City Council - Regular Meeting

I agree.

Right. Good evening. Welcome to uh Northfor City Council meeting May 18th, 2026. I'd like to call this meeting to order. I'd like to inform the public of the location of the opens meeting act posted in the council chambers and is accessible to members of the public. At this time, we'll have our pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of silence.

Go ahead. Sorry. allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call please. Granquist here. Arns Webb here. McCarthy here. Beckman here. Jensen here. Langy here. Hilterbrand here. Mayor here. Uh, need a motion to consideration approval of the consent agenda. So moved. Second. Motion second. Please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries. Kind of a motion to approve the full agenda. So move. Second. I have a motion. Second. Please vote. All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right, that brings us to our special presentations this evening. Uh we have a pro we're tonight's special presentation is to proclaim May 7th through 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Week. I will go ahead and read that National Public Works Week proclamation. Whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, and service that are vital importance to sustaining and resilient communities and to the public health, high quality of life and well-being of the pe people of North, Nebraska. And whereas these infrastructure, facilities, and service could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals or engineers, managers, and employees at all levels of government. and the private sector are responsible for rebuilding, improving and protecting our nation's transportation, water supply, water treatment, and solid waste systems, public buildings, and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens. And whereas it is the public's interest of for the citizens, civil leaders, and the children of Northfor to gain knowledge of and maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs in their respective communities. And whereas the year 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association. Now therefore, be it resolved that I, Shane Claus, a mayor of the city of Norfolk along with the Northfor city council do hereby designate the week of May 17th through 23rd of 2026 as National Public Works Week. I urge all citizens to join with res representatives of the American Public Works Association and Government Agency to recognize and honor our public works professionals, engineers, managers, and employees and to acknowledge the substantial contribut contributions they make to protecting public health and safety and advancing the quality of life

for all. Wow. There you go. All right. Who we got here? I'm sure there's a few of you. Come on.

All right. Ready? Here we go. Three, two, one. Just one

suits and ties. Suits and ties. Thank you for all your hard work, gentlemen. All right, on to public hearing and related action. Number 18. Uh, public hearing at the request of I'd like to open the public hearing and discuss discuss number 18 public hearing of the crest. Brian Brian and Deborah Lwin to consider a zoning change from C2A special business district to C2 or R2 uh 1 to four family residential district on a property located at address 93 marketplace. Y

going to be leading this discussion.

Yep, that'll be me. I've got it pulled up on the map here. So, this property right here is at the T intersection of the northern entrance of Woodland Park. Uh most likely the C2A zoning was meant to be a buffer of less intensive from the heavier commercial across the street to the residential area. Um the owners are requesting the zoning change um to R2, which we suggested um because the rest of the area directly to the the east of it is R2. So to kind of follow along um to build a single family home uh since the plat was done when the zoning was in place, so the residential setbacks weren't shown on the plat, but the new home would need to follow um the setbacks of the the current properties. Um, but it's about a halfacre lot, so it should be able to meet um the setbacks um on both street sides. Plus, there's a 23 foot easement on the rear side of the lot. Um, but being such a large lot shouldn't have any issues with um a single family home or any detached accessory structures that they might want. And the owners are here if you have any questions.

Any questions from the council? Um, any public input? All right, seeing planning commission report, please. The Northfor Planning Commission held a public hearing on May 5th, 2026 to consider a zoning change from C2A special business district to R2 1 to4 family residential district on property addressed as 93 Market Lane. The planning commission recommends approval of the request with a 7 to zero vote.

That will close the hearing. Ask for consideration to ordinance number 5984 approving a zoning change from C2A special business district to R2 1 to4 family residential districts on a property addressed as 93 marketplace. Governor, I move consideration of ordinance 5984 on first reading. Second. Any additional discussion? Members of the public have anything to say? Right. Not seeing none. Short title, please.

An ordinance of the city of Norfor, Madison County, Nebraska, amending the zoning district map of the city of Norfor, Nebraska, providing when this ordinance shall be in full force in effect, and providing for the publication of this ordinance in pamphlet form. All right, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Ordinance number 5984 carries on first reading. Your honor, I see there is no opposition in it. It's a good move. I believe I would move that we suspend the rules and pass this ordinance on second and third reading. Second. All right. Motion second. Any discussion? Any discussion from the public? Right. Seeing none, please vote. All council members present voting in the affirmative. Ordinance number 5984 carries on second and third.

All right, that brings us to item number 20. We're going to open have a public hearing for the board of equalization to hear the equalized special assessment for water extension district number 132 Mach 1 drive which was tabled at the March 16th, 2026 meeting. Steve, you'll lead us in that discussion. Sorry. Oh yes, sorry. I need a motion to go in. So moved. Second. All right. Motion to second. Please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

Right now ask Steve to lead us in discussion. Mayor and councel on March 16th we had presented uh this is a public hearing for water district 132 on Mach 1 drive between 36 and 37th Street. Uh at that meeting there was some question by uh one of the property owners uh to the benefit of the property. Uh following that staff uh looked at that um and brought some options to a subcommittee on May 11th for consideration. Uh at that time we also had the the land owners uh present for for that conversation. Um at that time we looked at uh the modification was to look at um modifying that to the time frame that they purchased the property um and so we went through a calculation with our with our CFO um and also looked at the average assessments at that time. Both of those came up with a linear foot assessment in the uh in that low 50 range between 50 $50 and 52 and about uh 50 $51. Um based on the conversation we selected the lower lower value and plug that in. And so uh that that occurs here. You'll see on this a city adjustment of $14,970.73. um that would be applied to the original assessment of $23,8147. Uh that adjustment is consumed then by the uh water fund. It does lower than um using that 50 $502 per linear foot assessment in the 177 ft um for the uh

the length of property along 37th. that lowered their assessment to 8 $8,9424. The other properties, properties one through six, um you would notice that those were originally assessed at about $10,97.37. Uh currently that they're showing at 9 $10,958.39. that delta um of a little over $50 is the occurred interest since since March um March 16th I believe is when we previously presented this. So um again the total cost of the project was $117,763.96 a budding property nonaccessible $27,205. We have the city adjustment to parcel 7 of $14,970.73 leaving the abuing property accessible of $75,773.18. Um, with that I would answer any questions relative to the hearing.

Were the property owners okay with that number? Yes, they were. All right. Any other discussion for the council? Members of the public at this time, if you'd like to come forward. All right. David Jansma, my only comment and question is, is this still fair to the land owners that this went on since 1994 and the city didn't do their job? I mean, I still think it's not fair. And I do have a question. That means they're getting hooked up to the new water and sewer that's coming up or are they going to be stayed on what they're hooked up to?

They'll stay hooked up to the water man and 36. Yeah. So, they're paying for something they're not even getting that's been there since 1994. I still don't think it's right, guys. And ladies, thank you. Anybody else? With that, I need a motion to um adjourn as the board of uh equalization and reconvene as mayor and city council. So move second. Give a motion to second. Please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries. brings us item number 21. Consideration approval of ordinance number 5985 levying special acceptance in the water extension district number 132 Mach 1 drive which was tabled at the March 16th, 2026 city council meeting. They're not bringing up the table. They can't bring up the table. Your honor to make a motion to remove from the table. Second

just for clarification. So this is actually a whole new ordinance. the conversation of the of water extension district was 132 was was tabled but this is a brand new ordinance as Steve says interest has accured so with that interest acrruel new assessment rates are given and that's why there is a whole new ordinance provided tonight okay so no need to remove from the table as this is a whole new ordinance correct I would introduce at that uh I would introduce ordinance 5985 on first reading Second. Second. Right. We motion to second. Any discussion?

