br /> Mayor Roe explained what was approved at the last EDA meeting was to author- <br /> ize TIF on this project. By policy, Roseville's approach to TIF is a pay as you go <br /> reimbursement approach rather than upfront funding and that is the case with this. <br /> The developer does not receive any money until the developer has actually per- <br /> formed under the contract and the city has received the increment from the taxes <br /> collected on the property over time. <br /> Ms. Gundlach indicated that was correct and a really important point made. Reu- <br /> ter Walton will get annual payments as taxes are generated on the property and if <br /> there is any final action that results in them violating the contract and not paying <br /> their contractors appropriately, the city can stop issuing those TIF payments. She <br /> noted the language even goes so far as to state the city can go back in time to get <br /> money back, if money has been released prior to them being found guilty of vio- <br /> lating any of those state or federal labor laws, if needed. <br /> Mayor Roe thought the point was well made by Councilmember Laliberte that the <br /> city needs to be talking about this with all of the projects done in the city. He <br /> thought anyone who comes to the city for funding needs to be adequately vetted, <br /> there needs to be a lookback on any cases and an understanding on the outcomes <br /> of those, and also the contractor licensing process needs to be looked at very <br /> closely. He noted staff might to be more diligent on research for other service <br /> providers in the city as well and also structure contracts to provide those services <br /> to try to prevent various labor law violations. <br /> Councilmember Willmus thought these are all great proactive items that have <br /> been brought forward by staff and the Council. One of the things, from a personal <br /> perspective, when he saw the KSTP story aired he was quite upset and reached <br /> out to the Mayor and staff His mindset at the time was to see if the EDA could <br />