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ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION — MARCH 11, 2024 6 City Administrator Perrault said ultimately the position as a City has been that if the development halts the assessments would fall to the property owner which is Ramsey County. So, the City shouldn't be put at financial risk if the development should cease to go forward or stop half way through, and they wouldn't be stuck holding the debt for those improvements. Mayor Grant has seen a number of iterations of the financials, as the JDA is working to solve portions of them, are the financial consultant's hours being billed to the JDA or the County? City Administrator Perrault said the consultant was the City's representative and her hours are being billed to the City. Mayor Grant said it's not surprising that Alatus comes across things, changes things, the City changes things and the consultant keeps massaging the numbers so the bills keep coming in. Councilmember Monson didn't agree with the whole concept that the Mayor thinks they're blowing money to assess the economic liability of a project, that is not what they're doing. She'd love to see what Ehlers was charged in all the years in the past if they're going to go down this route and he was going to start saying they're overspending on insuring that the economics of the City are what they are and however we assume it. They are trying not to put any undue risk on the City, and to say they're spending too much money on the financial advisor who will ensure they are doing just that, she didn't know what he was getting at but that's how she was interpreting it. Mayor Grant replied that was not what he was getting at. His comment was that they need to be cognizant and watch that because they have gone through multiple iterations. He wasn't saying it was a waste but something that needs to be watched. Councilmember Holden asked if what they were talking about was reimbursable by the JDA. City Administrator Perrault didn't believe it was. The recent iteration was looking at some of the horizontal infrastructure that was laid out that's required to go forward by the County using Kimley-Horn and Alatus' numbers. Councilmember Holden said Ehler's numbers used to be billed to the JDA. City Administrator Perrault said he could double check that but it was his understanding that all of her work was charged to the City and Bruce's work was charged to the County. Councilmember Rousseau was interested to know what they've been paying Ehlers. It had been made very clear to her that people want to be sure that this project has financials in a safe and secure place. Councilmember Holden said she didn't hear anyone say let's not run the numbers when they need to. Mayor Grant said there was a park planned on the signed agreement, was it still planned? City Administrator Perrault said the MOU park plan that was agreed to was still intended to be honored, but they could request revisions or relook at the terms.