Becker City Council met Tuesday to discuss the Google abatement, police body cameras, court data services, a cable franchise agreement and council support of a house file.

 

 

The City of Becker recently received a request from Jet Stream, LLC, which is wholly owned by Google, for a 20-year tax abatement for a new data center facility. In accordance with Minnesota State Statutes and Becker Business subsidy policy, the city council needed to hold a public hearing, which they did March 19. Tuesday, council voted to approve the abatement.

 

The proposed project will be for the construction of a 375,000 square foot data center facility on 300 acres between Hwy. 10 and the Mississippi River. The project will have a capital investment of $600 million and create a minimum of 50 jobs when fully operational. In addition to the permanent jobs that will be created, the project will also create an estimated 2,300 construction jobs during the construction phase.

 

The city held a public hearing during the March 19 council meeting. The council voted to continue to April 2.

 

 

City council voted to authorize the use of body cameras for the police department in October of 2017 — part of the understanding under MN State Statute was that the BPD would need to complete an audit of their system every two years. 

 

Since that time, BPD have created nearly 9,000 videos (some of which have come from the new squad car system). 

 

The State of Minnesota and the Minnesota BCA were said to be tasked with overseeing the audit process. 

 

Chief Brent Baloun said what has been  learned is that the state and BCA have not offered an economical solution to complete this process as identified under statute. Other private, and unknown, vendors are now offering their services for a  considerable expense, he said. 

 

“To ensure our compliance, I contacted the office of the state auditor after learning that they have  provided audit services to other police departments,” Baloun said. “The League of Minnesota Cities requested that I contact the auditor's office. I spoke with an auditor who indicated that they can do for us the same as other  departments, one of which is Burnsville, who is considered one of the first departments in the nation to utilize body cameras.” 

 

Baloun says their process involves examination of the current policy, examination of the classifications, retention practices, etc. 

 

“Their process is similar to how AXON maintains information  already, a vendor they have become very familiar with,” Baloun said. 

 

“I have received an engagement letter from the state auditor's office outlining the process. Of note is that they only compare what we have with what is required under state statute.”

 

 Baloun says they will highlight this and advise BPD, assuming they will make any appropriate corrections to our process. 

 

The cost for the audit is $80/hour and is expected to be in the range of $3,000-$4,000, depending on the amount of time it  takes to examine BPD’s data. The cost of this project will be paid out of the BPD budget/contracted services. 

 

 

Baloun said recently the BPD was advised that they could obtain court records from the Office of Court Administration. The process to do so requires city council action, specifically authorizing the Baloun to sign the agreement and have a resolution passed. 

 

“We, like all citizens, currently have access to the public information that can be searched through the Minnesota judicial systems public website,” said Baloun.

 

“This agreement allows the police department to access data specific to particular cases, or court records for that purpose that are under a legitimate government access need. Those needs may include investigative information, disposition information, conditions of sentencing, etc.” 

 

Baloun says his department currently does not have this kind of access to these records so this will be a benefit to the BPD. 

 

“We currently have access to many other databases and this will add to our access for information as needed,” he said. 

 

 

Assistant City Attorney, Dave Schaps was present Tuesday to present the cable franchise agreement with Midcontinent Communications to council.

 

In the new agreement, Schaps identified some key points in the agreement which included general provisions, construction standards, system provisions, service provisions, operation & administration provisions, remedies for abandonment, foreclosure & receivership and additional rights.

 

“Overall, the franchise agreement that has been negotiated with Midcontinent represents a fair and reasonable agreement, and addresses all of the major aspects that any new franchise should contain,” said Schaps.

 

After lengthy discussion, the cable franchise agreement decision was pushed out to a future date pending additional information.

 

 

State Rep. Jerry Hertaus sent a letter to the city asking for support for HF 2031. 

 

The bill modifies the existing Local Government Aid (LGA) formula and sets aside 2% of the entire appropriation for cities not currently on the LGA formula. 

CA Greg Pruszinske said he had two items of interest he wanted city council to consider. 

 

“First, this bill will get Becker on the LGA formula, which we currently do not qualify for,” he said. Second, once the city is on the formula there will always be a minimum appropriation for Becker.”

 

No action was taken at Tuesday’s meeting.

 

 

January 10, Springsted announced its intention to combine with Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP, a financial services and accounting firm.  

 

The combination is expected to be finalized in April, at which time the Springsted Group companies will be providing advisory service under the name Baker Tilly Municipal Advisors, LLC.   This change affects the city’s debt obligations.  Service will remain the same without interruption.

 

 

Connie Robinson said RD Offutt Farms is interested in farming the land near the industrial park that was previously leased to Imholte Farms.  Robinson attached an agreement leasing the land to RD Offutt Farms for the crop year 2019 and council approved.

 

 

In late 2018, Morgan Stanley notified Becker that they would be changing their requirements for the holding of municipal investments to a minimum of $10 million.  

 

This change requires the City of Becker to move its funds to another financial institution.  This will also allow for the city to consolidate its funds to a custodial account with UBS.  

 

UBS specializes in municipal securities allowing for the city to maximize returns on the portfolio and reduced costs on transactions.  This change will not affect the city's ability to utilize other services providers but will allow for the city to better track the activity and stay in compliance with state statutes and audit requirements.  

 

 

Baloun gave a presentation of his annual report and highlighted some key areas of the report for council consideration.

 

 

The next council meeting is April 16 at 6 p.m.