CC_Minutes_2024_0506 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday, May 6,2024 Page 11 probably state that there is no legal obligation if the City makes a commitment to one entity that the City has to make a commitment to other entities in this regard. City Attorney Tierney concurred and did not think there was any legal obligation to extend the same offer to any other entity for any other project. The City may feel an obligation or have political pressure but legally,there is no obligation that needs to be taken. Councilmember Groff indicated it seemed like each situation would be a different situation and ask for different amounts of money so he thought the City could analyze each of them separately. He was wondering if there were any incidents in the State where the non-profit has gone under and the City has had to repay the State bond or other monies. City Attorney Fiorini indicated she was not aware of any. She is aware of one project where the non-profit went out of business,but it happened before the project actually got built so the grant funds were never expended. One thing to note about how the grants work and the way the legislation is drafted here is that it does require the non-profit to fundraise their own amounts first. So, theoretically, the goal and the way the State drafts these is so the State knows the project is ready to go and the non-profit has enough funds to complete the project before the State will start to disburse their own State funds. That is what happened in the situation she was aware of so there was no loss to that city, other than time. Councilmember Schroeder asked what size were the cities that have done things like this. City Attorney Fiorini stated Minneapolis and St.Paul regularly do projects like this. She noted she has been involved in mixed public/private projects in large suburban communities and out-state communities as well. Councilmember Schroeder asked if this could be amended to have Ramsey County take the place of the City of Roseville. She asked if this is an option, could Ramsey County step in, and what would it take to have someone other than Roseville step in. City Attorney Tierney indicated Ramsey County could potentially be an option if the County wanted to get involved. Councilmember Schroeder indicated in City Attorney Tierney's letter, it states that the City has to report to MMB annually in a statement sworn in front of a notary public,the real property required to annually review projected budgets and to verify the projected revenues. Basically, it says the City has an obligation to reject inaccurate or unbalanced budgets and then the City has to certify it. She wondered if the City has to have an auditor verify that and what is the consequence if the City