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Home My WebLink About2011-08-10 PACKET 05.A.REQUEST OF CITY COUNCIL ACTION COUNCIL AGENDA MEETING ITEM # DATE 8/10/2011 PREPARED BY Administration Ryan Schroeder ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT DEPARTMENT HEAD COUNCIL ACTION REQUEST Received response to July 20, 2011 Open Forum question. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Receive response. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS ® MEMO /LETTER: Letter from Mayor Bailey. ❑ RESOLUTION: ❑ ORDINANCE: ❑ ENGINEERING RECOMMENDATION: ❑ LEGAL RECOMMENDATION: ❑ OTHER: ADMINISTRATORS COMMENTS City Administrator Date Document2 City of ( Cotta Grove Minnesota 7516 80th Street South /Cottage Grove, Minnesota 55016 -3195 w W.cottage- grove.org July 25, 2011 Ms. Dale Andrews 8430 Keats Avenue South Cottage Grove, MN 55016 Dear Ms. Andrews, 651- 458 -2800 Fax 651 - 458 -2897 TDD 651- 458 -2880 At the Open Forum portion of the July 20, 2011 City Council meeting you requested a workshop opportunity to conduct fact checking of written statements around the Public Safety / City Hall project. I appreciate your desire to add accuracy to the statements presented by one party or another around this project. That same desire has also been an ongoing one of mine and that of the City throughout the planning for this project. The idea of fact checking written materials or statements of the City or others made absolute sense prior to the decision making points around moving this project forward. Rest assured council and staff members have done a very thorough job of researching all aspects of the project. As you also know, we have attempted to provide ongoing corrections when the facts differ from inaccurate public statements about the project. We will continue to do so in an effort to ensure our residents have accurate data. Cottage Grove staff and the majority of the Council have dedicated significant time and resources to providing a detailed and transparent accounting for the project specifics throughout the planning process. In my view, there is little need to revisit ground we have already covered, in detail, multiple times already. Council has authorized bids, which will be received in August, along with utility installation. We have chosen a financing path and are scheduled to award bids on September 21 of this year. In a representative form of government, the City Council acts as a body. The body has voted in favor of this much needed project. We are moving forward. Whether you and the CG City Council agree or disagree on any particular statement made regarding this project will not change the past Council approvals or our future project schedule. I also personally believe we have little chance of achieving agreement on anything that varies from your past positions due to your group's apparent lack of trust in, or acceptance of, past City statements. For those reasons there will be no additional workshop or meeting, despite your request. We have already provided ample opportunity in a variety of forms (workshops, presentations, open houses, etc...) for you to engage in conversation with Council and staff. In addition, the Council does not take any sort of "summer break" as we use the months of August and September to hold extra meetings and workshops that focus on our budgeting process. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER I find it truly unfortunate that your level of dissatisfaction with this project has achieved the level that it has, but I understand I will be unable to please all of the people all of the time in my role as Mayor. It is clear you would prefer not to see the land near your home developed. That bridge, however, was crossed in the 2003 -2006 study period and decisions of the citizen driven East Ravine planning process. It is clear you would prefer that a government campus not be developed between Keats Avenue and the Ravine Parkway and also between 85th and 90th Streets. That decision was made via agreements with the County and Met Council in 2005 and with the construction of the South Service Center in 2007. It is clear you do not agree with our project approach, however, the decision to pursue our current model was made in June 2010, furthered with the hiring of Wold Architects in August 2010, and sealed in December 2010 when design - development was authorized. It appears to me that you believe it is somehow cost effective to office CG city staff and municipal operations in whatever space we can find available within our city limits. Nothing could be further from the truth, so we will simply have to disagree. There is no data to support that such an approach results in any sort of cost savings or reasonable service delivery. In fact, it is quite the opposite hence there is zero benefit to continuing a conversation about those "options" in my view. I am proud of our organization, and am proud to be this City's Mayor! As both a long time resident and taxpayer, I am always very impressed to see how well we rank versus our peer communities in terms of property taxes, operational spending, debt levels, and staffing levels - which are all lower than most. Our bond rating, income and employment per household, and other fiscal metrics are also greater than most when again compared to our peer communities. We have high standards for our infrastructure; we have had an aggressive pavement management program longer than many, and our park system is already excellent with continual improvement. We have a growing business park and quality neighborhoods. While development activity is currently below that of a typical year's, recovery of that sector will undoubtedly occur as has been the case in each of the other six recessions the economy has experienced since 1970. 1 am extremely confident our new Economic Development Director, Danette Parr, and our other very capable city staff will help us execute our vision for enhancing a vibrant business community within our great city! With each development project undertaken by the city, we have proponents and we have critics. What we have found to be the case quite often is that some of our most vocal critics before and during our projects have become some of our most ardent supporters upon completion of these same projects. Once unfounded fears of negative outcomes are replaced with knowledge of the facts or reality around the completed project, critics are very often amazed at how well the entire process works. I look forward to providing you a personal tour of our completed Public Safety / City Hall facility in just over a year from now. I passionately believe this building, which will meet the service needs of this community for decades, will be a symbol of progress and pride for our city and her residents! Respectfully Submitted, Myron Baile Mayor City of Cottage Grove