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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — DECEMBER 19, 2022 4 Councilmember Radziej like the idea of getting thank you letters or recognition in the newsletter. Councilmember Holmes felt they should include people like coaches and Planning Commission members. Ms. Hinton agreed. She discussed getting reflective vests for volunteers that are working in the parks, with "Arden Hills Volunteer" on them for regular volunteers. Ms. Hinton noted the PTRC had come up with a list of possible names for the new Parkshore Trail with Fitness Park and Trail, and Round Lake Fitness Park and Trail getting the most votes from the committee. They would also like to officially name Triangle Park as a park to be able to put it on the list of parks with chess/checkerboard as an amenity. Councilmembers Holden and Holmes agreed with the idea of making it an official park. Mayor Grant requested the PTRC bring the planting plan back to the Council in February. Council recessed at 5:56 p.m. and returned at 6:10 p.m. B. Winter Averaging Discussion Finance Director Bauman stated that winter averaging is a practice by which water use during the winter months is used to determine maximum sewer charges for the remaining months so as not to include outdoor use such as irrigation. The city looks at the at the customer's water consumption during the months of January, February and March in determining the winter average. In Minnesota, many residents may be away from their home for extended periods of time during the first quarter of the year, which will distort the sewer consumption that will occur over the remaining quarters of the year. This is one of the reasons we have a 9,000 gallon minimum winter average amount per quarter. When Ehlers completed our rate study back in 2018, they had anticipated the City using a 15,000 gallon minimum for winter averaging. After reviewing available information and usage throughout the City, it was determined that 9,000 gallons was a better fit for our community. Finance Director Bauman gave a several examples of how the averaging works, as explained in the staff memo. She noted that in Little Canada residents are always billed a minimum of 7,000 per quarter, even during the winter quarter. The winter quarter sewer usage is the ceiling for the year (minimum of 7,000 gallons). Shoreview residents are always billed a minimum of 5,000 per quarter, even during the winter quarter. The winter quarter usage is used for the rest of the year (minimum of 5,000 gallons). For properties with no information (new or sold), winter average is set at 10,000 gallons. New Brighton's winter average minimum is set at 8,000 per quarter. For properties with no information (new or sold), the winter average could be set at 15,000 or 25,000 gallons depending on the situation. Vadnais Heights residents are always billed a minimum of 6,000 gallons, even during the winter quarter. Winter average is only applied during the 3rd quarter. For properties with no information (new or sold), winter average is set at 18,000 gallons. Finance Director Bauman said they can't do something special for one or two people in the city, and it wasn't fair to townhomes to set a minimum usage as they could always be paying for more than they use. An option would be to install an irrigation meter, but council was not receptive to