um that we um accept what is done as done um what that means is that city council has the authority now to make any decision that they want um and it's our responsibility as staff to provide the information for you to make the best decision possible um we must gather present discuss all relevant options we must have transparency and Community engagement moving forward uh we agree that the true cost of operating the facility must match or exceed the community's interest it must be justifiable to the city residents um we agree that city council needs to make a final decision on the future of the community center and a decision on whether to accept grants um what we would like to do I think it was very successful in the last Workshop is to adopt this Workshop format where staff will start off with the presentation on the information that you've requested um then city council will have an opportunity to ask questions um and and staff will provide answers um open up for some public comments and then we will uh present what's going to be on the next agenda um and then city council will do a wrap up on the on the worksheet um the next part is some of the items and definitely want to hear from um city council if there's additional information or maybe they don't want to for us to to to gather some of this information um it's totally up to city council um but the very first part um to it is uh and and there's been a number of discussions and some questions regarding the actual Grant and terms in the grant um and whether some of them can be modified or not um so that's our first item and we're fortunate enough to have somebody um here with us tonight who is actually a North St Paul resident um who works for deed and so uh Rodney Robbins is here to um answer any questions that city council has um regarding um the grant itself um and there can be points of clarification I know that uh it's been discussed a number of times on the 37.5 years of the grant term um and there's been other clarifications and or modifications that maybe city council has been considering so I'm going to turn this over uh to Rodney and uh we'll uh give the city council an opportunity to ask some questions thank you good evening everyone welcome welcome well nice crowd here didn't quite expect this but um I guess Toast Masters is going to pay off this [Music] time but yes I'm here from deed and I'm here to answer any questions related to um the terms of the grant um when you were mentioning the 37.5 years sometimes that is a little bit misleading reality it's 20 to 30 years is the max when it comes to it and basically when we talk about the 20 to 30 years um for the terms within the grant it's meaning if what's in legislation of fixing up the center that we're staying within doing everything that we're talking about within the legislation or the enabling as we call it um it'll be a situation where like today I'm here to kind of see and then once you start doing the construction to the Outreach Outreach Center or Community Center sorry um we see those changes once it's completed um of the key things um when it comes to this is we're making sure that nothing goes everything goes according to plan so in other words and I'm a resident of North St Paul so I'm pretty close byy but we don't come back and there's a car dealership Toyota selling cars off the lot where the money was attended for the community center so those are some of the things that we want to just make sure that that the money is used in most cases what it's going to be is a reimbursement system so once you're paying for the construction or whatever Renovations permits and all that good stuff um once you're approved for the full funding just send that invoice into me and then I'm going to make sure it gets reimbursed directly to the city um it's kind of a um just looking over the legislation right there cuz it's showing that you're looking at design construct renovation furnish equipment Improvement um for the betterment of the community syis community outreach facility as well as improvements to track school activities improvements and also the Multicultural community so all of those things are in legislation and that's what we want to provide the money to make sure that all those things are accomplished any questions all those things on the list yes correct rney can I just have you it comes from the speakers up above oh okay can I just have you pause for a second take a step back we have a lot of people in the audience we've got a lot of people can you just talk about what deed is what the what it but it stands for it's a four-letter acronym absolutely um and just kind of bring everybody up to speed first that would be awesome absolutely well let me see you can hear me okay I want to make sure because my back is turned deed is the Department of Education and economical department and what we do is we take care of all kind all types of I work with special Appropriations which is projects that may come around maybe once every 30 40 years something to that magnitude so a prime example would be I've dealt with a lot of stadiums or um museums for example will go ahead and fix everything up exactly what they want in their appropriation or their legislation and then we turn around and make sure all that stuff is done we the beginning and then we see the end result and then that's it so you're a project manager with that role I would say I'm more of a grant coordinator okay would be my description okay my job description so the key thing is when you want something to be improved I'm going to just make sure I see the beginning and then I see the end and then I'm pretty much out of your lives and we can move forward for clarity you're saying for turning in um invoices for reimbursement is that as you go through the project or one time at the end what's it's as you go once you start collecting invoices send them to me great the key thing that we want to do is uh there's application um process and I did see that to you earlier and once we fill that out and we get everything organized after that it's pretty much smooth selling because then on my end I would send it to who we call MMB which is Minnesota management and budget and then they're the ones that are going to release the funds for reimbursement hi Ronnie thanks for coming um you had mentioned that it's reimbursement so what does the turnaround time look like when we submit an invoice well once we get everything situated and approved once you send that invoice to me because what's going to happen is once everything is approved you're going to get something to be signed off either by Brian I believe your name might be on there and maybe the mayor you two would probably be the two people that would sign off on the final um grant approvement grant agreement and then once that's done and it's given back to me I'm going to send to MMB Minnesota management and budget and then from that point once you start sending invoices we're good to go and the turnaround I've seen it within a week to two weeks maybe three weeks thank you they look at the re is there a list that starts you know is there different items like they just take off when they get Theo type of thing is is any kind of sign off as far as that's okay is like you a check mark up that's part of the