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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 15, 2023 2 information secret from the residents of Arden Hills and she'd like to know specifically the reasons why. Gregg Larson, 3377 N Snelling Avenue, stated there have been a number of instances in the recent past where agendas have been a point of contention at Council meetings because of a lack of prior agreement on specific agenda items, issues related to who establishes the agendas and what items are appropriate for Council consideration. He said according to the League of Minnesota Cities, administrative as well as legislative responsibility is the ultimate responsibility of the Council as a whole. With the exception of serving as the presiding officer at Council meetings, they Mayor's powers are no greater than any other councilmembers. He quoted from the Minnesota Mayor's Association handbook "The weak mayor has no extraordinary power to individually make administrative decisions for the city". Mr. Larson felt it was the Council, not the Mayor, that should be making decisions about regular meeting agendas. He added that the process the adapt for adding agenda items should be addressing applicability, prior discussion, notice, and support of a Council majority at a work session. 2. RESPONSE TO PUBLIC INQUIRIES A. Response to April 17 Work Session Public Comment City Administrator Perrault spoke in response to an April 17 question posed by Ms. Swanson, who asked the same questions tonight. He noted the 1,700 - 2,200 unit discussion was proposed by Councilmember Fabel and Commissioner Frethem agreed that would be a good range to look at. The rationale is the sentiment among the JDA advisory committee and the developer that the site can handle additional density beyond the 1,460, or at least be explored, and they should look at different scenarios of what that potentially looks like. They chose to look at a range of numbers and scenarios surrounding that. Councilmember Fabel added that a study is all that's being done, trying to understand how much the property can handle and what the city can handle economically and socially. Mayor Grant said the original AUAR contained two scenarios, the anticipated scenario was 1,500 or less. Council chose an arbitrary number of 2,500 or so if the number ever went to 1,501 or higher the AUAR wouldn't have to be redone. Councilmember Monson arrived at 5:11 p.m. 3. AGENDA ITEMS A. Arden Manor and Floral Park Improvements HR Green Regional Director Morast began reviewing his presentation of Arden Manor and Floral Parks. He gave a project overview of each park. He explained the process used to receive public input. Councilmember Monson stated she had worked with a resident and staff to reach people with English as a second language and felt we should have a policy with ways to get information to Spanish speakers.