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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, July 12, 2010 Page 9 environmental costs and recommendation by Ramsey County staff to seek addi- tional funds. Mr. Trudgeon advised that staff does not recommend going forward to initiate en- vironmental cost recovery as detailed in the RCA; with estimated costs of $35- 70,000 to pursue these parties, and outstanding liability to the City currently at about $100,000. Mr. Trudgeon advised that expending City funds on this issue, whether City or tax increment financing (TIF) dollars, would provide no guaran- tee that they'd be captured, since many parcels have numerous owners or tenants; creating difficulties in attributing who, what and when the contamination oc- curred. Mr. Trudgeon reminded Councilmembers of the multiple trucking ter- minals and numerous trucks on those sites and the difficulty in identifying respon- sible parties; and also noted that any dollars recovered would need to be turned back to the granting agencies, in addition to considering whether it was appropri- ate to turn back funds to developers to-date. Mr. Trudgeon advised that the allo- cation agreement in place provided that the development community was charged for the clean up costs. Mr. Trudgeon opined that to attempt recovery of costs in this manner would prove risky, with an unsure outcome. Councilmember Roe clarified Mr. Trudgeon's comments, noting that a developer is responsible for environmental clean-up on their private property; however, the City is responsible for environmental clean-up costs for rights-of--way, and staff's costs are based on city-owned property, not private property. Discussion among staff and Councilmembers included anticipated funding from Ramsey County for Phase II environmental clean-up costs; mechanisms in place to capture environmental clean-up costs; and previous report and legal opinion from Environmental Attorney Larry Espel. Councilmember Ihlan opined that the City should seek to recover public dollars from those responsible for pollution; and questioned the rationale for a decision being made tonight, since the statute of limitations was not close to expiration. Mayor Klausing clarified, as outlined in the staff report, that staff had indicated that no action was necessary unless the City Council chose to affirmatively pursue action, as the staff was recommending that this option not be pursued, and was only seeking Council support for that recommendation. Further discussion included characteristics of future development for due dili- gence based on projects coming forward, based on the PIK Terminal site with pass-through dollars through the City for environmental clean-up and any other city role open for future discussion; and grant dollars based on development and job creation.