project that isn't there any are to worry about correct um what's going to happen is on that application that I had sent uh Brian earlier it's going to break down what's part of your legislation so and this what I'm looking at is Con construction maybe design equipment and some of those um items that are on the legislation you're going to put them in your budget like okay we've met with an architect so we know the design is going to be 200,000 the construction we met with construction Department that's going to be doing the building they're going to be another million we'll say so once you set that budget up when you're sending those invoices is in because I'm sure each one of the different areas is going to start sending their invoices even though they're not done with the project then you're sending them to me and then I'm going to have a sheet I'm going to send you what we call a rpr which is a reimbursement form and what it's going to do it's going to track every single invoice that you sent me that's going to subtract from that amount like again if construction was 200 th000 well 200,000 will say you send me an invoice for 50,000 okay it's gonna push it off to the side 150 so attracts for you as well as me until we're down to zero on each category that goes to the city city well the city may go ahead and pay for it right off the bat but once you have the invoice I'm going to we're reimbursing you your funds right back and I've seen it a couple different ways because I've also been on the other side where I used to send grants into deed and get the reimbursements there were some cases where actually was most cases it was direct deposited right back into the bank account and there's options to cut checks too it depends however you want it ious how you have to be do this Stu this reimbursement I look through I didn't see reimbursement it's more in the beginning we're in the beginning stages right now because there's going to be a lot more information that's going to come to you as we get started Rodney collectively as as a council we haven't had the opportunity to go through the entire document okay from the state that you know one of the key things that did pop up was you know the 37 and A2 years and thank you for providing clarity that 37 really doesn't mean 37 it means so as we sit down and go through this um go through the document we're going to have a bunch of questions absolutely um and we'll have challenges um looking for clarity does that who does that go back through does that go back through you does that go back it does yes um that's part of my job is to work you all the way through until we're at the point where we're ready to move on and get full funding and we're ready for reimbursements okay because there was some wording in there and I'll just pick pick one of them out that I think that it states that uh the state legislator can legislation can use the building you know basically at any any time they need or want you know again there's no parameters around it we don't know what that means we don't know if that would does that mean that they just want to have a meeting there for two hours in an afternoon or does that mean they're going to take the facility over um so those are some of the questions that I would anticipate coming back from a collective group no it's more or less whatever you guys are going to use it for it when we think about the legislation and them taking over it's not them taking over it's just more or less we're to the point we just want to make sure the money is used correctly because you know as you know there's been businesses out there that have not done right so it's just a way of kind of covering thank you so cing back to that when when you said essentially not using the funds to create a car dealership right there okay yeah so one of the questions early on was we tried to do um some calculation to find out what the building might cost us moving forward so we use the formulas that any professional does but I'd called deed and they'd said me that uh normally they look at useful life of a building anywhere from to 35 years so I took that right down the middle at 30 years and it says you need to use that building for 125% of its useful life and that's where we came up with that 37 years so even if we back it down to 20 years now we're looking at 25 years then it would have to be run as that Community Center correct yes 25 would be fine that the thing about it and I'm a finance guy that's my background when I first read that because I've actually been with deed for now a little bit over two and a half months it was confusing to me it's like 37 years okay this doesn't make a lot of sense and then when I actually did my first grant I just said okay well I'll leave it alone it's right there in the writing and I sent it and then they sent it back No it should be 30 okay that makes a little bit more sense because I when I think of a house note on a loan or something like that I'm thinking 30 what did 37.5 come from so yeah I can't explain they probably should take that out okay clarity thank you y that was a big laundry list of items yes how many is included to make it it needs to be there's a lot of things there a lot of different ways we could go out if you of them I mean come from from you know private and for me when there's a contract the contract is what you follow and is that the way it is with the with the state there's I mean you look at that there's about five six options yes all there yes well this is um from whoever your representative was I guess this is some of the things that somebody probably talked to him about on what you want it done so when they brought it to the governor and because we had the Surplus it's like yeah let's go ahead and do it and I don't know how the total 4.5 million came up but that's what's being requested so if the project itself is let's say 5 million then we would support you with 4.5 million in another 500,000 the city would I get the part about the building the what we're going to use when it's in there there's about five different things is there is there we to choose from that I mean that's where I'm trying to understand because we have the seniors we have the we have just different things how does that look is there just a majority of it I mean because we have to operate it underneath the rules of of what that Grant is well it would typically be every we're going to try to oblig by everything that you want in this grant in the legislation to like I said seems to be a little different sometimes contracts things like that so I'm trying to you Clarity is that what our community center has to be when we're done with the building we have to offer everything there yes well if that's what you're going to go for I would say yes um what happens is if you change it on how you want to run it this is what we will supply you for but if you don't necessarily use something I mean we're not going to see how you're going to you know if you allow seniors to do whatever that we're not going to monitor y on that no so I mean it is it's a very vague statement but I believe that in that statement you can do all sorts of things that's why it's so vague um so if you want fitness equipment you're going to get the fitness equipment you don't have to have it so you take