I guess I just kind of wanted to um ask so um you said this was okay with the land owners and and it it was uh the assessment was lowered to benefit them. Correct. So every I mean you're going to have an assessment no matter what you do. I mean there's just no way to get around that assessment. So this was the best that we could do for the citizens with this particular project. That's correct. Thanks, Steve, Steve. Where's the remaining money going to be made up at? Pardon? The remaining money that they were are not paying who's m who's making up that other that'll be that'll be consumed by the water the water fund, the enterprise fund. Okay.

Well, I know this was a tough and difficult subject. I'd like to thank the shepherds for meeting with staff and uh the subcommittee and working through all this. I know this was difficult for them and um thank staff for getting creative on how to make this work out for everyone. So, with that being said, any other discussion? Mayor, I'd just point out this uh this creates a a 20-year assessment um at 5%. If they pay within 50 days of the assessment, uh there's a 1% reduction in that balance. So, thanks, Steve. Anyone else?

I see none. Please vote. Hold on. I'm sorry. Short title, please. An ordinance levying special assessments upon the lots, parts of lots, lands, and real estate abuing upon and adjacent to and specially benefited by the improvements in water extension district number 132 of the city of Northfor, Nebraska to defay the cost of said improvements and to provide for the publication of this ordinance in pamphlet form. Now, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Ordinance number 5985 carries on first reading. Your honor, I'd move that we suspend the rules and pass ordinance number 5985 on second and third reading as the calculations are done at the current interests. Second. All right, we have a motion to second. Any other discussion? Seeing none, please vote. All council members present voting in the affirmative. Ordinance number 5985 carries on second and third.

All right, that brings us on to our regular agenda. Item number 22, consideration of ordinance number 5986, authorizing issuance of special assessment bonds anticipation notes in the public amount not to exceed 820,000 for paving districts 2 523 524, sewer district 260, and water district 134. I'll make a motion for consideration of ordinance number 5986. Second. All right, we have a motion, a second. Um, and we'll go into discussion. Sheila will be leading us in discussion.

Yep. Mayor and council, this note issue will fund the four assessment districts. So, the districts are paving of 23rd Street and water, sewer, and paving on South Chestnut Street. Um, Scott Keane is here from Piper Sandler and I'm going to have him come up and talk about the details of this debt issue.

Good evening, Mayor Council. Scott Keane with Piper Sandler. This financing is structured identically to the way the city has financed these kinds of projects before. or again under state statute, you're required to issue notes in anticipation of the construction of the projects. Once the projects are completed and assessments have been completed, then you're in a position to issue bonds. So, we'll be back in a few years after the project's done to talk about a bond issue. But for not tonight, we're talking about bond anticipation notes. As mentioned, the the ordinance authorizes the issuance of up to $820,000 of bond anticipation notes. We're currently estimating they'll be issued in the amount of about $790,000 with a final maturity of July of 2029. So about three years from now to give plenty of time for the projects to be completed and go through the special assessment process. Uh when we sent out the documents last week, the interest rate was about 3.3%. Rates have risen with fears about inflation and and oil prices. uh to in today's market the rate would be about 3.35 or 3.4% so just a little bit higher than it was last week but by the time we get to market we're hoping rates will be a little bit lower. The notes will be callable without penalty starting July of 2027. So if the projects when the project's completed by then and you've gotten all the way through the special assessment process, you'll be prepared to be able to issue bonds at that time. don't have to wait till the final maturity of the note issue. Uh the by quick summary of the ordinance as mentioned by the mayor the the uh par amount cannot exceed $820,000. True interest cost cannot exceed 5%. Final maturity no later than December of 2029 and the underair's discount Piper Sandler's fee can't exceed 0.7%

of the par amount issued. Our plan is to have the offering document completed, excuse me, by early June, go to market early first or second week of June and deliver the proceeds to the city mid to late June. So everything's on track to make that happen and we'll help Sheila as much as we can with the process. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. You covered it. Thank you. I could have gone. Don't look so enthused. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Any members of the public have any they would like to add?

All right. Seeing none. Short title, please. an ordinance authorizing the issuance and sale of bond anticipation notes of the city of Northfor, Nebraska in the principal amount of not to exceed $820,000 for the purpose of providing interim financing to pay the cost of street improvements in paving district numbers 523 and 524. Sewer improvements in sanitary sewer extension district number 260 and water improvements in water extension district number 134. Pending the issuance of permanent general obligation various purpose bonds of the city. Prescribing the forms of said notes. Agreeing to issue the city's general obligation various purpose bonds to pay the notes at maturity or to pay the notes from other available funds. Authorizing officers of the city to make arrangements for the sale of the notes and to designate the final terms, rates, and maturity schedules for said notes within stated parameters. Authorizing the officers of the city to make arrangements for the sale of the notes and providing for publication of this ordinance in pamphlet form.

Get all that done. Please vote. All council members present voting in the affirmative. Ordinance number 5986 carries on first reading. I would offer uh consideration of ordinance number 5985 on second and third. 86 86 86 I'm sorry 86. Second that.

Okay. We have a motion to second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, please vote. All council members present voting in the affirmative. Ordinance number 5986 carries on second and third. All right. Um brings us to our next part of the meeting administration reports. So this time we'll have a presentation by the citizens advisory tiff committee regarding the proposed guidelines for the utilization of tax increment financing. This time I'd like to welcome Jim and Troy to come forward. And thank you the moment you've all been waiting for. Um I think I just want to start out first of all to thank our committee. We had what 12 people on the committee that's put in a lot of time and it wasn't always agreement on the committee but we expected that but I think we learned a lot along the way and I thought it was a great process that ultimately resulted in what you have before you. Also want to thank Kylie for putting up with us during this process. It was uh a lot of late late notices for the meetings and and she did a great job accommodating our needs. So

yeah, also um thank you to uh anyone Shane for or mayor mayor for uh uh appointing this and uh I mean we used Randy and we used we used um several city staff for information and all that. So we we were appreciative. Anything we requested we we were had access to. So thanks to the all city staff too.

