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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, September 22, 2008 Page 7 sessments when divided among the units and based on majority decision of prop- erty owners. Councilmember Pust opined that the Association Board had done an amazing amount of work for a volunteer board, and thanked them for their perseverance, further opining that the Board, as well as the City Council had learned a lot. Councilmember Pust questioned if the board had taken into consideration, for the construction work, making the property more environmentally friendly and en- ergy efficient to be good environmental stewards in the products being considered for the improvements. Councilmember Pust provided her rationale in seeking this information to serve the greater Roseville community needs through improvement of this strong piece of the City's housing stock, benefiting the entire community. Councilmember Pust opined that, through this process and in redoing Association documents, it had hopefully served as a learning experience in working together as a community, while compromising on various aspects, and commended the As- sociation majority for increasing their dues to accommodate future improvements, negating the need to return to the City for assistance in the future. Mr. Lindberg advised that the Association was attempting to do so, with insula- tion board insulation behind the siding, in addition to insulated siding to allow en- ergy savings for homeowners; in addition to many individual property owners in- stalling new windows at a cost investment of $15 - 20,000 per unit out-of-pocket, which would also save energy. Ms. Kelsey, at the request of Councilmember Pust, provided a review of why the private sector was not willing to finance these improvements. Ms. Kelsey high- lighted discussions with U. S. Bank and Bremer Bank, with them both identifying their reason for denial based on only approximately 10% in replacement reserves, and the amount needed estimated to be $1.5 million; thus not meeting the banks' underwriting requirements to cover a certain percentage of 20 - 25%. Ms. Kelsey noted that Bremer Bank offered to serve as a direct placement for the City of the loan, rather than the City pursuing a bond in the market place; however, they de- manded that the improvement be assessed on individual taxes so they could be guaranteed a return on their investment. Additional discussion included current housing and economic markets; conse- quences of any units that may go into foreclosure and impacts to the association and/or assessment pay back to the City; and confirmation that the private market was not an option for the Association or property owners. Councilmember Pust opined that, before the government served as a bank, con- firmation had been determined that the private market was not going to finance the project. Mayor Klausing opened the Public Hearing at 7:02 p.m.