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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, Apri128, 2008 Page 8 Clarification was sought by individual Councilmembers and provided by staff that the mailing list included a general geographic mailing area, as requested by the applicant for the surrounding neighborhood, and was not specifically addressed as a response to those who had communicated with the City, as the letter may have indicated in the first paragraph. Staff noted that this was current policy to make a mailing list available to the public, and further noted that personal information in- cluded in the Council packet and made public had been redacted prior to distribu- tion. Applicant, Mark Smith, 19545 Hampshire Court, Prior Lake, MN (owner and CEO of Cash-n-Pawn) Mr. Smith apologized that, in the haste of he and his partner to get the letters out in the mail, they made the wording generic, indicating that it was in response to previous correspondence to the city regarding their application, rather than ad- dressing those previously addressed concerns, and as a general information com- munication to the entire neighborhood. Mr. Smith took full responsibility, and asked that City staff not be blamed for his error in attempting a more intensive broadcast of information, rather than his personally going door-to-door in the neighborhood. Mr. Smith advised that the Frequently Asked Questions enclosure with the letter was an attempt to respond to previously voiced or written com- ments and concerns, included in previous public agenda packets at the Planning Commission and/or City Council level. Mr. Smith recognized the misconceptions and past images of pawnshops, and of- fered to answer specific questions on the operation of his business. Mr. Smith noted that going into the Planning Commission meeting, there had been lots of opposition, but after due diligence and dialogue, views had changed. Mr. Smith spoke to his support at the legislature of the State's Automatic Pawn System (APS) and spoke in support of other state and city regulatory requirements. Mr. Smith reviewed the pawn process and identification required of the seller and merchandise; regulatory compliance with law enforcement agencies and require- ments; statistical information that less then one percent of the applicant`s business involved the Police Department; misconceptions that pawnshops traffic stolen material; typical clients using pawnshops; and the majority of the business (60%) in the retail market. Mr. Smith advised that every transaction was entered in the APS system with that information submitted on a daily basis to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). Mr. Smith noted that any stolen merchandise required him to take a financial loss, thus providing additional incentive for him to operate with integrity. Mr. Smith further reviewed the state and city regula- tions under which he operated, in addition to the $10,000 annual license fee, and per transaction fee, with any noncompliance making his license subject to revoca- tion.