that fitness equipment you put it towards the HVAC replacement so I mean it's just it's a very vague uh document but it's meant to be vague I mean for example we talked earlier today and uh we had talked that uh we had our architect here the other day talking and reevaluating those numbers and they kind of went up I said maybe well one example let's just say you didn't have enough money if you went forward with the project but you didn't have enough money to put solar panels on the roof would we be gigged for that somehow or would that be um in fault and he's said no that we you'd still be able to make the program without that was in there cuz the thing is if you want son soner solar panels up on your roof that's totally up to you otherwise if you you know got regular shingles we're not going to judge you on that that's totally up to you my thing is that document says what we're going to do with the building do we have to follow you know I'm not talking about the and stuff like that going forward for that years no R what does that have to provide provide everything that is on that list or we can decide we go along and just have a certain one or two things it's I've never been in a contract where it's been like wide open now it's now we have to guess it feels like to me what what we really right I would say that this contract is more or less these are some of the these are the items that you wanted to improve or construct so they're in the legislation for you to do if you choose not to do one of them you know that's going to be totally up to you that's what I want sure is up y because that's where all of a sudden it's done it's like no you said this you said that said this no it's yeah it's just saying that those are the options that you chose to go with because say for example you know if you do the roof the HVAC the community center and that right there was over $5 million just take the 4.5 and do the few things that you're going to do you know we're not going to another question that came up was um so for let's just say we use the 20 years and then 125 or% of the useful life of that was Den be 25 years it's hard to to say what's going to happen in the future what happens if you get 10 years down the road 5 years down the road and something tragic happens or it doesn't work out you know is the state looking to have that money all go back to the state or worst case scenario I just didn't know what something like that would look like well if you started the project and everything was going because you're saying 10 years down the line they're saying that you need to use that building for what is in there for wording for 125% of useful life of that building so if we're using 20 years that's 25 years well let's say we're in there 10 years 15 years but then all of a sudden there's some serious issues with finances uh for whatever reason and you can't continue to run it you need to shut it down because it's just not economically feasible what happens on something like that that will probably go back to legislation but I don't think that would be something that you guys would have to worry about because the key thing is with this you're using a lot of your money up front and we're just reimbursing so 10 15 whatever years down the line um if something I guess tragic happened you know I would probably start with your representative and then they would probably speak upon the situation worst come to worst they'll just probably shut it off from there but I'm not 100% sure I've never seen anything like that or heard anything like that so but if it did happen I would start with uh your representative things have changed the way we think now with pandemics and stuff like that so you just never know well part of it too is we haven't had it open as a community center for many years so now we're bringing it back up so in order to effectively um accept this grant I if it's decided to could you speak to timelines of when you would need things I was speaking with Brian earlier um the key thing is we would like to get the application started and the application as well as the pre- risk assessment that I also sent him if we get those two things and we're 80% of the way there the longest piece on the application is going to be the budget um depending on how setting up how you guys want to put money where it's going to be focused on for reimbursement so that's probably going to be the longest part of the process but once we get everything else um it's going to then turn back over to me where I'm going to write up the grant agreement and then um that's going to be sent to MMB Minnesota management budget and then they're gonna send out an email back to me to send back to uh Brian or John and from there it's just your signature and then we're all about reimbursing at that point and that's usually again a week to three weeks but more to that point do we have a month to figure everything out to submit this do we have 6 months to figure all this out you technically because it started as of June 2nd 2023 usually have about four years from that point but we usually try our best to at least get the application stuff going as soon as we can just so um there's no last second you know trying to scramble to get everything to go through like for example if we get things going and say for example you guys have the Construction Group coming in and you're getting invoices and things are ready to be paid but on my end I'm just getting it and then we got to push it out three weeks worst case scenario three four weeks so so that's why I would suggest or my recommendation is to try to get the um application in as soon as possible but technically if you want to have a timeline you technically have four to five four years but I would try to get it in a little sooner Rodney can you speak a little bit to the pre- risk assessment yes pre- risk assessment is just something to it's a document that kind of has it kind of has the back of the of deed and the state and what it is is it's almost like doing a background check in a sense and it just sees how um the city of North St Paul operates how um for example your count systems and stuff like that just to see how that works and just have a background on the city and what it does is sometimes when you're doing that if a red flag comes up you know like you defaulted on a loan or something like that doesn't mean you're still not going to get the grant but it just kind of lets us know where things stand so that's probably it fast s answer for that thank you that's helpful guys see me more questions at this point we can continue on with the PowerPoint if you'd like R I just want to thank you for being a resident and for showing up um I think you addressed a lot of my questions um Brian keep mons be dial because I know we'll have a this group will have a lot more questions going forward so um it was awesome to have you here and I hope it's not the last time we have you here because I know we have a lot of questions so thank you thank you and like I told Brian I'm technically literally right around the corner well we have Council two times a month first and third Tuesday workshops are from 5:15 to 6 then we start council at 6 so we'll see you here thanks absolutely appreciate it is is it acceptable if uh staff asks a few questions