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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2.d. Donation PolicyCITY OF ROSEMOUNT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR ACTION COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING DATE: November 14, 2001 AGENDA ITEM: Donation Policy AGENDA SECTION: PREPARED BY: Jeff May, Finance Director AGENDA r, ATTACHMENTS: Proposed Donation Policy, Memo from City APPROVED BY: Attorney For your discussion this evening is the City's Donation Policy. This policy was originally put into place in 1991. Staff would like to discuss amending this policy to reflect current, updated Minnesota statutes at the advice or our City Attorney. At this point in time the City Attorney has not reviewed this revised policy because of timing issues. If you are accepting of the revised policy it will be forwarded on to the City Attorney for his review and brought back for your approval at the December 4th or December 18 Council meeting. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Discussion only. COUNCIL ACTION: accepted by motion with a simple majority. If the Council were to not accept a gift or donation whatever it may be, they would have to direct staff to return that gift or donation to the individual or organization as soon as possible. e. After acceptance by the City Council, donated funds that are not designated to a specific purpose or department shall be placed in a generic donation revenue account that becomes miscellaneous revenue of the City in that specific year. f. All gifts and donations become City property under the complete jurisdiction of the City Council and any unused balance of designated funds from a program that has been completed, cancelled, etc., shall become part of the donation account of the receiving department. g. Recognition shall be given to the individuals or groups providing gifts and don_ ations to the City, unless otherwise stipulated by the donor. h. The gift or donation must meet City criteria in order to be accepted. (See following) CRITERIA a. The gift or donation must have a purpose consistent with those of the City. b. The gift or donation must be offered by a source acceptable to the City. c. All designated donations of funds shall be utilized in accordance with the accompanying designation. d. The gift or donation shall not result in ongoing costs that the City Council would be unwilling to fund when the gift or donation funds are exhausted, unless specific authorization to the contrary is given by the City Council at the time the gift or donation is accepted. If this type of upfront authorization is not given, sufficient gifts or donations to meet all anticipated staff and material costs need to be in hand before City commitment is made to personnel and /or materials. e. The gift or donation shall not bring undesirable or hidden costs to the City. f. The gift or donation shall not be inappropriate or harmful to the residents of the City. g. The acceptance of a gift or donation shall not imply City endorsement of any product or service. h. The gift or donation shall not be in conflict with any provision of federal, state or municipal law. . PROCEDURES — EXPENDITURE a. When donations are received, a special donation account will receive the funds and the applicable department will be responsible for the future expenditures from that account. b. After the actual expenditure is made, staff will bring to the Council a form (attached) that will amend both the revenue and expenditure budgets by the amount of the donation received. Because amending the budget needs to be done by resolution, the form that the Council approves allows for timely handling of donations while the actual resolution approving all of the budget amendments will be done on a quarterly basis. DONATION REVENUE WORKSHEET RECEIPT OF DONATION Donation Received On: Amount Received: $ Purpose of Donation: Account # for Donation: (Must be Liability # Assigned for Each Individual Department) EXPENDITURE OF DONATION Amount to be Spent:$ To be Spent from Account #: (Must be Expenditure # Corresponding to Individual Department) Purpose of Expenditure: AMENDMENT OF BUDGETS Amend Donation Revenue Account #101 - 36230 -00 -000:$ Amend Expenditure Account # :$ (The Two Dollar Amounts Must be the Same) GENERAL JOURNAL ENTRY TO ADJUST DONATION LIABILITY # Debit: (Donation Liability #) $ Credit: 101 -36230-00-000 $ Journal entry to reduce deferred donation revenue account and increase donation revenue account to actual per City Council action on: r- G H A R T E R E D September 25, 2001 Mr. Tom Burt City Administrator City of Rosemount 2875 145' St. W. Rosemount, MN 55068 470 Pillsbury Center 200 South Sixth Street Minneapolis MN 55402 (612) 337 -9300 telephone (612) 337 -9310 fax hEtp://%% RE: Acceptance of Private Donations CHARLES L. LEFEVERE Attorney at Law Direct Dial (612) 337 -9215 email: clefevere @kennedy- graven.com SEP 2 0 2001 Dear Tom: You have asked for my general comments on the acceptance by the City of private donations. I have also reviewed the City's donation policy, which was forwarded to me by Jeff May. Minnesota law authorizes the acceptance of gifts by cities in Minnesota Statutes, Sections 465.03 and 465.04, which provide as follows: 465.03 Gifts to municipalities. Any city, county, school district or town may accept a grant or devise of real or personal property and maintain such property for the benefit of its citizens in accordance with the terms prescribed by the doii g lierelr� s hall or. Nothin .t ^.