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CITY of RAPID CITY Agenda Item Summary |
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Meeting Date: 4/16/2014 |
Commission, Board or Committee: N/A |
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Staff Contact: Joel Landeen, City Attorney |
PW Committee or L&F Committee: Legal & Finance |
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Petitioner: N/A |
City Council 1st Reading: N/A |
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Location: N/A |
City Council 2nd Reading: N/A |
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Agenda Title: |
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Summary: |
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In 2012, Ben Snow, Director of the Rapid City Economic Development Foundation approached the City and requested that we join with Pennington County and Box Elder and consider the formation of a Regional Rail Authority. Mr. Snow believes the creation of a rail authority will be a useful economic development tool for the area when attracting business and industry to locate here. Based on his presentation, the Council directed staff to explore creation of an authority and bring back an agreement for consideration. Over the last year, staff has met with representatives of Pennington County, Box Elder and Wall to discuss creation of an authority and draft an agreement. The representatives of the entities have drafted a proposed agreement and it has reached the point that the various communities need to decide if they would like to participate or not. Pennington County approved the resolution and executed the agreement on March 18th of this year. There are not currently any proposed projects which would take advantage of the authority, but it has been determined that having the authority in place prior to any requests for assistance is more advantageous than trying to rush an authority into existence should a project come forward and seek assistance. The primary purpose of the authority will be to serve as a guarantor on loans made to private entities by the state in order for the private entity to make improvements to rail facilities within the authority’s jurisdiction. The agreement appoints the Mayor as the City’s representative to the Authority with the Council President as the alternate representative. |
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Funding Source & Fiscal Impact (if applicable): |
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None. |
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Recommendation: |
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Action: Approve Notes: The rail authority can be created with or without Rapid City’s participation. In addition to the potential economic development advantages, it makes sense for the City to participate in the rail authority so we can have a voice in its administration and the projects it assists in. |
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Options: |
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If you approve the resolution Rapid City will become a member of the Rushmore Rail Authority. If you deny the resolution the City will not be part of the authority. |
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Attachments & Links: |
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