2019-09-16 EDA Minutes (signed) - Laserfiche WebLink

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REDA Meeting Minutes—Monday,September 16,2019 Page 14 Member Etten concurred with those comments. He noted unions have been one of the strongest forces in ensuring labor laws and worker safety, for example through how much a person works in a week, and he thought sometimes that is forgotten. He appreciated the unions bringing forward concerns that do not necessarily involve union members but as someone noted, the rights of all are connected in this game. He noted he spent a lot of time speaking with representative of the union, Reuter Walton, and city staff working through all of these things and reading a lot of the Department of Labor findings. He thought the stories brought forward by the two men were horrible stories and the city needed to make sure it is working toward better conditions. He appreciated city staff in making changes to the TIF contract. Member Groff thanked the two gentlemen who spoke because it is a hard subject and not only in Roseville, but something that has gone on around the country for years. He thought the city needed to look at where it is now, and needs to make sure things are in place in the future to make sure everyone is protected. He thought staff has added in language, which is a start, but he thought the city needed to look at this more carefully down the road to make sure the city is protecting everyone in Roseville. Member Laliberte concurred and appreciated all of the comments made at the meeting. She was pleased staff has worked so hard with the union representatives to make sure that this is not going to happen in the city and an opportunity for the city to develop an agreement that holds the city to a higher standard but also for the surrounding communities in this State. She hoped other cities start to look at the language that is being used. If there are things that the city can do to work with the State Representative and other State Representatives to identify other shortcomings, she would be happy to testify at a state level on things that have to be changed. President Roe noted a couple things that come to his mind in relation to this are that it is very difficult to address past allegations or issues that people have had in terms of a going forward agreement between the city and another entity. He thought the city needed to put the language in place that give the city the ability to respond to issues that come up in this particular development. He noted based on a lot of where the city is at now, the best that can be done. He thought if there was a greater amount of evidence as to real issues in the past and concerns with this developer, he would be in a different place in terms of approving this agreement for TIF. But he cannot go to the place of not approving the agreement on the basis of what has been talked about, as bad as it is and should not happen. He thought there needed to be a better way to help people who are in the process with the Department of Labor. He stated there was a role for the city for advocating for those types of things, but he did not know if the city can go much beyond that. He thought the city could look in the future at qualifications of contractor licenses in the city that are issued, and