of clarification on the okay um so just a higher level component to it I mean uh could this be used for a different site and if so is there a process that would have to get legislative approval to be able to do so yeah because I believe this one was for the 20 300 yes yeah so if you wanted to go somewhere else I would or a different location within North St Paul you would more than likely have to you would have to go ahead and um speak with your representative and see what you would like to plan for that other site and then pretty much write up the same thing what do you want to do yeah so it'll be in the legislation and and then there's section 3.03 that talks about the proceeds of a sale I'm assuming that's during the duration before the expiration of the 25 years um and it states in there that uh we would end up having to pay the full entire Grant um back um and if not uh then they can um uh I believe withhold um dispersements that may come to the state in other words other it infers other state AIDS um that could come there is is that for the full amount or is there a pro-rated amount for the number of years that it was actually utilized or cuz you said a sale yeah if there was a proceeds of a sale like if you were to sell the property yep before the expiration of the right um it would end up being what I might have to get back to you on that one that one um I've read the grant but that was something that was never brought up question and then as we move forward um obviously the um City would enter into um use contracts potentially and there's a section on use contracts how stringent is the State on some of the language that they have well when it comes to use contracts it's more or less who is GNA use it like if we understand the city is going to use it because you're the city but think when I think of use contracts I think of like a stadium like a semipro [Music] team the stadium might be used for high school basketball but now this semipro team wants to use the area so that's a use contract because their season is going on um when it comes to the city I can't think of what you guys may do with with the exception the community center that's going to be with the gym that'll probably be just regular people coming in not nothing what if we rented it out to a community basketball league okay then how how often would that happen maybe one time deal no I would say often just often then you could probably set up a use agreement saying that we do leas it basketball I would like to expand on that if you're done yeah please go thank you if um because we haven't had a community center for 12 years so we're looking at partnering up with other places so it may be you know a theater a gym or you know or a youth program so what does that look like when there's Partnerships does that make any difference because there's Partnerships you could also have a use agreement for that and that'd be okay with yeah okay because all it would be is you're just saying hey you know what we got a contract with these partners and they're going to use it here and there Spar and just have that you have an agreement with with them it's not going to be sparingly though it'd be constantly then yep it would be a partnership okay long if you have you know a document and writing sh okay well that's I just want to be upfront with it because it would be because we were looking at you if something like this would happen to be a partner with another group Dan you brought this up what was in the use contract language that you were concerned about you know anytime that you start to accept grants I mean there's obviously different criteria that they they have on there uh one being you know just even in our construction and our bids um you know the state of Minnesota requires prevailing wage um to be paid so there's prevailing wage checks and so forth that needs to be verified um there was just some uh use cont contact contracts uh it just just an interesting piece comes down to a definition there's not a definition in the agreement the very first one section A talks about the purpose of which the use contract um was entered into must be a governmental purpose so it really comes down to what's the definition of a governmental purpose um and so some of the um items that have been described just want to make sure that those are acceptable um and then um just trying to close all Loops so we don't um get there's uh because this grant is in excess of $100,000 section g talks about then it must contain a provision requiring the use e to list any vacant or new positions it may have with the State Workforce centers as required by Minnesota statute 116 l66 subdivision 1 um so again that's a different criteria than we've ever had in any type of a use agreement and is kind of more or less wanting to know how you know strict the the state is on on some of those components to it now long if you provide upfront a you know that you're going to have partners and different uses and that you're leasing it out to different people and then I just have one final question and and it really goes to when we describe the categories of architectural construction dat and we put in dollar amounts onto it I'm assuming there's a flexibility in there that we can um adjust those numbers as long as it doesn't exceed the $4.5 million yes and that's more or less with the budget because like I was also had mentioned to Brian earlier when we briefly discussed it because you're going to meet with Architects construction people and they're going to give you quotes So typically with your budget you're gonna have a feel for what the numbers are going to be once you've met with these different people now if you have to change something around by all means do it but when you first send it to us that's what we're going to go by and again it could be a situation if the construction is 500,000 uh Renovations for million I'm just throwing numbers together here and we're gonna look at it as $500,000 worth construction's going to come in and we're going to count it down to this down to zero then renov if it's 4 million count it down to the zero questions for you okay good as far as Udan as far as when we would do that is the reimbursement part of it was that something you understood before too that we have to have the money up front yep okay so you know eventually it would require a temporary loan from what you know from a funding source um you know whether it's general fund or something um and again based upon the reimbursement methodology in which they're using if they're if they're uh really reimbursing within a month month and a half you're probably not going to have your next pay application that's assuming that you bid the whole job out together so you really shouldn't run into much of a cash flow issue um so yeah because what I've always seen um just my experience of dealing being on the other side like you guys are when I was working with the typically when I went ahead and requested the reimbursements it would take I looked more on the two and a half three weeks just to be safe pretty much a strong number the very first one when you're first doing it that one seemed like it's the longest but after that everything pretty much stays in the Rhythm once you send it we're going to send it back out I think the beauty with government and nonprofits and even some of the prophets when you every time you get an invoice you can send it in so typically when I did it it was only once a month but I think when you I think I know when you guys get invoices if you got one on every two weeks send them to me and I'm G to turn around and just process okay thanks again Ry for coming information thank you so much thank you sir thank you I think I still got it a little bit I wasn't as nervous well you did good that Toast Masters did pay off you did [Laughter] great continue yes please please well that was very informative uh it was very good to to hear that part to it uh some of the other items and again it's up for discussion for uh city council whether you want staff to look at these um different options um uh I think they may be important um to help you U make a decision uh the services and importance uh of a library in North St Paul um examine current and future lease options for a library uh interest in selling the community center um costs to vacate the community center um interest in Partnerships at the community center uh services to be provided at the community center uh cost to operate the community center now and in the future in financial scenarios and potential impacts some of the you know options you know I mean just at a very high level I mean you have the option you could sell um you can demo um you can leave as is you can accept the Grant in the current site um we just heard you could actually accept um the Grant and uh seek legislation to go maybe potentially to a different site there's a couple of of sites that uh are city-owned property that may um have some other future um benefits for the city um this the there's a the site on Margaret Street across from City Hall um that could be beneficial um um um there's also on Seventh Street between uh Sidewinders and the um the don't know exact name of the tattoo place it's a city property that may end up being a nice location those are just options that are thrown out um obviously it's up to uh city council whether uh you want to look at any of those options um but uh we definitely can have further discussion onto that um if you are interested in gathering ing some of this information we would need to have direction or authorization for staff to um like issue an RFP for the sell of the community center um just to find out if there's any interest at this current moment um regarding the cell um uh you could authorize staff to issue um an RFP to find out if there's some Partnerships um for the community center um to look at uh Partnerships as far as um looking at occupying space and providing program to the to um the community center um and or other um components to it um if we were looking at to um vacate some of our components that are in the community center we would have to look at some cost for relocation of the generator relocation of the fiber um and if we decided um to uh look at demoing the facility all or all but the library space some of that information may be beneficial in your decision making process again it's totally up to you um uh just looking for uh City council's Direction on on what they would like to um to to look at in on on those pieces um I think it's beneficial um for um the city council to hear from Ramsey County Library um and so in our next uh meeting uh the first Workshop in April um we do have the deputy director um of the nursing of the Ramsey County Library uh Pang bang who will be here in attendance to talk about some of the the programs and services that they're providing um today um and um and looking at what the the future for the library looks like um in the city of North St Paul um they have a tremendous amount of uh demographics um that they can share with us to show some of the um you know diverse um the diversity in our in our city and and how they're helping provide services to to them um again if city council is not interested in that we we certainly can can cancel that um it really gives um you know the opportunity now for city council to to um talk about um some of the items that you know as far as staff to put some financial information together we we really need to have a good discussion on um instead of just the the high level description that's in uh on the the state uh legislation is what are those Services um you know who who would provide those Services you know is that a staff uh City staff providing it or is it Partnerships um and then um start to look at what are some of the potential Revenue sources so we can actually do a a good analysis and be able to provide that information to city council to make a a good decision for the city um so with that um it's really um open right now for city council if we agree to that format the city council will have some an opportunity for some questions and comments um and then if city council um is open to give uh the public an opportunity to give some comments on um tonight's uh Workshop I have a question so um a lot of the inquiries are around um um finances which obviously will be a huge factor in this um is there um an ability for us to look into the impact of how it will um impact the residents in terms of um their wellbeing their health how they integrate into the community all of those things a community impact assessment is that feasible um I can't give 100% answer um to that I I think that there's probably some sort of way that's really not on a financial um standpoint but um definitely we could we could try to make some sort of assessment with that and that's why I think part of the benefit of hearing from um the Ramsey County Library um bramsey County as a whole has made a lot of huge initiatives um trying to make um equality um trying to help uh in in reducing um concentrated areas of poverty and they have a lot of demographics and they they've put a lot of funding forth um they've got a different type of service model um some of which you'll hear about that the Ramsey County um Library here in North St Paul actually provides um that is helping our community um and so there are benefits and and I think council member Wang what you're getting for is that that there may end up being a cost that's associated with this um Community Center for the city but the benefits may definitely outweigh that that cost um and that again is we'll try to do the best that we can um but part of that is a subjective kind of sense and feel but that's definitely the city council's final decision on thank you I have a question about clarification and I'm not sure um are we allowed this has said that we're um for the workshops we can do comments are we allowed to accept public comments for a workshop or no I've heard conflicting answers as we got in clear from the city attorney is if it is only for the community center then we can if we have time for that here or they can also do it at the 3 minutes that we can allow in the council meeting itself but uh yeah if we have time we can certainly bring some people up I also have a question in terms of the RFP um would we be looking at an RFI or request for information prior to an RFP we certainly can yep that would probably be the wiser um approach to this yes thank you i' love to hear public comments just well are we are there any question first that's