^ ��u.. ai:...,,..zc such acceptance or use for religious or sectarian purposes. Every such acceptance shall be by resolution of the governing body adopted by a two thirds majority of its members expressing such terms in full [underlining added] 465.04 Acceptance of gifts. Cities of the second, third, or fourth class, having at any time a market value of not more than $41,000,000, exclusive of money and credits, as officially equalized by the commissioner of revenue, either under home rule charter or under the laws of this state, in addition to all other powers possessed by them, hereby are authorized and empowered to receive and accept gifis and donations for the use and benefit of such cities and the inhabitants thereof upon terms and conditions to be approved by the govemina bodies of such cities and such cities CLL- 203501 v l RS215 -1 Mr. Tom Burt September 25, 2001 Page 2 of 3 are authorized to comply with and perform such terms and conditions, which may include payment to the donor or donors of interest on the value of the gift at not exceeding five percent per annum payable annually or semiannually, during the remainder of the natural life or lives of such donor or donors. [underlining added] Section 465.03 relates specifically to real or personal property (i.e. not cash). It would seem that acceptance of real or personal property under the authority of this section requires the City Council to accept it by a resolution adopted by a two- thirds vote of the Council. For reasons that I do not understand, Section 465.04 does not require a resolution or a two thirds vote and is not specific as to the type of property that cities may accept as gifts. Therefore, under Section 465.04, arguably a city could receive a gift of real or personal property without a resolution adopted by a two- thirds vote of the council. However, because the receipt of tangible property and real estate may be complicated and expose the City to costs to maintain and preserve the property, it is probably advisable to have the City Council accept such a donation by resolution adopted by a two- thirds vote, particularly if there are terms or "strings" attached to the donation. Therefore, I would recommend that in the case of donations other than cash, the City Council adopt a resolution accepting the donation. Apart from the legal requirements, it may be a good idea to have such a formal and public acceptance of such gifts to acknowledge the generosity of the donor. Cash may be accepted by the City under Section 465.04. As noted above, no resolution or extraordinary majority is required. However, it does require that the City Council act to approve any "terms or conditions" attached to the gift. If no strings are attached to the gift of cash, and the use of the cash is not limited by the donor in any way, I believe that the donation may be accepted without action by the City Council. The only reason why the City Council might wish not to authorize staff to accept such contributions as a routine matter is the possibility that the City may find that it has accepted donations from individuals or organizations where such acceptance is politically embarrassing. Apart from this Political question, it seems to me that the City could authorize staff to receive all gifts of cash � L r �4� 0 -Mered �iitho t con�:i*io(is as iv the use oftl' Cuii:. In some cases, cash is contributed with strings or conditions attached. I would recommend that such "terms and conditions" be approved by the City Council as required by Section 465.04. However, if the City Council wishes to do so, I see no reason why the Council could not adopt a Policy "pre- authorizing" acceptance of cash donations subject to stated limitations. For example, the City Council might authorize the receipt of cash contributions (possibly with a limitation of a stated number of dollars, above which City Council authorization would be required) for such stated purposes as DARE, Leprechaun Days, specified police department equipment such as Kevlar vests, specified fire department equipment such a thermal imaging devices, and the like. The current donation policy of the City does not address these issues, although it is implied that City employees are authorized to receive a donation. Therefore, I would recommend that the CLL- 203501 vl RS215 -1 I . Mr. Tom Burt September 25, 2001 Page 3 of 3 City Council consider amending its donation policy, or adopting another policy, to address the procedures for receipt of gifts by the City. Please give me a call if you have any questions. Very truly yours, Charles L. LeFevere CLL:lh CLL- 203501v1 RS215 -1 November 19, 1991 CITY OF ROSEMOUNT POLICY TITLE POLICY NUMBER PROPOSED BY DATE APPROVED BY CITY COUNCIL DONATION.POLICY F - 2 ADMINISTRATION NOVEMBER 19, 1991 PURPOSE The purpose of this policy will be to establish specific guidelines for the handling of funds donated to the City of Rosemount. During - each year, residents, civic organizations, etc., donate funds to the City of Rosemount. These funds are sometimes given for a specific purpose (i.e.:park equipment, D.A.R.E.) and other times the funds are donated without stipulation. The following procedure outlines the course of action that should be followed when such funds are received by the City. PROCEDURE A. City employees, when receiving a donation should attempt to have the contribution designated to a specific purpose, specific activity, a specific piece of equipment, and /or a specific program, etc. B. Documentation of such designation must accompany the donation. Without such documentation, the donatiot.i may not be carried over to the next fiscal year and therefore may be lost. The documentation should be in the form of a memo or letter on the organizations letterhead if available. C. When designated, the donation should be placed in the designated account established for the specified purpose such as D.A.R.E., parks equipment, etc. (Utilization of designated accounts allows for the long term use of these special resources.) D. Donated funds which are not designated to a specific purpose shall be placed in a generic donation revenue account. E. A donation committee, consisting of the Mayor, City Administrator and Finance Director shall meet in April and October, if necessary, to review the status of the undesignated donation account and recommend expenditures to the City Council for their approval. F. Department heads shall submit a request for funds within the undesignated donation account to the Finance Director two weeks prior to each Donation Committee Meeting. This will only be necessary if funds are available for distribution. G. The Donation Committee will make recommendations as to the most appropriate uses of the undesignated donation funds. H. All designated donation funds shall be utilized in accordance with the accompanying designation. I. Unused funds within the General Fund Undesignated Donation account will not be carried forward to the following year. . J. Donations are not to be solicited by any employee of the City of Rosemount. However, when