2014-01-13 Reg - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

infrastructure and redevelopment. Questions regarding whether the City will need bond issues to cover these things or whether any requirements should be imposed on Wash U as they continue to purchase land, are things which she personally is not equipped to make decisions on. Ms. Carr stated that in some sense Wash U is generous, but their generosity benefits them, for instance, the sculpture in the park where they pay roughly $400 in-kind. They produce a catalog that features their students, and most of the commissioners reach into their pockets to fund a lot of these projects. The City funds some of these projects and Wash U does not. While Wash U anticipates building a sculpture along Ackert Park that they will pay for and maintain, this also benefits Wash U because of its acquisitions in that part of the park. Ms. Carr stated that the school system is really the big loser here since 61 percent of the City’s taxes go to the school district. And while Wash U does have a collaborative program with the middle school, that collaborative provides Wash U with a laboratory to do the kinds of things that they would not have otherwise. Ms. Carr stated that she certainly wants Wash U at the table, but she wants some other thinkers at the table that will help UCity determine what it is they need and want. Mr. Kraft stated that the idea is to have a commission to discuss these kinds of things and Council is not that commission. So what he is going to suggest is a general outline where each Councilperson would make one appointment; the commission would last for approximately six months and they would generate a report. Mayor Welsch asked Mr. Kraft if he was still suggesting that several Council members get together first to develop this outline? Mr. Kraft stated that he and Ms. Carr could meet on their own time to flush out the framework for the Commission. Mr. Price stated that he does not understand why it would take six months to prepare a resolution. Although it is true that UCity is a sales-tax-pooled City and in theory the more people it has, the more sales tax revenue it should receive, the school district’s revenue is based on personal property taxes. So if you have more and more buildings that are being taken off of the tax roll the school district gets less money. When that happens they come to the public and ask for more money. So you either pay over here or you pay over there. He stated that in his opinion, as the City’s expansion takes place it just makes sense to look at these issues. Mr. Price then asked Ms. Carr how much time she believed it would take the task force to prepare a Resolution? Ms. Carr stated that her belief is that it would take six to twelve months. She stated that she would like this to not involve staff, because she has often seen staff control the situation. So while this task force can certainly obtain resources from staff, her preference is that staff not be involved. Ms. Carr stated that she would also like two appointees per member, because she thinks that there is a need to hear from different voices. Mr. Crow stated that he is pleased that Council seems to be moving in the same direction. He stated that he does not think that the City has put too many sunsets on any of its commissions, and something that is as large as this, in his opinion, cannot be completed within six months. Mr. Crow stated that he is okay with establishing a sunset, but believed that the City’s history is such that meetings and commissions of this nature typically take a little bit longer than six months. He stated that it would bother him to put an artificially short timeline on this task force because it may mean that some things might not get done. Mr. Crow stated that based on the attendance that Council has experienced at several of its meetings he would have to agree that each member should be allowed two appointments. However he would be willing to leave the final decision up to his colleagues to bring back to Council. He stated that frankly UCity may not be a sales-tax-pooled City because as 8