what I think we're waiting for any more questions from Council I have no more questions at this time um this is a continued ongoing we have multiple meetings ahead of us so um for me from a discovery standpoint tonight was very important to to hear and and we'll have more questions moving forward from that side yeah absolutely do you need more clarifications from that list that you read off from us is that what is your the staff's agenda what is it to have us help us move forward on this well is is you know on on the the slide uh that has the authorization to staff um you know or are we looking at some sort of RFI or or that on on in any interest within uh somebody purchasing the community center um Partnerships programming uh for the community center um and then looking at um developing costs related to um moving some of our I think our infrastructure that um is located in the community center um is that of interest and and would you like staff to move forward in trying to gather some of that information information obviously whatever information is is brought forth you know that we gather will be brought forth to City council's consideration so part of it was next the meeting is going to be the library to speak so that's going to check that box yep correct is there anybody else that has any on this list here that they want to discuss to be able to help the staff gather I mean I think one thing would be um really critical in what I heard last time is community engagement when um so if we could have some dates out there set to go and our residents can be well aware of when those are then we can um certainly have the time to also engage um community members um even outside this meeting absolutely interest in Partnerships are people interested in Partnerships very much okay just read off a few of these things so we can take them off the list interest in selling the community center anybody no no not unless it's going to produce another Community Center I I would like to information but I don't know that is fair to companies to to go through the work of putting in a a estimate if we're not serious about selling it so so to to me that's at this point I think a little bit cart before the horse yeah for my for my quick answer was along the same line as yours it just there's far too much information to gather yet before you know we we even get to the to the sale of the building itself for for me that's I just want to because right now I think way we left at the staff is still not so if we can just kind of check off a few things so we can help them out so when they come back they have a little guidance vacate the community center as far as that that's something we can wait till after it's not top on prior on somebody's mind right now okay Partnerships we're good with Services provide I myself to run our own Community Center I don't have any like that to mean it has to be a partnership with I think it' be nice to hear public input on that and it doesn't necessarily have to be the services that our city is providing it could be whatever else is in whether the library has oh that's partnership y but it goes hand in hand with the services okay well does that help a little bit more yes it does thank you one comment I would like to make as we're going down this list I have concerns about engaging Wald to do more work um without uh in-depth conversation of their work prior to engaging them for more when I looked at prior things um Wald said on the October 4th 2022 um Council or I'm sorry I don't know if it's Council or Workshop but the timeline they had set up was a council approval for May 2023 um and I'm not seeing two years worth of work that they presented in our last meeting so I I'm wondering if they're the right fit for us about um if if we want to engage someone I I'd like a long conversation before we just automatically pick them also is Craig walr still in charge of this as far as tired for this project we have not seen him or heard from him he's kind of stepped back from that yes so is he but he was there early on with some of the meetings he was going to try to be here tonight is he going to have a handoff to what he's found as far as to us then he will uh he had medical issues this week so he wouldn't able to attend okay so he's not going to be but we're going to get a handoff yes okay thank you just a little bit of information it would be uh for the dollar amount of an architectural engineering contract that you would end up needing for this next phase of actually doing the design building the specifications for like the mechanical work and all that stuff uh you would require going off for an RFP um and um proposals would be received and then there would be a staff recommendation to city council so it it it really it can't be just handed to W um they would have to meet whatever criteria is in the RFP and be the the the best selection for the city and part of this reading through too we started at $2 million originally when they started the project then it went to four and a half now we're at 7.3 so okay anything else for the council we can we're going to go forward with getting some more information and keep the other options on the back burner until we gather more from the community and um Partnerships am I correct on that statement yep okay all right sounds good do you want to we do have 18 minutes open up the public so yeah we got enough time Army okay and you can go next you ask me already I'm I'm Carrie ble North St Paul resident I live at 2887 Lake Boulevard thank you for providing more information I really appreciate that um thank you to Mr at Robins for coming tonight and describing some more about that deed um appropriation Grant stuff because it's it's big it really is you guys are asking some really good follow-up questions we need that we really need to know what are we in for you know is this is the community center in a place that we like it do we love it there you know is it worth fixing is it not worth fixing how do we know unless we ask so I appreciate you being open-minded to looking at you know requests for information from a variety of sources and looking at what's best for North St Paul and we don't want to saddle our kids with you know some BM moth of a building that doesn't work like here we are all these years later with our 1992 building that's just not been working for us so let's not repeat history thank you thank youate it three minutes so we want to go next name and address please welcome hi good to see yeah good to see you too I I'm new to this so I apologize because I'm not very good at it so my name is Stacy Maher a for arts and culture commissioner and Resident at 24671 15th Avenue East mayor mongi the council members thank you for allowing me to speak today I value the process of information collection and I just want to start out by by echoing that families do bring money to our community in so many different ways in attracting families drives up housing competition boosts financial support for our schools pumps money into our businesses families are important and a core fun function in our North St Paul Community we have Parks but we lack an organized City supported space for Community to gather a non denominational building that provides Solace for a variety of programs to serve The