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City Council Minutes Page 12 <br />October 7, 2019 <br />----------------------------- <br />Councilmember Christianson disagreed believing red should be for social, active <br />parks and a natural color for passive parks. <br /> <br />Mayor Dietz stated he is open to all colors and noted three Councilmembers would <br />like to have the red roof; thereby reaching a consensus of the Council. <br /> <br />10.8 Senior Activity Membership Fees <br /> <br /> Mr. Benoit presented the staff report. <br /> <br />Council believed non-residents should pay a higher membership fee. <br /> <br />Councilmember Christianson questioned if the city is not enforcing membership for <br />residents currently and everyone is paying sales tax and property taxes, why charge a <br />membership fee. <br /> <br />Mr. Portner stated the sales tax is for building construction and not the operation, <br />noting the goal is to have the operation pay for itself. He stated this is a Special <br />Revenue Fund and taxpayers only pay for major capital items such as a roof <br />replacement. <br /> <br />Mayor Dietz noted seniors stated they would be willing to pay a fee in order to get a <br />new facility. <br /> <br />Councilmember Westgaard stated residents are paying for operations through their <br />property taxes and questioned if the separation between resident and non-resident <br />fees is enough to make up for those not paying property taxes. He also noted the fee <br />recovery doesn’t offset the full operational expense difference. <br /> <br />Mr. Portner noted there will be some tax savings due to less staff being needed <br />onsite so the operational costs are expected to decrease. He also noted the user <br />demographics may change accounting for more fees or program changes. <br /> <br />Councilmember Wagner stated the annual fee seems reasonable and questioned he <br />tolerance threshold before people decide it’s not worth it. <br /> <br />Council consensus is to start the new fees in January 2021 allowing for a free trial <br />period for 4th quarter of 2020 once the facility opens up. <br /> <br />11. Adjournment <br /> <br />There being no further business, Mayor Dietz adjourned the meeting of the Elk <br />River City Council at 11:21 p.m. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />