11-24-2009 Council Work Session Packet

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F J MEMORANDUM TO: MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS FROM: ORONO MANAGEMENT TEAM SUBJECT: INFORMATION UPDATE DATE: NOVEMBER 20, 2009 • We have formal confirmation that voluntary foreclosure of the Amber Woods Office Center property has resulted in a transfer of ownership to First Commercial Bank of Bloomington. Phil and Gina Carlson are no longer involved with the property. Local retired attorney Jim MacKinnon is representing the Bank in getting the site cleaned up and moving forward with interior completion of the first building. MacKinnon indicates that the future of the site as home to four additional feng-shui office condo buildings is under discussion, and the new owners may be interested in redeveloping the site differently than the approved plan. Stay tuned... ! (Mike) • Early in the week I received a phone call from a La.ke Elmo councilmember(Steve DeLapp)who was looking for parallels between their battle with Met Council and our situation. After providing him only minimal information in the 20-minute"conversation" (in which he was talking 95%of the time)he discussed Orono at their council meeting Tuesday night. Wednesday morning I received a voice-mail from a reporter at the Stillwater Gazette which I chose not to return. The attached article appeared on Wednesday, with a lot of incorrect information that doesn't jive with what I told DeLapp. I then had a cordial conversation today with Lake Elmo's city administrator Bruce Messelt in which we ultimately agreed that the two cities really don't have much in common regarding our disagreements with Met Council. La.ke Elmo has huge tracts of open farmland 5-10 miles from the heart of St. Paul,just begging for suburban development, despite the city's desire to remain rural. Met Council is apparently going after Lake Elmo to recover its huge investment in existing sewer interceptors that are not being used anywhere near their intended capacity. We on the other hand have small tracts of land 15-20 miles from the heart of Minneapolis that are scattered about and not conducive to suburban development, and excess unused capacity is not a factor in our situation. Lake Elmo has much bigger problems to solve than we do, and they have burned many bridges in getting where they are now; in my opinion we need to not be associated with them as our discussions with Met Council move forward... (Mike) • The attached thank you letter was received from Amelia Kroeger. • Attached is the draft agenda for the Tuesday,November 24th work session. A work session packet will be available at Monday's Council meeting. The City of Orono complies with the Minnesota Data Practices and Open Meeting Law. The recipients of this electronic file are asked not to "Forward"or "Reply to All"concerning information contained in this email.