Young and the old nor St Paul lacks a hub for culture we lack a hub for yearround Community as a new resident in 2015 I was so excited to visit the North St Paul Community Center little did I know it wasn't there to serve me at least in ways that were tangible Beyond a library so when the chatter to refurbish and refinish this community center began again a couple years back I was ecstatic like finally in a town where 60% of our budget is allocated towards Public Safety investing in a community center will provide more than its costs as what it provides is in valuable Community much like safety is priceless for those of you who are new to council let me remind you about the public town halls regarding this topic we heard about the foot traffic an operational Community Center brings to our businesses we learned about rental Partnerships this building could generate we learned about the Deep need for youth to have a place to go after school please from parents for your help selling the property is misguided it's in harsh Mis misalignment with what our current residents and Future Family residents need so I ask members of the council to invest in the North St Paul Community Center for our youth for our families for our community thank you thank you thank you hello I am Emily hegn I live at 267 7 8th Avenue East um I'm here to speak to you about a cause that is important to the well-being of our community the launch of a new community center as we look around our city we see a vibrant tapestry of families and diverse groups that make up the fabric of North St Paul yet amidst this Rich diversity there's a crucial need for a central Hub a place where residents can come together connect and Thrive that place is a community center um first and foremost a community center serves as a unifying force bringing together people from all walks of life it transcends socioeconomic barriers cultural differences in age and divides um age divides fostering a sense of belonging and inclusivity um one of the most compelling reasons to support the establishment of a new community center um is the proven ability for these centers to reduce crime and Foster a sense of security by providing a central space for residents to gather and engage in a positive activity and build relationships we create a strong sense of community ownership research has consistently shown that communities with active and well utilized community centers experience lower crime rates as they become less susceptible to negative influences and more resilient against criminal activities moreover a community center serves as a beacon of Attraction for potential new residents um I am a semi new Resident I moved here in December 2020 and since then I become a mom and the idea of having a community center for my son to utilize growing up here is uh very exciting to me um in today's landscape where families and individuals are seeking not just a place to live but a community to belong to amenities like a community center can make all the difference um additionally a community center serves as space for youth um it provides a space a safe haven where they can engage in constructive activities learn new skills and receive guidance for mentors enr models by investing in our youth through the establishment of this new community center we are investing in the future of North St Paul um so it's I just want to say that it's not to to a lot of the citizens it's not just about the money um it's about investing in the heart and soul of our city um and by supporting the launch of this we're not only enhancing the livability of nor St Paul um we can lay the foundation for uh exciting future here so I urge the council to wholeheartedly support the launch of this program and additionally I would like to suggest um that uh the city looks into Community impact reporting um Community impact reports can include um factors such as job creation youth participation and Community engagement and kind of assess um the impact that that will have in the meeting on uh a deeper level so thank you so much thank you thank you thank you good evening mayor council my name is Tom Armitage I live at 2584 Swan Avenue uh I spoke at this Podium this past uh Thursday I guess and I'm just standing here right now to reiterate the interest I expressed at that time that Ashlin Productions be considered as a in part partership with the city of North St Paul we'd like to be part of whatever this turns out to be and with the remaining two and a half minutes of our three I want to introduce one of the founders of Ashlin and he's going to spend two minutes and just tell you about our youth programming specifically how it involves some of the schools in the city of North St Paul so Rob Southerland if you don't mind thank you um mayor council members my name is Rob Southerland I'm the artistic director at Ashland Productions and one of the founders um we already partner with schools uh in District 622 Carver Elementary we had 43 students participate this year um Carver Cowern Richardson um in North St Paul and then in the past we've had castle and Weaver um this year we're partnering with nine different schools uh in the East Metro um but we rehearse at their school and bring them to the theater um we are a growing organization we're 25 years in um good track record we're as old as Google just not as Rich um but we think we can be a great partner um and I think the big question I think you need to ask yourself is who's going to run this space um lots of people want to use it lots of people want to be there and we're not asking for it for free that is not what we're asking so I think there was some miscommunication that I've heard throughout the community um over the last couple days but you need a partner who can help run a space like that people are going to want to use it it but nobody's going to want to run it we're running our space over at the Maplewood Community Center right now and so we are looking to grow and expand and again we're looking to provide students um but we are a youth mentoring group that works with people of all ages so we believe that we can provide something for your City to bring people into the town to not only utilize that space But to be able to do some of the things that the other people have talked about by utilizing the businesses um and the community so we think we can be a great partner and a great asset to North St Paul thank you you thank you excuse me when you said expand do you mean you're going to stay over at there's we're we're open our lease is up for negotiation in two years okay um and so it may be a brand new home we're looking for and that may not fit here um but we are looking for options so um since Co many many theaters have suffered and gone under we've stayed around we are are growing again and rebuilding um and we think that there's potential for growth or a move so there's options thank you thank Youk for carfine yep is there anybody else okay city council thank you my name is Ben jarmin I live at 2460 skilman Avenue East right down the hill um right over by the southwater tower that's kind of like how I divide up the town uh take a second everybody in here uh and by the way the the public comments in here are electrifying um and I'll say a little bit more about that in a second