In terms of how the guidelines came about the last couple of meetings um because all the meetings are recorded and they're out there on YouTube. We got a transcript of the last couple meetings and fed it through AI and just had AI summarize them and come up with what you have before you. So it we were trying to take the any kind of bias out of it and let let AI just review what the discussions were. There might have been one item that it missed that that Troy talked about that we added in, but for the most part it it just came right from the AI summarization. Um so we can just jump through and and go through these if you'd like us to. Um, you know, number one, basically overall, maybe we'll jump to the last page. The one item on the last page, it's kind of a a crosscutting theme of the overall recommendations, and that is um trust and public perception, an emphasis on maintaining public confidence and transparency, balancing development versus taxpayer impact, and having the decisions for TIFF being data driven, being based on data and decision- making. But number one, the targeted use, strategic development of TIFF. Um, TIFF should be targeted according to your priorities and not just broadly used for everyone who asks. Number two, the city should establish a formal tip policy framework, a written policy used to establish to evaluate applications. Number three, define commercial community priority sectors. Housing versus industrial versus commercial. Number four, affordable housing target guidelines. That's one that maybe requires a little more discussion. There was a lot of emphasis on workforce or affordable housing and that those

numbers are um up for a lot of discussion, but there was a heavy emphasis on some of our members that it should be toward single family homes that are priced at or below $300,000. We realize those are challenging numbers, but that seems to be a a common theme of a a need in the community and that tiff should be focused to that price range. Uh number five, require measurable performance metrics, job creation in case of industrial or commercial or payoff speed in the case of residential so that they don't drag out. Number six, that mix we just talked about earlier. Number seven, strong blight qualification standards, stronger blight qualification standards, requiring the property receiving the benefit to independently qualify. Avoid using surrounding properties to justify blight qualification. Blight determination should be based upon actual development site. And again, I'll just throw in these are these recommendations for guidelines are totally at your discretion. These were developed by a wide variety of our membership and we didn't all agree on everything, but they were ideas that came out and it's up to you as a council to decide whether you implement a policy or not, whether you accept any of these recommendations or not. These are just the ideas that came out of the committee. Number eight, time limits on buildout controls. Um, prevent extended effective temp tiff durations due to slow buildout. Um, that prevents projects from stretching the stretching the subsidy exposure. So, if if we decide that price houses in a certain price range are important to us and a project takes 30 years for buildout, well, by the time you get to year 15,

that might not be a priority anymore. So, it's important to have some sort of a timeline that says if we're going to do this, if this is important to the community, it should happen within a certain time frame. Number nine, transparency, ethics rules for developer interaction. Um, restrict or regulate private lobbying related to tiff approvals. I know this is a hot button, but you know, when we've got developers, we don't want to limit people's access to their public officials. That's that's common. But when you get to a situation where you're asking for the elected officials to give you millions of dollars of public money of property tax dollars paid in by the public, I think it changes changes the the equation a little bit such that if those conversations go on one-on-one between a developer and an elected official behind closed doors, that shuts the public out. They don't know what was discussed. They don't have any idea the interaction that happened, which normally happens in a public process, in a public hearing. And when that doesn't happen, it just creates a an era or an aura of uh that the the public is at a disadvantage because they don't certainly they could talk to that elected official as well, but they don't know what was said between that elected official and the developer. So, they have no idea what to what to react to. Number 10, proactive planned versus reactive developerdriven tiff. We learned about some other projects. One being Vitality Village in in Columbus where the community purchased the land, put in the infrastructure, and then took bids for whatever types of housing they wanted. They happened to be more geared toward um

apartments, so that's what they focused on. Some single family. Um it it's an opportunity for the community to take a look at what's important to the community. If it's single family homes for Norfolk and it's under $300,000, perhaps that's an opportunity for the city to focus and get what they want versus what a developer offers. Number 11, risk allocation policy. When the city takes the infrastructure risk and tiff. So in some cases some tiff developments the city has put in and paid for the infrastructure the water the sewer the paving and the developer gets tiff on top of that. So the city takes the risk on the infrastructure costs and puts the money to develop that infrastructure and then also provides tiff. So avoid stacking multiple public risks without justification. Number 12 micro tiff. There's a lot of discussion on micro tip. One community that seemed to use that fairly well was North Platt and they used it mostly for infill housing, vacant lot, new construction focus. I think that's something that Norfolk could really take a look at and utilize that to to fill in areas in town with with new homes that are on empty lots. And some of those are could be landbank lots that where a house was removed. Um I think I'm halfway through. I'll let Troy run with number 13.

Yeah. Um, consider alternate financing tools before TIFF. Obviously, TIFF's important and it's one of the tools, but sometimes if there are grants, which we'll get to a little bit later, things like that available. Um, try to get more bang for our dollar that way. Governance structure concepts, a CRA V versus CDA. Um, I know there's been talk on uh on with the city and and the mayor about um maybe looking at different a CRA setup system. Um, we we didn't really have an a uh an an opinion other than that it should be pursued or looked at dug into. You guys should take a look. There is some advantages to both probably. Um, community engagement requirements. Um, so when uh Jim talks about councilman meeting with developers and stuff, I think sometimes if we if there was a an openhouse setting, um, say a housing project in Ward, we we'll pick on Corey and Ward one. If there was an open h the cory's if there's an open house uh forum were early on ahead of the vote the public could come to that ask questions with the councilman in the in that area. Um it might uh and it might actually make things easier. Um we had projects with waterheds and different things like that that that some of that information be flushed out earlier. I think it also would give the councilman maybe a pulse of of some of the questions going in that um the county assessor. Um we we kind of learned early on that may maybe uh some of the assessments maybe weren't correct or on some of the tip projects in in certain areas. um the county assessor,

we actually had him come in and he kind of alluded to the fact that he doesn't always have access to the property at closing or the people can not give him access on tiff projects simply. Um I think that we think that you should give uh the assessor access to the property prior to closing or at that time frame. I think that was probably one of our most unanimous feelings across everyone on the board. um it it really would benefit to get the the valuations correct on those projects um earlier owner and owner occupancy uh protections for tiff assisted housing projects if we if you use tiff for affordable housing um and which is determined as a problem and a need so if we're going to utilize that um there could be uh maybe rent restrictions uh not rent restrictions, I'm sorry, on housing um owner occupied um where they don't turn into rentals uh through the tip bond. Pay the tip bond off early. You can do whatever you want with the house, but during that period when we're talking about it as a a uh um cost h uh lowcost housing, um that seems like a good policy and and I think that that had pretty wide agreements. um require or require periodic review of TIF policy. Uh just kind of I think publicizing we we don't always do a great job celebrating victories in our in our in government in general and in the community either, but if there was some kind of a report that would put out if we had determined, hey, we need 50 R1 houses at this price point and we need these certain things. if there if it was published to the citizens uh periodically maybe annually or bianually kind of where we are are we ahead of

schedule and and again pointing out where there's success and maybe where there's opportunity um align tip projects with the most recent housing study. There was some questions with the housing study, but uh that kind of right there shows kind of your needs and your opportunities in that in in the community. Uh so that we think that should be utilized and and reviewed as we as you uh pro progress through uh any kind of tiff policy. scrutinize housing study and vacancy assumptions before expanding supply. In in the housing study in certain areas, it kind of looks like we have a very low um rental rate for apartments and then in another area in the same report, it looks a little higher. Um just uh um look at that. We we need to get what we need, I guess. Um monitor tiff exposure related to total assessed value. Um it's kind of self-explanatory. this I might just jump in that the city does an annual report on tiff and percentage of total assessed valuation but it doesn't really break that down by residential commercial and compare that to other cities in that breakdown and think that could be helpful consider proactive land assembly approaches um use redevelopment to acquire land um land control can influence affordability outcomes Um that that's more goes along with the vitality village being proactive in terms of defining what the city wants and then the city could actually act as their own developer to create a situation similar to what again what Columbus did with the vitality village.

