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<br />Councilmember Axberg provided the EDC with an update from the City Council. She reported the <br />Council held a Truth in Taxation hearing on Tuesday, December 6. She explained the Council <br />would be approving the 2023 budget and tax levy on Tuesday, December 13. She commented on <br />how the City was redistricted and noted the new senators and representatives that would be <br />representing New Brighton in the coming year. <br />VI. Business Items <br />1. Ice Castles 2023 Partnership Discussion <br />Gozola stated with Ice Castles will be coming back into town this year, staff requested their <br />local managers make time to meet with the EDC to educate us on how the event will operate <br />this year, and how they envision Ice Castles and local businesses can benefit from one <br />another over the winter months. In the past, local businesses have had both positive and <br />negative experiences when trying to benefit from Ice Castles winter operation, and we’d like <br />to avoid/mitigate against further negative outcomes moving forward. Per Brady Murphy of <br />Ice Castles, “We have a few ideas on our end how we can engage with our partners in New <br />Brighton not just this year, but years to come.” EDC members are asked to bring their own <br />hopes and ideas to the meeting on how to best partner with Ice Castles, and be ready to have <br />a dialogue with the event’s managers. Ideally the outcomes of this discussion will be <br />agreeable and concrete ways both sides can work together for win-win outcomes. <br />Brady Murphy, Ice Castles representative, thanked the EDC for allowing him to attend this <br />meeting. He explained he would be managing the Ice Castles event this year. He updated the <br />EDC on what would be new this year, which included an ice bar and sled hill. He stated Ice <br />Castles wants to continue to build on the event each year. He commented further on how Ice <br />Castles wants to partner with the City of New Brighton. <br />Suzette Watson, Ice Castles representative, introduced herself to the EDC and noted she <br />would be the assistant manager for the Ice Castles event this year. She discussed how the ice <br />castle layout would be different each season in order to incentivize people to visit each and <br />every year. She explained free tickets would be available for partnered organizations and <br />these tickets could be used at the organizations discretion. She reported Ice Castles would <br />like to work with the local schools in order to provide tickets to students through a reading <br />program. <br />Discussion included: <br />• The timeline for the ice castle construction and number of weeks the castle would be in <br />operation was reviewed. <br />• The group discussed how Ice Castles defined and viewed partnered organizations, along <br />with the benefits that would be offered to these partners. <br />• The Commission requested further information regarding the plans for the ice bar. <br />• The Commission asked if the Ice Castles would be offering onsite food and drink this year. <br />Mr. Murphy reported the Ice Castles would be bringing in food trucks from the Greater <br />Minneapolis/St. Paul area.