um but take a second here to think about uh how you learned how to read when you were a kid where where was that what what space did you go to did you did you read with your parents did you learn to read at school I'm sure there's pretty much everyone in here can agree that some part of the reading that you know now uh came from going to going down to the local library um personal story here my kid's real old now he's like 15 um but when he was a little youngster over by that South waterer tower the two of us we Trot on down to that library right over there at the community commun Center and we'd grab books cuz we didn't have the money for books in mass quantities we needed to get some access to some books and that's where we went that's how we got those books and now my kid he's learning the way he needs to be because he's literate and um people made that happen the city the people that live in this city made sure that that place was operational and it was going and I'm not sure the tax impact to the community but I thank the community for keeping that place going whatever they had to pay in taxes now we don't go to the library anymore because my kid's an old and and he's 15 um but hearing yeah hearing from uh younger families in in town and I'm seeing them walking around I know they're going to be walking their kids down to that library to grab a a little bag of books take that back home and learn from those things I want this city to be to be as literate as possible because that's the the that's the quickest way that you can possibly get yourself to be a successful person in this world and I want North St Paul to be on the on top of that so you know whatever is is going on whatever we're thinking um that library is a Cornerstone of the city um whether you know you're going to it or not we're making great citizens by utilizing that library and quick shout out to uh Ashlin Productions my kid went and participated in your shows for several years even in Co during covid amazing program so I hope it's successful for you thank you thank you appr thank you anybody we got five minutes so anybody else want to are the are the two future Mayors going to stay back there they yes they're not quite ready for their debut yeah well the way he hit that gavl there was a few [Laughter] PSI my name's uh Andy Wise I live at 2093 7th Street north um I'm just going to be reiterating a lot of what you've already heard tonight but I think it's worth hearing adding my name to the to the chorus here um three things like was just said the library incredibly incredibly important um it's my kids you know love getting new books the children's room there is amazing um all the staff there is amazing we've had such a good connection to the community there at the library and I hope that that can continue um because of how important it is for for our community um second the importance of a community center it's been said already tonight many times and I don't need to go over all the points but um it's the demographics of North St Paul today are not at all what they were 20 years ago 30 years ago 40 years ago um a lot of the people you heard from tonight including myself are somewhat newer residents I've been here for seven years um and that's just going to continue changing and changing and more and more young families are going to be here um Community Center is all about um bringing not just the kids of the community together but adults um and working together to you know for sports and theater and things like that um and I wanted to come here tonight mainly on that point because I've in a lot of the meetings I've heard previously I think just simply because of the the timing of when the meetings had to happen it tends to curate the the voices into kind of one Camp because families can't be here at 4:00 to to talk future Mayors are here because we had we couldn't be home um so it's tough for us to get here and give you our opinions and um I just want to make sure that you know moving forward um that's taken into account um and my last Quick point is um you know maybe the community center as it is maybe it's not the right building um when you look at all the competing community centers in the neighbor in our community around here um they're very new very modern very big it's not necessarily something that we can do here but um you know maybe there is a better site that a more um dialed in community center modern Community Center could be um built so that it's a little bit more uh in line with what our community actually wants and will need in the future so thank you appreciate thank you all right nothing else oh one more hey my name is jod mcferson I actually live in Woodburry I the owner of a company called inclusive spaces so we specialize in Youth Development um entities like yours co-creating spaces for young people and the reason I've come today is to just chime in about that space and in our experience the community is the Hub the community center is the Hub and it has worked tremendously to develop young people there's been a lot of conversation about the financials I would um urge you to look at that Community impact the social Roi that will come from that things like reduceed delinquency in young people you have a population that is 25% young people under age 18 and 133% over 65 there is a need to develop that space for your young people that allows the families to have that space whether it is school whether it is Sports youth sports is a bigger business than NFL There's an opportunity to develop a space there there's Partnerships in the space when you look at the responsibility of running it the responsibility of running it is just having the right hands to guide you to says Hey here is what it is our framework designs that and says hey here's what it is here's what your building a space for people to belong that's the common language they want a place to belong and if you start with that in mind and not the other detracting voices that are pulling you in different directions you build something in your community where people can come to where families will come in where they'll spend more money where they spend more time in an area and grow your city in a way that you couldn't even imagine if you're only thinking of it from a financial lens so with that said I'd love to have a deeper conversation about how to help you do that we did it in in Arizona we've done it uh with like the marville revalation Corporation where it's Collective impact and it's not one person who is rowing the boat it is a community center guided and run by the community that's the solution to some of the challenges I think you're looking at and we'd love to be part of that conversation so thanks for allowing me to be here and and just to chime in on that piece I think is important for your community and I think from the voices they're craving a place to belong for their families thank you thank you all right we need to dismiss so we can start our meeting yep yeah we have to we have to motion to be done so I have a motion I motion to be done done I like yours council member Cole another be done second second council member Norby all in favor say I I we're done I need now it starts give give a few minutes for us to run a bathroom break let's do uh 6:35 give us 4 minutes