Yeah. Require transparency on per unit public subsidy levels just kind of reporting on where projects are and where the funds are used get used properly. Yeah. And that I think that came from um how much subsidy are we providing on a per unit. So an apartment building, how much public subsidy is going into that on a per unit basis. On a single family home, how much public subsidy is going to each one of those single family homes? I think that's a good measurement tool to help us understand how much public input goes into those projects. consider e consider infrastructure grants to reduce housing costs. Um and in some cases we're getting those and doing those but and that probably is being considered through the step but it should be uh looked at always uh emphasize balance development versus taxpayer impact just ROI all those projects anything we're doing has a return on investment um and apartments receiving tiff we we feel like that again um maybe there's rent restrictions uh on those that tie it to kind of the average rent rate. Um, if we're going to use tiff and it's an affordable when they approach you with a a project that doesn't fit the criteria of affordable housing, if it's workforce housing or or different projects, those projects looked at independently looked at on their own merit um with factoring their own ROI. The one of the things early on we talked about was uh an emphasis on affordable housing. that seems to be the overwhelming arch that came up time and time again and most of the public that I spoke to, you spoke to, um, we need the affordable housing. And so, if there's a way to emphasize that in the TIFF policy, it doesn't necessarily have to be an exclusive, but an emphasize that

to make sure that we can meet those needs. Um, that's really that that came up. anything kind of outside of that or on the higher end housing. That's something council has to look at on an independent basis on a ROI and what do we need? What can we get? Um we really didn't talk about using TIFF much in our committee at all for uh retail or industrial. The payback me metrics ROI is so is so much different on those. Every one of those projects has a completely different um set of numbers. the payback, you have access to more than just property tax, obviously jobs and sales tax and and that kind of stuff. Um that those projects are really it's almost impossible to set a tiff guideline on a project on an industrial project because every one of them will be very much very different. some of the principles though looking at the looking at the ROI and you know what is it attracting the price the pay rate of the jobs that we're looking for um things like that but th those are some of uh that's kind of what what we have in short I guess

we'll try and answer any questions do you see a policy like this deterring development I mean developers talk if they think that we're making it difficult for developers. Does this deter development? In my opinion, it doesn't. I think it helps focus on what's important to the community and helps developers understand what's important to the community and come to us with proposals that meet the community's needs.

So we number two was establish formal city tiff policy framework. And in in my opinion and our and and I think Jim would agree with this. Um if if you take the inside if we determine where are our needs, what do we want? What what do we need? Where do we want it? How do you know the if the city can lay that out if we need if it's a R1 housing at $350,000 and uh Jefferson school district can absorb has room to grow that or there's infrastructure there to make that happen. If we if we determine that ahead of time, it should lower I think the the negativity of or it it should easy ease the process for a developer to come in if that's already determined as a need and they're coming in to solve that. We could shop the need versus uh just kind of waiting for projects. So guys, I thought of one a little bit further after our subcommittee about buying land. So, like number two, consider proactive land assembly approaches. And I think it's one other one in there where, you know, it hit on this in a couple different spots, but did you guys get a good pulse on what it would be like if and I'm thinking Southwork. So if you look at the stockyards and look at the the Tyson Beef America plant and and do you get a good pulse on something where if the city buys that types of property has to do a lot of cleanup has a lot of expense in this and we may be sitting on for a while. What that what that feels like that's that's not cheap to do, right? That's a a major amount of property.

Sure. And that's so maybe it's more of a a size of property or how much cleanup needs to be done and where we need to focus.

That that's an excellent question. Um certainly when you come up with an idea about the city doing their own development, it would be a situation where you would want to not buy the property yet, but take an option on the property. So you're you're not a heavy investment upfront. And then you would lay out what you would like to accomplish in terms of housing, whether it be apartments, single family homes, price range, and then get an idea for what the infrastructure is going to cost. You don't have to put the infrastructure in yet, but you can get good estimates on what the infrastructure is going to cost. So, you can get a pretty good entire picture of what the costs are without anything more than an option to buy that piece of ground. And then what Columbus did is then they went out and they they took bids on the apartments and the single family homes and I think they had 18 responses to their RFP and I think they whittleled it down and talked to maybe five or seven different vendors. So that could all happen prior to having a substantial investment on the city's part.

I don't think they put in the infrastructure until they had the back. They didn't put in the infrastructure until they had inked contracts on the on the actual developers. Wouldn't Would that contradict your number nine of transparency when you say you don't want the developer to speak to anybody um any elected officials? I would say that situation is entirely different where it's driven by the city 100%. So, it's all going to be public. The city's driving it. M

well there's NDAs that are signed and communication with developers as far as making those public. I just don't see how that's a reality when developers when a business is competitive and um you have you're talking about having open public comments open periods for development if they're using tiff correct certainly for residential development industrial may be a slightly different story I understand industry is different but in residential yes

I just got a question about the format of this evening I believe the these two gentlemen weren't going to give a presentation and then we were going to allow people to make come to make statements. I don't think today tonight's about questioning or anything. We just they were just here were their findings. We we wor we we we came together for a while. We came up with this. They're showing what they found. Then we've got I know I can see there's there's people here tonight. There's members of the committee. I'm sure other people are going to want to come up and uh have their opportunity. I would say if there's a point of question back at you guys again, then feel free to come forward again and address that. But I would think maybe that's how we can keep moving forward here. Otherwise, I think we're just going to go back forth, back forth, and we thought we'd be here for a couple hours. So,

it's up to you. It's up to you. So, but anyway, um is that okay with everybody? Okay. All right. Thanks. All right. Thank you.

Thanks. I guess before we get along too far, um I had the opportunity to listen to this presentation at the uh economic development subcommittee and I kind of wrote my thoughts down here briefly. Um and I put it on paper because I have a tendency to get off track. So this would be good just this won't take very long. It's just a brief statement. But anyway, um first I want to thank the members of the tiff advisory committee for the time and effort they invested in the process. I believe the com committee raised several important legitimate issues regarding transparency, accountability, long-term planning, and how the city evaluates the use of tiff moving forward. I also think it's important to remember the broader content of uh Norfor as a community. Norfor was not always experiencing a level of growth in housing development, redevelopment activity, and investment momentum we see today. Over time, through the efforts of multiple councils, administrations, staff members, community organizations, private sector partnerships, and the creation of economic development department in 2010, Norfor worked to improve its competitiveness, infrastructure planning, responsiveness, and overall development environment. TIFF was one of the several important tools that helped support housing growth, redevelopment, infrastructure expansion, and long-term private investment during that time. As Norfolk has grown, pro public expectations regarding the use of tiff has naturally evolved. This is understandable. Communities often move from asking how do we attract growth to asking how do we manage growth responsibly. Both perspectives are valid and I believe those are healthy discussions for the growth of the community to have. At this time, communities should also recognize that growth momentum can change much faster than people expect. Communities that have become too unpredictable, too difficult to work with with, or too hesitant toward investment can eventually see housing

development and redevelopment activity and private investment begin to slow. Maintaining long-term growth requires not only the accountability and oversight, but also consistency, competitiveness, and the and the continued willingness to plan for the future. I believe the committee's work contributes positively to this conversation and may hope and my hope is that the process helps Norur continue improve its governance governance practices while also preserving the momentum and competitiveness thisu community has worked hard to build over the many years. The goal should be balanced government maintain accountability thoughtful oversight while continue to encouraging housing redevelopment infrastructure expansion and long-term investment in Northfor. I believe Norark has an opportunity to build on this process and and make us greater and stronger and more consistent in framework for evaluating tiff moving forward while preserving the flexibility necessary for future councils to respond to changing conditions over time. My hopes that tonight's discussion serves as the beginning of a constructive process and helps physician Northwork for continued long-term success. So that was just my take from what I had heard and what they presented and that's where I'm at. So at this time if there's anybody from the council would like to ask anything or say anything, please do. Otherwise, I'm going to welcome members of the public to come forward.

