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City Council Minutes <br /> April 3,2023 <br /> Page 5of10 <br /> installing them in kind. She stated they are going to have a series of people <br /> involved in the ribbon cutting. She also asked the Council and staff to think about <br /> what they will do for funding for the splash pad moving forward and if future <br /> fundraising will be done through Community Action or will city take over costs. <br /> She asked if the Council had a size and location preference for a laser cut sign <br /> with a logo that Little Falls Fabricating would like to donate. The Council <br /> consensus was to have the Park Board to decide the details. Discussion ensued <br /> about signs and regulations. <br /> 5.3 EDC Update <br /> Michelle Lelwica stated the EDC has a goal to attend all the remaining Council <br /> meetings in 2023. She said for tonight they would like to talk about funding <br /> opportunities for housing and the one the EDC is focused on is the Small City <br /> Development Program. She said the city applied for this on in 2019 but it never <br /> really took off due to timing. She said it seems like Pequot Lakes is a good <br /> candidate for this funding. Gail Leverson said to apply citywide for funding the <br /> population needs to be less than five thousand people. Ms. Lelwica said they are <br /> looking for the Council's blessing to move forward with the funding. Discussion <br /> ensued about the last time the city applied for funding. Ms. Leverson said the <br /> deadline would be next year since the city is currently applying for the Small <br /> Cities Development Program for Infrastructure. She said the city would need to <br /> submit a preapplication this November and then the full application would likely <br /> be submitted in January, 2024. Discussion ensued about what the funding would <br /> be used for. Mayor Gardner stated the County currently has a Housing Trust <br /> Fund and he believes the city has a lot of housing that needs rehabilitation. <br /> Discussion ensued about the last the city did a preapplication and the lack of <br /> interest potentially due to not having time to get the word out. Discussion ensued <br /> about how to get the word out and how much money the city would have to put <br /> toward this. <br /> Gail Leverson said the city would have to do some surveys to get ready for the <br /> preapplication in November and would need a good amount of interest to move <br /> forward. She stated the maximum for a homeowner would be$25,000. Ms. <br /> Lelwica stated that it reads that the city gets a grant and then the homeowners <br /> would borrow money from the city at zero percent interest and then it can be <br /> forgiven after so many years. Ms. Leverson said the city would set it up how they <br /> would like to propose it. Rich Spiczka said the key would be finding the delivery <br /> to the person with the dilapidated home. Discussion ensued on how to get the <br /> word out and having a workshop with the EDC and Council to discuss this. <br /> Discussion ensued about what kind of improvements can be made, who decides <br /> the approval of an application, and conditions the city may want to put on the <br /> application. Council consensus is to have Widseth present a proposal at the May <br /> EDC meeting. <br /> Matt Lottman said there has been multiple times the EDC has a topic at their <br /> meeting but the city has already made steps and progressed on those topics. He <br /> stated he would love for the Council to at least give the EDC some bullet points <br />