Alexandria DARE program gets support

ALEXANDRIA — At its meeting Monday night, May 8, the Alexandria City Council accepted donations of $25 from the Zetetic Study Club and $125 from Ameriprise Financial.

The money will be used to offset any costs associated with the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program for young people.

Following are other items from the meeting that were not included in other council coverage.

The council is taking a look into its tax increment financing policy to see if TIF applications for senior housing and low-income housing could be separated out.

The council authorized city staff to talk about the idea with its TIF consultants and come back to the council with a recommendation.

TIF is an economic development tool cities use to encourage development in areas that would not otherwise be developed. With TIF, property taxes remain frozen for a specific period of time, depending on the type of TIF that's used, and the difference between the current property tax and the tax after development helps cover some of the development costs.

Once the TIF expires, the city benefits because the value of the property, and the taxes collected, go up.

Two people spoke at the public comment period at the start of the meeting.

Alexandria resident Alan Roebke said that "now is the time" to extend the Alexandria Airport runways to accommodate jets and passenger planes. "Let's get that airport modern," he told the council.

Bill Teschendorf, on behalf of the Downtown Merchants Association, thanked the council for issuing a special event permit to the association at its April 24 meeting for a first-ever “LegenDAIRY Family Fun on Sixth Avenue” event but he said the event was being canceled. There was a conflict with one of the main attractions, the Erickson Petting Zoo and pony rides. He said the DMA wanted to be proud of the event by offering a family fun day but that would not be the case without the zoo.

The council approved a request from Alexandria Police Chief Scott Kent to allow out-of-state travel for Detective Josh Whiting to attend a week-long training regarding Internet Crimes Against Children.

This event will be held May 22-26 in Appleton, Wisconsin.

The kind of cases that attendees will be learning about take coordination and a skill set through gathering of evidence through many platforms on the internet, according to Kent. He said the APD has been assisting the BCA with these types of cases and currently needs a detective to be fully trained.

The council authorized the mayor to sign an amendment to the master lease purchase agreement the city approved in October of 2021.

The agreement with NCL Government Capital financed the purchase of an aerial fire truck and the street department’s tractor and mower.

The council approved a retroactive amendment changing the end of the lease. The original agreement called for a $1 payment from NCL to the city. The change will automatically transfer the equipment to the city at the end of the lease to clear any liens once the final payment is made.