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Special joint Elk River/Ramsey City Council Minutes <br />September 14, 2015 <br />Page 4 <br />as Ramsey has moved through putting in an interchange, how strict MnDOT has <br />gotten with closing a lot of the access points with their existing businesses. <br />Mr. Gladhill stated a lot has depended on tuning of the highway improvement itself. <br />He indicated the study really helped with the businesses and closures made. <br />Mr. Brama stated Ramsey was proactive in acquiring properties and spent more time <br />and resources early on in order to make the project shovel ready for the State. <br />Mayor Strommen stated this was difficult for the city, not only on Highway 10 but <br />also on county roads. She stated Anoka County puts in medians when improving a <br />road and if they are not on Highway 10, they are on a county road, which is where a <br />lot of their businesses are located. Mayor Strommen thought this project was easier <br />than when improvements are made to county roads. She stated the study for this <br />project gave businesses time to plan and know what would be happening. <br />Mr. Ulrich stated the city has gone through a long discussion about using franchise <br />fees and their Council decided the best source of funding would be from the General <br />Fund, land proceeds from The COR development, and to try and identify future <br />sources of funding. He stated Ramsey will continue to talk about franchise fees and <br />whether it makes sense for them. <br />Mr. Portner reviewed the funding scheme utilized in Elk River. He stated they were <br />able to implement a utility fee rather than bonding for street improvements. <br />Ramsey Councilmember Kuzma asked about the utility fee structure. <br />Mr. Portner reviewed the fee. There was discussion regarding franchise fees and <br />how Elk River implemented it without residents objecting to it. <br />Mayor Dietz stated Mr. Femrite did a good job communicating with the public. <br />Anybody who gets an electric bill pays the fee and they did not think a person who <br />has more money should pay more than another person. They set the fee at nine <br />dollars a month and knew this would not change for a long time. He stated they <br />have not raised the fee since they started it and do not plan on increasing it anytime <br />soon. <br />Mayor Strommen asked if residents participated in the process, because in Ramsey, <br />residents were concerned this was a progressive tax and indicated they would rather <br />use the property taxes. <br />Mayor Dietz stated they did not have a lot of the public appear at meetings. He <br />stated a lot of information was pushed out on social media. <br />Mr. Portner stated they did a lot of upfront work so residents felt comfortable with <br />the fee. <br />ro1EEe[e It <br />INATURE <br />