Okay. We do have one we did receive one email that we're going to read off here.

Yes. Thank you, mayor. So I did receive an email from a citizen, Sasha Bone, who is unable to attend the meeting tonight, but requested her email be read out for the record. So it reads as follow. I won't be able to attend tonight's city council meeting, but I wanted to submit a few questions in advance regarding the advisory committee report on proposed TIFF guidelines. I appreciate the work that has gone into developing the recommendations. My intent is simply to better understand how these guidelines are intended to function alongside existing state requirements governing TIFF decisions. A few questions I was hoping could be noted for discussion or follow-up. Are these guidelines intended to serve as flexible recommendations or will they carry significant weight determining project approval? I'm seeking clarity on this because I want to ensure the guidelines are not interpreted as overriding or effectively replacing the statutory criteria established under Nebraska law for tiff decisions. What process will ensure there is a clear distinction between advisory guidelines and the legal criteria required under Nebraska law? I'm trying to better understand how the city will keep that line clear in practice so everyone involved staff council developers and the public can easily tell what is required under statute such as eligibility standards like blight designation the but for financial test eligible uses and required hearings under Nebraska community development law versus what is intended as local policy guidance or preference from the advisory committee. I'm also curious how the city plans to communicate and apply that distinction so advisory recommendations don't unintentionally get treated as additional requirements during project review or decision-making, especially in cases where a project otherwise meets all statutory criteria. If a project meets all statutory requirements for TIP eligibility under Nebraska law, including appropriate blight designation, satisfaction of the but four financial feasibility test and compliance with all required procedural steps such as public hearings and redevelopment plan approval, but does not align with the advisory committee's proposed guideline expectations, for example, required minimum developer contribution percentage or limits on TIFF participation levels. who has final

discretion in determining whether the project may still be approved or whether an exemption or deviation from the guidelines is appropriate. I wanted to share a concern and ask for perspective on it. While I understand the intent of the advisory guidelines is to provide structure and accountability, I'm wondering whether there is any concern that adding additional expectations outside of what is required under Nebraska law could unintentionally create more perceived complexity or uncertainty for developers. In practice, I worried this could function as added red tape, even if unintentionally and potentially discourage or delay projects that would otherwise meet the statutory intent of TIFF as a redevelopment tool. How is the city thinking about balancing stronger local expectations with maintaining a predictable and accessible process that continues to attract redevelopment rather than deter it? My concern is primarily around ensuring clarity ensuring clarity in how advisory recommendations are interpreted so they are not inadvertently treated as binding requirements. I want to make sure there is a clear understanding for everyone involved that these guidelines are intended to support decision-m making not replace or add to the statutory criteria under Nebraska law and that the process remains predictable and accessible for future development projects. Sincerely, Sasha Bone. Okay. I guess that was more of a statement for council to keep in mind moving forward. Yeah.

Can I address that?

Quite simply, state statute says the tiff rules are to be liberally construed. That means the cities have wide authority to develop policies and follow or not follow policies in any way, shape or form they want. So that's the way state law is written and the policies won't make any difference to that. Again, these are guidelines and they're not written in stone. They're up to to the communities to make a decision. There are communities such as Fremont that doesn't tiff any residential. So that's the decision that that community has made. I don't see that they have a written policy, but I've heard that and when you look at the total amount of of TIFF dollars that the city of Fremont has put toward residential, it's minuscule. I I think it's maybe a million dollars. It's very tiny compared to their their commercial. So, communities can make those policies. They can they can follow them at their discretion. So, just wanted to follow up on that.

Right. One followup to that. Again, this is just these are recommendations to you guys of things that came up in in good conversation. Um, this isn't necessarily a policy. It doesn't it doesn't uh it doesn't conflict with with statute or anything. I do think that if it's outlined what as a community what we want, what we need, if the if the citizens, the council, government, business, everybody's we we we I we lay out the map on what we need in all areas. What what are our goals? I think it would actually should be easier. I hope it's easier. I I think TIFF is super important. I think that it's an important tool to be used. You can't use it on everything. if you could, if you used it on everything, you know, you you it's unfeasible to do that. But to use it where it makes sense and there's an ROI factor for the city. We we either solve a problem or at the end of the day after the period we we improve our uh our return on investment for our community. It should be used and looked at. Um I again I hope it I hope that it doesn't make it more difficult. I hope it makes it easier if if we understand this some of the stuff the blowback you guys get from council is going to happen regardless if we just look at things from other perspectives going in and then make decisions and and move forward. Um, that's the goal, Michael. Hopefully,

right? Anyone else care to address the council? Come forward now. Good evening, council. Uh Chuck Olsen. Um I'm here representing everybody in the room to complain about property taxes. Am I in the right place? No. Uh number one, I appreciate the uh the time and effort on the with the TIFF committee, what all they went through and and the discussions and the months of of work. Um I would have liked to have been on that committee, but uh to be honest with you, I was told I would not be approved to be on the committee. And that was a little bit disheartening and it made me want to participate and maybe it was my role to maybe participate now as opposed to participate uh in the meeting. So I want to uh take that time right now. But I reviewed the the AI produced uh summary. Uh I was here at the TIFF meeting when it was produced and I all I also understand that AI generated output is only as good as the input. And to me, the document was was one-sided. Um, it reads more like a list of ways to limit or discourage tiff uh use than a balanced framework for developing or deploying a proven economic development tool. Critically, guidelines almost entirely omit the positive economic impacts. The cash flow benefits, the community returns the successful TIFF projects routinely routinely deliver. And this omission risks biased future council decisions with public perception against TIF before projects even reach the table. I've spoken to you before about the importance of these particular projects that are out there. And we look at a TIF project and I don't care if it's a $300,000 house, a $500,000 house, or a

million dollar house. What is the immediate economic impact to the city of Norfor? Look at the sales tax that is immediately generated from a from the home. Look at the jobs that are created and the people who benefit from it. From the people digging the holes, the people pouring the concrete, the framers, the electricians, the plumbers, people who are selling the flooring supplies, the furniture, the roofers, uh the landscapers, and the list goes on and on and that immediately impact our community in in a positive way. My concern with the report is there was nothing in the report that shows what's the immediate economic benefit to the community. The developer is the one that is taking all the risks in this. And there's so many misleading statements I think that have been thrown around there over tiff over the last few years that taxpayers pay for tiff. That is not true. We all know that. But somebody and it seems like it's all in these reports and even tonight I'm hearing millions of dollars paid out in public funds. Really? where's the the funds are coming from the developer increasing the value of that property and the financing comes back to pay off those debts and the ba and the basically the developer is in there taking all of the risks I heard it's important to know how much public subsidy is going into tiff projects I'd say the answer is nothing I mean how much really does the city pay for and look at the amount of checks the city pays for for these tiff projects I'd like to see the checks that get written We've had some discussion in the past, well, there's maybe increased fire coverage and there's increased police coverage, but I have yet to be to be shown that there was additional um people who were actually hired in those positions because of TIFF projects. I heard growth must be balanced with citizen cost impact. Again, emphasis on taxpayer funding these particular operations. Keep in mind that TIFF

