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2024.07.22 EDA Meeting MinutesECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING MONDAY, DULY 22, 2024 5:30 PM OTSEGO PRAIRIE CENTER Call to Order: President Stockamp called the EDA meeting to order at 5:30 PM. 1. Roll Call: President Jessica Stockamp and Commissioners: Brittany Moores, Tina Goede, Jeff Dahl, and Ryan Dunlap, Assistant City Administrator/Human Resources Sabrina Hille; Emergency Services Director Daryl Rausch, City Planner Daniel Licht, City Attorney David Kendall, and Secretary Audra Etzel. Absent: Executive Director Adam Flaherty 2. Consider approval of Minutes: 2.1 June 24, 2024 EDA Minutes. Commissioner Moores motioned to approve the June 24, 2024 EDA minutes, seconded by Commissioner Goede. All in favor. Motion carried 5-0. 3. Bills and Communications. Assistant City Administrator/Human Resources Hille noted there are no bills to approve. 4. New Business: 4.1 Public Hearing on Proposed Establishment of an Economic Development: A. Presentation by Northland Securities and Taft. Be Conduct Public Hearing. C. Consider Resolution 2024-03 Establishing Economic Development District No. 2. Jessica Green of Northland Securities reviewed the staff report. Maren Magill of Taft was available to answer questions. Ms. Green asked staff if there were any written comments submitted for the public comments. Ms. Hille presented the following comment: Gina Norris, 15399 76th Street NE, submitted an email on July 22, 2024 detailing her experience her house fire in 2018. Ms. Norris is in support of the Development District for an Otsego Fire Station. Her email included a petition of near 500 signatures in support of the project. President Stockamp opened the public hearing at 5:35 pm. Joseph Zieba, 15377 811t Court NE, stated he is a fire fighter with 23-years' experience that works in one of the biggest cities in the metro and he emphasized the need for a fire department in the City of Otsego, with a population reaching 25,000. Mr. Zieba listed several reasons why he supports the development district for the creation of a fire district. Page 1 of 4 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF OTSEGO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING JULY 221 2024 Bill Abderhalden, 7669 Padgett Avenue NE, has been in fire safety for 21 years. Mr. Abderhalden said a city without a fire department, does not properly delegate the fire code to the Fire Code Official. A city without a Fire Code Official causes an economic impact on the City, mainly from structural fires, and missing the methods of preventative mitigation. Mr. Abderhalden further explained that a fire station will lower the ISO numbers that drives the premiums for property owner's insurance. Mr. Abderhalden further listed details of why he is in support of the creation of the fire district. Dan Freidberg, 12577 96th Street NE, stated he is in support of the Fire District and thanked the City Council and staff for their dedication to moving forward with the creation of the Fire Department. Mr. Friedberg said as a first responder there are many services that will be provided to the community with the City having their own Fire Department. Greg Hubbard, 11432 79th Lane NE, agrees with previous comments and he supports the Fire Department. Judy Siebert, 9721 Jandel Avenue NE, said she has over 30 years of emergency service experience and is a member of the Public Safety Commission. Ms. Siebert supports the Fire Department. President Stocl<amp closed the public hearing at 5:46 pm. Assistant City Administrator/Human Resources Hille noted Treasurer Dunlap submitted a Findings of Economic Development District 2 report. Commissioner Moores motioned to adopt Resolution 2024-03 Establishing Economic Development District No. 2, seconded by Commissioner Goede. Commissioner Dunlap prepared a report titled Findings on Economic Development District 2 for the Economic Development Authority Commission to consider. Commissioner Dunlap read a summary of his report including: Operations of EDA are not consistent, EDA is used to avoid a citizen's ability to petition, Fire study did not recommend a fire station, does not feel the district is proper, and the true cost of development of a fire station have not been considered. Commissioner Dunlap recently found that the City Falcon Heights dissolved a 72-year fire department due to costs. Commissioner Dunlap finds for the reasons noted he does not find the District 2 desirable. Commissioner Moores said fire safety is about prevention and safety for the community, she supports the Economic Development District. President Stocl<amp noted Falcon Height's population has decreased since 2010 from 5,321 to 5,233 in 2020. The Otsego Council is elected to protect the public and establishing a Fire Department is critical; the creation of the department will improve response times. President Stockamp said the most asked question in her 20 years of serving the community has been Page 2 of 4 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF OTSEGO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING JULY 22, 2024 about the creation of a Fire Department. The EDA does have statutory authority and the City is allowed to use the EDA to fund the project; the EDA has funded Prairie Center and the City Hall/Public Works buildings. President Stockamp