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ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION - JANUARY 3, 2024 2 Council discussed issues in the past related to processes and how they have or have not come to agreement on items. Ms. Gourlay said it was about perceptions and how you're feeling about the discussion. What they seem to agree on the need to balance the meeting efficiency with making sure everyone's voice is heard and making sure the conversation is appropriate to the topic. They could talk about how to move on when all opinions have been voiced. If they feel like they're hearing the same thing and want to move on for efficiency sake, how does the Mayor know? Council discussed how side comments or underhanded remarks affect decorum. Ms. Gourlay said you're probably not listening well if there are side comments, and people will shut down if they're hearing things as attacks. That is a part of meeting decorum. It can be difficult if Councilmembers are speaking for long periods of time. So how do they balance making sure everyone has a voice? Maybe everyone says their initial thoughts and has longer to speak after that. Ms. Gourlay thought there was already a divide about how they were feeling about respect. She wondered if only some people were experiencing that or if it was a council -wide consideration. Council discussed past issues or events that they have felt contributed to feelings of disrespect or mistrust. Ms. Gourlay thought getting to a point of understanding that could be another piece of the code. And whatever code they come up with everyone has to be willing to go along with. She watched a video of a meeting but she didn't see much of this dynamic. Ms. Gourlay said there may be a need to address some of the past hurt in some way however, something that can be helpful is to look at places they've been more successful and see how they can take what is working and build on that. Council discussed teamwork and their perspectives on information sharing. Ms. Gourlay stated they're talking about Code of Conduct, but it really keeps coming back to this one issue. She asked what they needed to move forward. Council discussed better communication moving forward and past issues, also discussed looking forward not at the past when making decisions. Council discussed adding agenda items to formally report back to Council, such as, Committee/Commission updates. Ms. Gourlay said one thing they were talking about was committee reports and separating that from Council Comments. They also talked about agreeing to disagree about the past and not bring it up going forward. They talked about annual committee updates and sharing City goals. Ms. Gourlay commented that one of the things she's observing is that it's hard to get to consensus because what they're talking about keeps shifting.