transfers risk to uh to developers and away from taxpayers. Um, and that's just it's a fact. It's not a it's not a uh an opinion. I think the council should ask the subcommittee or staff to revise the guidelines with parallel selection of expected community benefits and success criteria. What's the fiscal impact? What's the fiscal impact analysis showing the revenues from property tax, sales tax in addition to utility taxes that are assessed? You might kind of scoff at a little bit of the utility taxes, but the city doesn't pay for the infrastructure on the on the electrical, doesn't pay for the sewer, but he immediately gets to tax those homes and those entities for use of those funds, but the city didn't pay to implement those particular uh utilities. Explicit state that TIF is intended to accelerate development that produces net positive returns for the city. Include success stories or benchmarks from comparable communities. Balance risk allocation. It's basically stated in section 25 and I'd say let's use the language what's your return on investment with the tiff project. I see some concerns that we need to just focus on low-income housing. But I think as a community we need to take a look at things. What I stated early on was the property tax issue. I'm going to come back to that because on property taxes currently right now we know where the majority of our tax revenue goes to. You all know you should. That's a very difficult subject to talk about, but we all know where the majority of the tax revenue goes. The important thing is for the city of Norfork, where does your revenue come from? And it's 42% comes from sales tax revenue. So, a tiff project that doesn't focus on what's the sales tax revenue coming in. That's 42% of your income. Property tax income is only 17% of your income. So, take a look at those numbers and focus on what we can focus on. It's go recruit developers that are going to come into this community. Go recruit them to bring in jobs. Recruit them that they're going to sell widgets and do whatever that they're going to

do. They're going to have an amazing service to enhance our life here in Northfor. And you get sales tax revenue from that. And that's where the majority of your revenue comes from. So focus on that. And I appreciate everything the tiff committee has done. And it's very hard, you know, when you get eight people together to to talk about trying to find a an agreement that everybody agrees upon. But we've got to focus on revenue for the city. Reduce our property taxes, please. U but do it by going out and getting sales tax revenue and and and encouraging and recruiting developers to come in here to the city of Northport. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else have anything? Come forward this evening and say anything.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. My name is Paul Medelman. Uh, mine will be a little boring compared to Chuck's, but if you'd bear with me. I do agree with him on everything he said though especially the question that you ask or propose to AI and what it's going to generate is going to be based on that question. I did not I did the same thing. I have an AI report here, but I I did not feed it any information other than the question and I my question to AI was would point out all the positive results for tax increment financing for cities in the Midwest that are struggling to create economic development. And this is what it produced from that question. If you would bear with me, I'll read a little bit of it. Tax increment financing, TIFF, has been a valuable tool for many Midwestern cities to stimulate economic development, particularly in areas facing economic challenges. Here are several notable examples. Uh, and they list some cities, if you'd bear with me here a little bit, the some Midwest cities with positive TIFF outcomes. Fisher, Indiana, uh utilized TIFF to transform its core leading its city core, leading to over two billion in new development and a creation of approximately 8,000 jobs. Key projects include the Nickel Plate District and Fiser District, which feature mixeduse developments with residential, commercial, and entertainment. Number two was Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Monomin Valley, once an industrial wasteland, was revitalized through tiff initiatives between 2002

and 11. The area attracted 49 businesses, created over 3,200 jobs, and saw a 94% increase in property taxes. Number three, Witchah, Kansas. Witchah's Oldtown TIFF project converted a blighted warehouse district into vibrant entertainment area, increasing property valuations by an estimated 11.5 million. Iowa City and Coralville, Iowa. Iowa City leveraged TIF for downtown developments like plaza towers, enhancing business diversity and residential options. Coralville transformed a former industrial park into a into the Iowa Riverlanding, now hosting restaurant, shops, and multifamily similar to what we have in Norfork here in the on the Riverp Point. Uh just to comment on that, uh I believe we uh turned down a developer that wanted to do something similar to that. uh Mark Otto in his development to to develop the Elco building and stuff. So Manatee, Michigan, Manatee Manis approved a tiff plan amendment to boost downtown. Southern southwestern Illinois cities like Alton and Collinsville have successfully used tiff to renovate vacant buildings, attract jobs, revitalize downtown areas. For instance, Elton's Riverfront TIFF district has been instrumental in extensive downtown development since its inception. That compares to Norfork and their riverpoint project. Chicago, Illinois. Chicago's TIFF program has supported various projects including the transformation of Memorial Park from an abandoned railard into a cultural asset for the Chinatown neighborhood. This development enhanced community spaces and preserved cultural heritage.

The broader economic impact for those cities is a study done by in Wisconsin found that for every $1 invested in a tiff project or a tiff district, there was a $466 increase in the tax base, indicating a 427% return on the investment for the city. This underscores TIFF's potential in stimulating economic growth when applied effectively. These examples illustrate how TIFF has been instrumental in revitalizing economically challenged areas across the Midwest, leading to job creation, increased property values, and enhanced community amenities. For many Midwestern cities, especially communities that struggle with stagnant growth, aging infrastructure, housing shortages, brownfields or declining downtowns, tax increment financing has often been one of the few practical tools available to create meaningful economic development without immediately raising taxes citywide. Here are the major positive results cities have achieved through TIFF. Number one, turning vacant and blighted property into a productive tax base. One of the biggest successes of TIFF is transforming land that produces very little tax revenue into valuable property that increases the overall tax base. Examples, empty industrial sites, vacant downtown buildings become apartments, restaurants or offices, which which we have in Northfor and it's they're doing great at it. uh farmland or underutilized land becoming becomes housing subdivisions. Contaminated brownfields become developable property. That might be uh the southern part of Norfork there, the

stockyards possibly. Without development, the city collects little tax revenue. Infrastructure deteriorates. Private investors avoid the area. With TIFF, the city eventually gains far more taxable value than existed before. This is especially important in smaller Midwest communities where growth does not happen automatically. The number two, infrastructure that otherwise would not never be built. TIFF often pays for streets, water lines, sewer systems, storm drainage, sidewalks, public utilities, site grading, environmental cleanup. Many Midwest cities simply cannot afford these upfront costs through general funds. I think that's true here. Important reality. Developers frequently face costs so high that projects become financially impossible without assistance. TIFF helps bridge the gap between the actual development cost and what the market can realistically support. This is commonly called the but for test but for tiff assistance the project would not occur. This is especially true in these are AI's words not mine. This is especially true in lake developments, rural housing projects, downtown rehabilitation, and redevelopment of obsolete industrial areas. Job creation. Number three, TIFF has helped create manufacturing jobs, retail jobs, construction jobs, healthc care expansion, tourism, hospitality, and professional office employment for struggling Midwest cities. Even moderate job growth can have major ripple effects. Everything I'm talking about is they're

talking about the whole Midwest, not not I didn't say Northwork or any specific town. So, but a lot of it applies here or most of it does. Secondary effects of the job creation are new jobs lead to increased spending locally, stronger retail sales, higher demand for housing, and greater population stability. Housing development. Number four, many Midwest communities face severe housing shortages. TIFF has helped cities create workforce housing, build subdivisions, develop apartments, support senior housing, and expand affordable ownership opportunities. Why this matters? Without tiff or without adequate housing, employers cannot recruit workers, young families leave, schools decline, and economic growth stalls. In many Midwest communities, housing development costs exceed what the local market can support. TIFF helps close that financing gap.