requested, employees are available to work with citizens, organizations, etc., on such efforts. K. Any unused balance of funds from a program that has been completed,,cancelled, etc., shall become part of the undesignated donation account distributed by the Donation Committee per City Council approval. L. Non - monetary donations (land, equipment) shall be reviewed by the Donation Committee, who will make recommendations to the City Council on the appropriate use of such donations. BUDGETING PROCEDURE Handling of Undesignated Donation: I. If donations received will be spent in same year a. When the donation is received: 1) Debit - Cash (10100) Credit - Donation Revenue (36230) b. When making the expenditure: 1) Go to council to amend both Revenue and Expenditure budgets by the amount of donation received 2) Make expenditure out of budget account number that was amended Debit - Expenditure Account Credit - Cash (10100) II. If donations received in one year will be spent in a following year a. When the donation is received: 1) Debit - Cash (10100) Credit - Deferred Revenue (222_) b. When making the expenditure: 1) Go to council to amend both Revenue and Expenditure budgets by the amount of the expenditure from the Deferred Revenue for the donation 2) Make expenditure out of budget account number that was amended Debit - Expenditure Account Credit Cash (10100) Debit - Deferred Revenue ;(previously set up) Credit - Donation Revenue (36230) Creating NeighbAoods of Merit Mayor Cathy Busho City Council Members Rosemount City Hall Rosemount, Minnesota RE: Contractor Property Developers Company (CPDC) Donations Dear Mayor Busho and Council Members: Recently, discussions have been made about the donation we made to the City of Rosemount for the beautification and revitalization of downtown Rosemount. Since questions were raised about our motives that we believe were stated inaccurately, we would like to set the record straight. CPDC as a wholly owned subsidiary of Scherer Bros. Lumber has developed a philosophy that really began when we started planning Liberty on the Lake in Stillwater. We wanted to build residential communities that were different than the typical suburban neighborhood. We wanted to build places of interest, create real community involvement, have neighbors know neighbors, be active in civic and community events, do what we call "on the street" building of having neighbors participating with neighbors in planned events and social activities. Our belief has been that if we actively participate in building real social involvement within our own neighborhoods, we would tear down the walls of social economic barriers that so often exist within communities where there is significant difference in housing types and perceived values. I have built and developed neighborhoods where values were perceived rich on one side and perceived poorer on the other, and believe me, we created one heck of a mess for our homeowner association and frankly I believe ultimately effected property values for our consumers but we didn't create an overall community that was perceived as a great place to live and raise a family. M Now, I don't claim to know all the answers by any stretch of the imagination. But I do know that what we are building at Liberty and beginning in Evermoor makes real sense. We have on our payroll a "community developer director" whose full time job is planning monthly social events and writing our community newsletter (copies of which I've enclosed for your review). Her job is to find people of common interest and get them together to meet others of common interest and the next thing you know, we have gar d clubs, walking clubs, dinner clubs, football teams, baseball teams, golfing team CPDC Corporate fices: The Quadrant Building - 7100 Northland Circle - Suite 108 - Minneapolis, MN 55428 phone: (763)971 -0477 - fax: (763)971 -0576 - email: cpdc@schererbro baby sitting point systems, parades, floats, parties, celebrations, charitable clubs, etc. etc. etc._ It's _absolutely _amazing _how important this social building becomes. _It's as _ though __ we have reached out and organized whole groups of people who used to live at the end of a cul -de -sac street and only vaguely knew their neighbors and helped them to learn to live a life that many of us had forgotten how to do years ago. It really is amazing how happy these people really are. We don't believe its enough to create physical improvements within our subdivisions, we believe it's important to publicly demonstrate our commitment to improvements that benefit the entire City. Therefore, it's been our practice to make contributions of different kinds for the benefit of all. We contribute to a number of local fund raising efforts for kids that include things like elementary school functions, city park building efforts, contributions to improving little league ballparks, high school benefits, City parades, etc. etc. We recognize that we really are no different when developing master planned communities than any business might be that is living in the City. Everyone benefits from improving the quality of life. In fact we probably feel more compelled than most industries do because we have such a strong interest in social community building efforts. When we were organizing our grand opening gala at Evermoor, we obtained significant contributions from vendors, trades and suppliers that do work for us. Part of their contribution to us was in turn presented to the City for the City's use, as they wanted. There is no merit to any idea that CPDC made our donation to the City with a quid pro quoin mind. We just don't do business that way and if some consultant represented to the City that this was our intention, we would certainly like to know because they would no longer be associated with our firm in any capacity. We are grateful for the opportunity to be developing in your City. We will continue to make contributions in the future to good causes that meet with our objectives of improving the quality of life for all residents. The beatification and revitalization of your downtown is certainly one of those benefits for all to enjoy. If you have any concerns or questions, please feel free to call me direct at 763 - 971 -0477. Yours truly, Homer H. Tompkins III President