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