Hey, Paul, real quick. Uh, we're starting to run a little bit on time here. Okay. Well, I got a couple pages left if you bear with me. We have a policy for so go ahead. Finish up here.

Downtown revitalization. TIFF has received many aging downtowns across the Midwest. The results include historic building loss and increased pedestrian traffic. I'll try to speed it up. This improves the community pride and uh property values, increased long-term property tax base. A common misunderstanding is that tiff takes away taxes forever. In reality, the increment new taxes generated by increased value temporarily helps pay project costs. But after tiff pro period ends, the entire increased valuation returns to the taxing entity. That means schools, counties, and community college will receive those taxes. In raw land worth $200,000, as an example, a $20 million development could compared to Metleman's Lake. Possibly the future tax base can permanently increase for decades. Without TIF, the development may never occur. Encouraging private investment, TIFF frequently acts as a catalyst. Public participation reduces risk for banks to lend, developers to proceed, and additional private investment. Banks are more willing to lend to people, developers because the tiff is paid by the taxes. So, it's a guaranteed comeback or payback. One successful project often encourages nearby housing, retail, restaurants, and commercial growth. Redevelopment of difficult properties, floodprone, contaminated, obsolete rail yards, deteriorated districts. These sites often require extraordinary cost before development. Without tiff, these will remain abandoned. Compete with larger cities, we have to compete with Omaha. Stabilizing our growing population, economic stagnation often leads to population decline, school enrollment loss, and workforce shortages. TIFF supported projects can help communities retain young families, attract

professionals, improve amenities, and create long-term population. Phase developments, which is what my project was out at Medman's Lake, large developments often cannot succeed all at once, so we phased it. TIFF allows phased infrastructure, gradual absorption, and long-term buildout. This is especially important for, not my words, lake developments, master plan communities, business parks, and large housing subdivisions. Early phase phases early phases often carry heavy infrastructure costs that support future phases. That's exactly what my project was. It's an eight or nine phase project and it was presented to the city that those early phases would have a heavy infrastructure costs and where the profits would not be realized in phase early phases but in the latter phases because of the tiff. Without TIFF, many phased project phased developments would fail before later phases become financially viable. My prof, like I said, my performer was presented to the city by the Olsen and Associates out of Omaha. Uh

well, I hate to interrupt again, we're going on 12 minutes here. Okay, but what do you want me to do? Well, we have to have I got one page left. Go ahead. finish that page up quick and then give somebody else's give somebody else chance to speak. Uh, all right. Well, just summarize it real quick because we we've gone on quite a while here.

Common real world Midwest successes. TIFF has helped Midwest communities rebuild industrial corridors, revitalize downtowns, not my words, develop lakefront property. I would like that. That's the report that I got back. That's what I got back from AI. I have a question though. Was the committee did the committee vote on anything or was it approved unanimously their report?

Well, we'll probably have to ask them that question. We've got they're come address that for you. And uh if there wasn't a vote, I guess that's probably they couldn't come to a reasonable consensus. So they just threw it at AI is my suspect. Well, what really u they presented made a presentation to the council. Council asked them not to dictate policy but make recommendations. So that's what was that's what you're saying.

With that in mind, I guess I would like to ask the city council if they would allow myself and a few other citizens to present to the city council a more positive outlook on TIF for their recommendations and considerations in the future. Well, I think what we've gathered here tonight, and I'm speaking loosely because I'm talking on my own behalf, not the rest of council. I think that was part of the what was brought up tonight was, you know, we're going to have to develop some sort of working mechanism, um, some sort of matrix on how to look at these different projects, how that funnels through our community. I would think at that time when we work those through, how we put that group together, that'd be the time we would do that.

I think the council could benefit from a more positive outlook on TIFF and a presentation by some people that would produce a more positive look on TIFF. Appreciate that. Like the Sasha Bond, she had a very nice letter there that was positive about TIFF. Yeah. To let the state the state handle it and their rules and regulations. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Paul. Time.

Anyone else have anything they would like to come forward and talk about this evening? I see there are a few members from the TIFF council here this evening. They'd like to come up speak about what they all I'll be brief. I just want to talk as a as a citizen versus a committee member. I understand the passion of everybody that spoke on TIFF. Um, no, I don't think any one of us thinks TIFF should go away. It has a place, but TIF also has a cost, and we want to have a balance between the burden on the taxpayers and the benefit to the community. That's that's what we were going for. Um, TIFF does cost money. There is no free lunch. The state auditor in his 2024 report to the legislature says this, "Property taxes in Nebraska have been skyrocketing annually, even when the parable parcel of land subject to the levy has undergone no appreciable change," Foley observed. "Count me a skeptic," Foley concluded. If anyone tries to claim that the rapid escalation in tiff funded projects has nothing to do with the ever higher property tax obligations in our state. So we just want to understand that tiff does have a cost. You know, we talked about sales tax and and on a on a home. Sales tax on a $400,000 home is maybe $300,000, but the property tax on that home over that 15 years that are given to the developer is probably in that $80,000 range. So, it's quite a difference. Um, when tiff is used, property taxes on the home or improvements are redirected from the public agencies, from the school, the

county, the city, etc. to the developer over the tiff period, usually 15 or more years potentially plus interest. During that period, the city, county, schools, etc. must deliver services that increase in cost every year due to inflation, wages, etc. with no new revenue to pay for them. So, it only makes sense that someone else has to pay for those services since the property taxes from those new homes, if it's residential, are not going to the public agencies. If TIFF was free, we would give it to everybody. And if TIFF had no cost and it's all it's all positive, then we should give it to every builder in this community. We should give it to every project in this community. And I think we recognize there is a cost and we're just trying to find a balance. We're not saying TIFF is all bad. It has great things that it's done for the community, but it has a cost and we have to have a balance. So that's all I want to say. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? Mayor, members of the council, um, I had some remarks prepared, but I I think that we need to settle down a little bit and not talk about hyperbole and all these great things that can be present. I think you ought to start by looking at where you've been. you take, we've heard Metleman's Lake talked about, you know, we know that Mr. Olsen lives out there, these highlevel houses, and I I think we'll find disparit um opinions amongst the public about whether that's an appropriate place for TIF or not. That's really what you guys are challenged to talk about and to decide. I also think that there were some travesties with Metleman's Lake, Mr. Olsson's house, you know, we know it's I don't know. We refer to it as a million-dollar house. I don't know what it really is. I suspect it's more than that. Do you realize how do you explain to the citizens of Northwork who have seen property tax values go up and up and up? Mr. Olsen's house didn't go up in property tax for 6 years. While everybody else's house went up, it never went up for six years. When it did go up this year, he protested it. But think about what happens when when we have these tiff projects. The city staff ought to be monitoring that. The city staff ought to be seeing that those property tax values are increasing. the city staff has the ability to protest

those property tax values to make sure that Paul gets paid sooner from his from his development that uh that these these taxes go back to the public to the public agencies that aren't getting them and we can discuss all the rest of that stuff uh going on and on and trading AI things doesn't doesn't matter uh you know and and then as Mr. Olson declares himself to be an expert. It's the same gentleman that wrote in the paper a letter to the editor that said, "We need to have tiff because the schools need the sales tax." All of you know the schools don't get any sales tax. So Chuck, I didn't say that. You can read my

I read it again tonight. That's what it says. Guys, let's try not to get into a back and forth. Well, but it is it is important, mayor, that we have accurate information.

