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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 9, 2023 3 Councilmember Rousseau was also uncertain about the votes and if we could have more. She felt the levy was confusing for residents and thought the money should be more specified for what it was going to be used for. Mayor Grant thought North Oaks was more hesitant than indicated by staff. He noted the Truth in Taxation meeting would come in December when they would go through line items. He thought if it was a fire district they would still have to change the bylaws. He said just because you could have a fire district because the State changed the law, doesn't mean you should do it. The big rub was there was three fire fighters on the fire board. If they don't like the governance model the bylaws can change. If you become a fire district, how do you un-become one? What it State statute changes and limits what you can do? You're subject to the State statute changes that come down the road. They've been successful in the past 20 years with the bylaws. He also has concerns doing this in the midst of going to a full duty crew with six captains, and the cost of the new fire station. If Shoreview has trouble with bonding for the new fire station then each of the three cities could bond on their own. We now have the SAFER Grant. He suggested not moving ahead with the fire district but change the bylaws. Councilmember Holden wondered if there would be a Truth in Taxation meeting for fire items, her concern was not being able to go to the fire district to make requests like holding off on a fire truck for a year. The other issue she had with the fire district was if they had some left-over money and they want to pay down the fire station or put it aside for staffing they can't just buy down the debt. If they go to franchise fees it would be nice to say they're going to use the money to pay for the fire station, but if they go to a fire district the district has that taxing right, not the City. Councilmember Fabel said that anytime an issue would come before the fire district that would be the only issue that would be in front of them, they wouldn't have concern about roads or parks, so they could make a compelling case about why a truck or another Captain would be needed. The cases wouldn't be made in the context of what other financial obligations a municipality has. However, he was inclined to agree with the Mayor. Mayor Grant characterized the feedback as not moving forward with a fire district but to update the bylaws. B. TCAAP Planning Discussion (discussed as Item 3C) City Administrator Perrault said this was meant to be a planning discussion to give direction on how the Council would like to move items forward. The Joint Development Authority (JDA) formerly requested the City Council and County consider changes to the TRC and Comprehensive Plan to the 1,960 unit development scenario. His intent is not to discuss the actual density, but how and when the Council would like to review and consider changes. City Administrator Perrault stated the Council has discussed having a TCAAP visioning session where Council will talk through what is currently going on with TCAAP, what's been proposed and what they would like to see. City Administrator Perrault said the Council has discussed the possibility of a public engagement event run by the City. The JDA event is scheduled for November 1. Council may want to consider an event in-addition to this event.