Posted: 11/5/03

Council OKís preliminary letter of intent with Polaris

Alice Pickering
Wyoming Area Reporter

At Mondayís meeting, Wyoming City Council granted preliminary approval to a letter of intent between Wyoming and Polaris Industries, Inc. The decision was important because Tuesday, county and city officials and legal council met with Polaris representatives to settle on the final form of the letter related to the purchase price of the cityís wastewater treatment site in Wyoming Township.

Chris Eng, Chisago County HRA, City Administrator Dennis Coryell and City Attorney Tom Miller met with Polaris.

The city is counting on the sale of the wastewater treatment site to finance its portion of the cost to buy into the regional wastewater treatment center. The $9.76 million for the city to hook-up to the regional sewer system assumes that Stacy is not part of the wastewater treatment system, therefore a higher price prevails.

All indications are that Stacy plans to become part of the system, so the amount needed by the city will be somewhat less.

Miller emphasized that the letter given to council members is a draft of the letter of intent. While it includes many more items than usual, it is not as complete as a development agreement or a purchase agreement. Coryell said Polaris wanted many things in the letter that typically are not included such as, who pays for an environmental work sheet. Terms will be solidified at the meeting.

Council members said they want to be certain they do not allow the city to enter into an agreement which will put city residents at risk.

The letter of intent signals to Polaris the city is set on going forward with the deal.

Monday questions

The question Monday was whether or not council would give preliminary approval to the draft and authorize Mayor Vern Haag and Coryell to sign it on Tuesday, providing there is agreement about the terms and staff recommendation.

Council member Martin English asked why the exact purchase price of the land was not stated in the draft. He said the price for the property, $6.9 million, is ìquite a bit below what is required to hook up to the wastewater treatment system.î

He said he wants to be certain that the city receives an amount at least equal to what it will cost for the city to hook-up to the sewer project and thought sources of the funds should be more specific.

Miller said the numbers used in the draft had been given to him by the county and city. He said that while the numbers balance, all the money might not come in at the same time. He acknowledged timing may be an issue for this project.

Coryell explained that the purchase price was reduced somewhat as an incentive for Polaris to locate in Wyoming. He said grants will be used to buy down the purchase price of the land for Polaris, to make the land costs competitive with other sites.

It is anticipated that money from a number of grants will help provide the funds to pay for cityís costs associated with hooking up to the treatment system.

Money must be found to serve the site with pipe for water and sewer, relocation of CR-84, utilities on site and to dredge the ponds.

English said he wanted to see how the costs are split and how the city is paying for improvements it must make. He summed up the discussion by saying that about $2.8 million is a subsidy to Polaris to locate in the city.

Coryell agreed.

The entire council wants to be certain there is no financial risk to the city in the development agreement.

Council member Lynn Koalska said ìI appreciate Martinîs comments.î She added that she can envision the city being at risk in this deal only if there is no further development in southern Chisago County.

Miller agreed to be vigilant and will look for what may be differences in what is being proposed by the city and by Polaris.

Discussion lasted about an hour and at its end, council unanimously voted to accept the preliminary letter of intent with Polaris, based upon Millerís legal advice and administrative approval.

This authorizes Haag and Coryell to sign the documents. Miller wants to be certain the spirit of intent is communicated and promised if there are any questions at all, they could/would be addressed in a special meeting.

At the meeting Tuesday, Coryell agreed to review the sources of funds and uses of funds with Polaris negotiators.

There is also a meeting 3 p.m. today (Thursday) at Governor Pawlentyís office in St. Paul relative to the agreement between Polaris and the City of Wyoming.

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