We just had this this piece in the Norfark Daily News last week that talked about all the great development. You were quoted in there. There were other other economic development people, even some people that aren't here anymore that were quoted in there. But one of the things nobody said, we're saying develop, the North Daily News is saying development is great. They're talking about half the people came from annexation, half the people came from growth, from all this economic development stuff. What's your response to that as far as what you're talking about accuracy? Well, you brought the annexation, correct? Okay. Some of the population

The problem is the other population that they used wasn't from 2020. They said that was a 2020 population and that there were a thousand people that came. The values that they used were from the 2010 census. They overstated it immensely. So all of this economic development that it was talking about was saying, well, we maybe had 40 people a year. So that's the cost that you need to talk about. And when we, you know, we ought to answer questions like if there's 700 new houses, where are the people? Have have the we we ought to be able to say that the housing numbers have gone down, the the the house size has gone down or not. And we don't need to talk about Fiser, Indiana, where the where the median household income is over $136,000. The median price of a home is $400 to $450,000. So those are the kinds of things that we need to to talk about and and and and what it costs. It's sort of the same discussion that goes with data centers. What does the infrastructure cost? You could you could substitute tiff projects for data centers and nobody's going to agree on that. Uh so there's no reason to argue about it. You can't agree. You you you can argue about how you do things may be more important than what you do. And so everybody that's that that runs for election says they want to be transparent. That's really what what what we need to do. You know, one of the things that I think is the most important thing there is that and I could give you a whole litany of reasons why you need to take the discussions out of the back room and make them public because you pro you

campaigned on being transparent and doing away with with re with with recordings and minutes of subcommittee meetings is just the opposite. And if you look at the the the developers must think they get an awful lot by button holeing individual council members. But it's unethical and it's probably illegal because it denies the rest of the public equal protection to know how you're making your decisions. and and so if somebody wants to challenge one of your tiff things based upon that, I'd like to have that case. So I think it's good for I think that openness and having those discussions out of the back room is good for the developer and it's also good for the public. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Anyone else have anything to add? Nice attack there.

Nice attack. No. Okay. Steve CI. Um, early on in the tiff meetings, we had a developer, you know, the tiff, they love to build these expensive homes and then they say people that would buy these homes will sell the homes where they were. Um, boy, where do I start? Jerry Dietrich in a story last fall in Northfor paper. He's from Tilden. He's in charge of getting 34 new homes there built for the younger people that want to come to Tilden. Um he came out in this story and he said he says the younger people do not want to buy these older homes because they take a lot to get back up where they want them. you know that where whether it be plumbing, wiring, whatever. And uh I myself and I I'm going to repeat what I say and what I said in a TIFF committee meeting is that I'm going to advocate in this in this town. We have white collar young people, couples, and we have blue collar. And I'm going to advocate for the bluecollar also that cannot afford these $400,000 homes. And I feel that number one, you know, as the city's going to give out tiff at

some point in time. That's that's a given. I would like to see tiff used for building these affordable homes. Steve Nord, he came to one of our meetings and he showed us a gave us a blueprint of a $210,000 home minus the land. And he said it's nothing fancy. And uh but it's something that a younger couple could get into, you know, say $40,000 for the land. That's $250,000 house. And his blueprint was is great. I wish I still had it, but I don't. Um anyway, um back to where I was before this developer talked about don't put covenences on builders or they won't come to Northfor and build. Well, it just so happens I did a lot of research and uh this developer has in article 7 of his bylaws, he has 42 covenantes. And I thought, what a hypocrite. But um I'd like to see see the overall I like to see the city use tiff for let's get some affordable homes built and you know like Columbus if we have to buy the land put in infrastructure let's just let's do it just get it done so that's that's all I'm going to say right thank you anyone else well now you know why the tiff council had such a difficult time trying to communicate just by the conversation here tonight. You know that it's uh there's drastic uh distance between different sides of the aisle on this. But I think that's what this

conversation was supposed to have. One sec. I think that's what this conversation was supposed to have was to start the beginning of a construction pro uh constructive prog or process that helps us position Norark for long-term success. I think that's what we're being asked to tonight. There were some recommendations. We heard from uh developers. We heard from the um past city attorney. You heard from just all the way across the board. We've heard from quite a few of people here tonight. And uh I think what they're basically in my opinion is address the process. Correct me if I'm wrong. Here's some recommendations. Here's how it affects me. This is information from uh from my side of the world. This information from my side of the world, but let's look at the process. So that's what I think we're going to be working forward to and working to towards um in the future. So I think when we do that, we're going to try to do it. We'll do it in a way that is I mean that's we I can't uh hide from the fact that I did try to run I ran and talked about transparency. I was pointing out to me tonight and we'll try to do that. That's the goal here. So um anyway, that's kind of what I'm gathering from this information I'm getting tonight. So anybody else I guess one last time I saw your hand up, Paul,

have I used all my time? Yes. I think if you took a vote, they'd say yes. So, I won't get up. Okay. I'll just say I just want to interject a little bit here.

As we sit on council, we don't have the the ability to jump on one side or the other. Our job is to represent the community and do what's best for the community. It it will help the council a great deal if the community can come together, agree to disagree on certain projects, um kind of tone it down a little bit. I see the value of, you know, Jim, Troy, Scott, Chuck, um actually just left the church where I was hanging out with Andrew. So, and he's going to help us with a church project. So, our community as as you guys come up here and talk, um I either personally know your family or I personally know you. And so, our community is small. It does not have to be this divisive. We can agree to disagree. We can all speak our points, but create a community that is who we are. We're a good community. We're a great community. And so I think from this TIFF conversation that one thing that should come out of it is understanding that developers are watching, investors are watching, and we don't want to create an environment that sets a tone that shows something that we're not or that's something that we don't want to be. So I would just say as a council, we have to look at it from a community perspective. And my feel is the community is right down the middle. And so as a council, we have to honor that. So that being said, I just wanted to as someone that I have voted for TIFF projects and I voted against them. Um, and I've always tried to look at the cost and the return. Have I had some votes I regret? Yes. You know, cuz knowledge comes and education comes and things change. But, um, I just think that as a community, we want to send a better message than what we're sending right now. And we don't want to stop the train. We don't want to stop development. We don't want to be known

as a divisive community because that's not what we are. So, thanks. All right. Um, I guess that was Anybody else? I guess. All right. That will conclude that portion of the council meeting. Uh may I have a motion to go into close session for the protection of the public interest told us strategy session with respect to collective bargaining and its relationship with real estate negotiations. So move your honor. Second. All right. Please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries. Um the motion carried again. This a closed session for the sole purpose of holding the strategy session with respect for collective bargaining and its relationship to real estate negotiations.

Only item discussed during the close session was a strategic plan or session was with respect to collective bargaining and its relationship with uh real estate negotiations. May I have a motion to come out of close session? So move second. The motion second. Please vote. Jimmy want to vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries. We are ajourned.