said the City has completed their due diligence by completing four fire studies; the growth of Otsego has continued since 1960 and safety needs to be a priority. President Stockamp has concerns with comments in the report presented by Treasurer Dunlap. Commissioner Dunlap said the report he prepared is accurate and he feels Albertville is going to ask the City to continue the contract and not offer mutual aid since three -fourths of Albertville would not be able to receive a response within nine minutes from Otsego. Commissioner Goede questioned Commissioner Dunlap's comments regarding the Albertville Fire Department contract. Mayor Stockamp said the fire study was based on current streets, the station being in the center of the City, using the current infrastructure, and factoring in future developments. City Planner Licht said the fire study travel time was based on station to incident, noting Emergency Services Director Rauch has explained the difference between response time and reflex time, as the study identified the current modeling for different departments along with dispatching issues that impact Elk River and Roger's response times from the time a call comes in to when the trucks roll and to when they actually get to the scene. Emergency Services Director Rausch said he has physically driven from the proposed fire station to all the City parks and was able to get to each within 9 minutes; documentation is available for review. Mr. Rausch noted the full-time department model will have a faster response. City Planner Licht said the 2018 study involved multiple scenarios, including Otsego building a fire station, assuming mutual aid would continue to exist and in the 2023 study Otsego would be able to provide mutual aid to the surrounding communities. The surrounding fire departments have physical barriers due to the river and bridge access, railroad crossings, highway crossing, and potential flooding of roads. The assumption from the 2018 study was the surrounding departments would continue to provide mutual aid and a station centrally located would be able to provide service in a timely manner. Commissioner Dunlap stated the Fire Station in District 2 will not be able to provide mutual aid to the surroundings communities due of the location. Rausch said career staff would respond to a mutual aid and backfill the station with part time members and interns. Mutual aid is for emergency support for the City's department and recognized industry wide. The plan does allow for mutual aid to the surrounding communities. Rausch sees surrounding communities eventually moving to a full-time model. Commissioner Dunlap has concerns about the drive times. Rausch said he can be virtually anywhere in Otsego within 9 minutes. Rausch offered council to ride along for the drives. Ms. Magill of Taft responded to Commissioner Dunlap's report that was distributed today, she discussed the report states the Otsego EDA operations are inconsistent with Minnesota Statues, and she stated this is not true and the report does not provide any evidence of this claim. Magill then mentioned, the Otsego EDA established in 1992 was properly and legally established by the resolution and bylaws, and that her office, of attorney's, have reviewed the documents and feel it was legally established. Ms. Magill noted the Otsego EDA has not been in Page 3 of 4 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF OTSEGO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING JULY 22, 2024 perfect compliance, but there is nothing in the Minnesota Statues that the EDA is no longer valid due to lack of compliance. She then addressed Commissioner Dunlap's report, which references Minnesota Statue 469, which is a statute that applies to Housing Redevelopment Authority, if dissolved, that statute is not applicable in this situation as this is in regards to the EDA. If dissolved or inactive a public hearing is required along with are resolution from the City Council and transferred the assets to the City. Ms. Magill said on June 24th the Otsego EDA addressed any non-compliance issues and properly called for a public hearing that was held tonight; the Otsego EDA is a valid public entity under the EDA law and has the authority to develop the District. Lastly, Ms. Magill noted the EDA does not need to find or declare the establishment of the district to be proper or desirable. Commissioner Dunlap has not been able to find a similar city that's EDA has not met compliance. Ms. Green said there are plenty of cities that do not budget for their EDA, Planning Commission or Utility budget. Commissioner Dunlap is concerned about not having a budget. President Stockamp said Executive Director Flaherty has addressed the budget concerns with the contingency or interfund, this does not invalidate the EDA. Attonery Kendall said several EDAs within other cities did not meet due to the Covid pandemic. Voting in favor; Stockamp, Dahl, Goede, and Moores. Voting against; Dunlap. Motion carried 4-1. 5. Old Business: None, 6. Reports: Emergency Services Director Bausch said the Fire Station drawings and layout are available for review. 7. Adjourn. Commissioner Goede motioned to adjourn at 6:18 PM, seconded by Commissioner Dahl. All in favor. Motion carried 5-0. Notes prepared by Secretary, Audra Etzel. ATTEST: f Audra Etzel, Secretary City of Otsego: J Page 4 of 4