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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION – SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 <br /> 6 <br /> <br /> <br />Councilmember McClung felt other local cities have their own departments and couldn’t <br />imagine any other city would want to join our district. <br /> <br />D. Work Session Discussion <br /> <br />Councilmember Holden wondered if the number of work session items could be balanced more <br />from meeting to meeting. She would be open to more but shorter work sessions. She also <br />suggested possibly not having the first regular meetings in January, February and March. <br /> <br />Mayor Grant commented that the organizational meeting in January could be combined with the <br />second meeting. <br /> <br />Councilmember McClung said he was in favor of one regular meeting the first three months of <br />the year. <br /> <br />Councilmember Holden said they used to do the organizational meeting in December. <br /> <br />Mayor Grant directed staff to combine the organizational meeting with December or January’s <br />second meeting, and staff could potentially cancel the first meetings in January, February and <br />March. <br /> <br />E. Public Comments Discussion <br /> <br />Councilmember Holden said if they are voting on something with a deadline why would a <br />resident want to stand up to speak to Council when they would assume Councilmember’s mi nds <br />would already be made up. <br /> <br />Councilmember McClung said he was in favor of constraining time for comments, possibly put <br />public comments at the end of the meeting, but people should be able to talk. <br /> <br />Councilmember Holden suggested they do a test period. <br /> <br />Mayor Grant reported that he talked to the City Attorney and he acknowledged that other cities <br />councils do public comments differently and they were free to change, but suggested field-testing <br />changes for a period of time. It would be up to the Council to decide what parameters they’d like. <br /> <br />Councilmember Holden said she is in favor of the City Attorney suggesting parameters to be <br />discussed. She suggested a six-month test run. <br /> <br />City Administrator Perrault said he will work with the City Attorney and Mayor to revise the <br />agenda notation for public comments. <br /> <br />Mayor Grant suggested he send an email to Council with the changes and they can start the trial <br />with the first meeting of October.