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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING <br />Monday, April 27, 2020 <br />6:00 o’clock p.m. <br />_____________________________________________________________________________________ <br /> <br />Page 7 of 16 <br /> <br />Printup noted if people misread anything, they might think, “Oh, my gosh, I am paying for more services <br />now.” He said that the resident is not paying anything now; this is something for the future. <br /> <br />Johnson clarified that they are not directly paying for it. <br /> <br />Printup agreed that when a resident decides to leave the City, then they have to upgrade it. <br /> <br />Printup asked if the goal was to start the process in August. <br /> <br />Edwards stated he was correct, and said once the ordinance has been established, he wants to have plenty <br />of time to communicate it to the City’s residents as well as the title companies and realtors. He assured <br />the Council members that he did not invent or dream this up. As they have put this together, he has tried <br />to take the best practices they are finding in neighboring communities that have done it successfully such <br />as Golden Valley, West St. Paul, and Ely. He noted the draft language comes from the League of <br />Minnesota Cities regarding point-of-sale inspections. He said Exhibit C has the language that would be on <br />the website. He would also take the ordinance language and communicate it in a more understandable <br />format and discuss what the process would look like. <br /> <br />Printup said when people pick up information that is too much “government-speak,” they throw it away, <br />and having it more user-friendly is a good idea. <br /> <br />Johnson noted “neighboring cities” is not a term he would use for other cities that have used this. He sees <br />on the quarterly payments to the Met Council how much money it is costing. He said the people that will <br />be relied upon in large part to execute the process are realtors, because sellers rely on realtors to <br />understand the local rules. He asked who would be responsible for the communication plan. <br />Edwards stated he took it on as his actions, so he considers himself a Staff lead to get the communication <br />plan out. <br /> <br />Johnson said he does not think Public Works is responsible for citizen communication, although they <br />should have a part in it. He thinks all communication should be bottle-necked to somebody that is <br />responsible to execute the communication planning. He appreciates Edwards taking responsibility, but the <br />advertising has to go to a point person. This is a big change, and he would like to find another way to get <br />this change. However, if the Council is in agreement with the point-of-sale, any motion made is simply to <br />authorize the drafting of the ordinance for approval along with a communication plan that gets approved <br />by the Council and who is responsible for it. <br /> <br />Walsh agreed Johnson’s idea was reasonable and said that point needs to be communicated to the realtor <br />association as well as title companies, because the title companies have to manage the paperwork and <br />check off the lists to make sure they can close. <br /> <br />Johnson commented that if the title company is the first to bring the subject up, there will be problems, <br />because they are at the end of the process and it needs to be caught at the beginning of the process for the <br />City’s citizens’ sake. <br /> <br />Crosby indicated Rief is the gatekeeper for communication and asked other Council members if they <br />agreed. <br /> <br />Seals and Walsh stated they agreed with Crosby.