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City Council Regular Meeting — 04/25/OS <br />DRAFT Minutes - Page 5 <br />with the community, and further opined that a"big box" <br />retailer would not provide a living wage for families; and <br />questioned what the City Councilmembers wanted to leave <br />as their vision and legacy for the community. <br />Harlan Smith, 1706 Ryan Avenue W <br />Mr. Smith, from his expertise as an economist, provided <br />comment and opinion from his personal review of the <br />proposed term sheet related to the Twin Lakes <br />Redevelopment proj ect. <br />Mr. Smith spoke to the uncertainties of the amount of the <br />subsidy being requested; advance costs unknown; extensive <br />risks to the City; undetermined profit margin guarantee; <br />property acquisition concerns; bond issue risks; and the <br />need for the City to hire an independent, contract lawyer to <br />protect the City of Roseville that would hold the developers <br />personally responsible. <br />John Abler <br />Mr. Abler spoke in opposition to the City's use of public <br />monies to fund private business. Mr. Abler opined that a <br />viable business should be able to stand on its own. <br />Mr. Abler spoke to another agenda item under <br />consideration tonight related to discounting utilities. Mr. <br />Abler noted that he had discussed this issue with the <br />Council at a previous meeting in 2002, and instead of <br />seeing the program come under closer accountability and <br />scrutiny as he requested, the program had been expanded, <br />with no means testing used. Mr. Abler opined that by <br />subsidizing senior citizen lifestyles without accountability, <br />it was using family monies. Mr. Abler further opined that <br />statistics had shown that potentially 2% of the senior <br />population was eligible for low income status, and it should <br />be their responsibility to verify their income, their home <br />address and other information to further review and <br />investigate their eligibility. Mr. Abler appealed to the City <br />Council that, instead of expanding the program, they use a <br />means test before applying the utility discount; opining that <br />just because someone is of retirement age, it doesn't mean <br />z <br />