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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL – JANUARY 9, 2023 6 Brian Holmes, 1808 Chatham Avenue, explained he had not had the opportunity to meet the new Councilmembers and he welcomed them to the City Council. He discussed the proposed action under Item 10C – Rescinding the JDA Appointments. He provided the Council with background information as to his experience with the JDA. He reported he responded to an ad in 2019, interviewed and was selected by the City Council as the resident Chair to the JDA. He explained he did not have any affiliation with any of the Councilmembers prior to this time. He stated he has no political aspirations and he still does not. He indicated his only objective was to bring Arden Hills and Ramsey County together to find a solution for TCAAP. He indicated he had the opportunity to lead one meeting on February 4, 2019 and during this meeting concerns were raised and both parties agreed to meet again in two weeks. He stated the meeting was scheduled and Ramsey County never showed up. He reported Ramsey County has not shown up for the thirty plus meetings that have been scheduled over the past three years. He explained Items 10C and 10D were placed on the agenda in hopes of changing the JDA appointments. He understood the Council had the desire to make a change with the thinking new people could bring Ramsey County back to the table. He did not know that this would be the case. He supported what was best for the community. He believed the City should be acting with transparency which would include reaching out to people who are currently in a role to understand their perspective before objecting to them. He hoped the Council could keep up with the traditions of the past four years and that all discussions with Ramsey County be held at the JDA meetings in order to allow the public to attend, learn and evaluate tradeoffs being made for themselves. Donna Wiemann, 1406 Arden View Drive, noted there were five motions that were sent to the Mayor regarding assignments. She explained one was to temporarily suspend the Mayor’s duties. She stated she strongly disagreed with this. She understood another motion would be to establish an Acting Mayor. She questioned why a motion was being made to have Gregg Larson assigned to the JDA. She understood there was also a motion to remove Brian Holmes and Mayor Grant from the JDA. She indicated Gregg Larson was defeated in the recent election and choosing him as a resident representative to the JDA was inappropriate. She recommended a more neutral candidate be chosen. She requested the City Council work together on all of the issues that face the community. She stated she did not want to see the Council working individually to get what they want but rather encouraged the Council to work together for the betterment of the community. Jordan Luhmann, 1612 Oak Avenue, stated he has lived in Arden Hills for the past 15 years. He thanked the Council for its time and for hearing the concerns of the public. He explained after hearing about Tom Fabel’s letter to Mayor Grant, he emailed Tom on Friday morning. He read the email he sent to Tom which stated when he voted, he purposely selected some incumbents and some new members from the Advance Arden Hills ticket. He reported Tom Fabel’s letter to the Mayor stated the motions are necessary to fulfill the intent of the voters of Arden Hills. He argued that the result of the election reflects his intent as well as others. He was curious as to how these decisions would impact the Council. He stated he never heard back from Tom Fabel on Friday, which led him to send an email to all of the Councilmembers today. He explained within two hours he had received responses from Mayor Grant and Councilmember Holden, but he has still not heard back from any of the three new Councilmembers. He found it ironic that the incumbents got back to him, while the new Councilmembers, who promised more transparency and that they would listen to the residents of Arden Hills, were silent. He indicated he voted for Emily Rousseau and Tena Monson. He feared if they went along with the spirit of Tom’s letter and significantly limited Mayor Grant’s responsibilities, even though he won the election, he would be