04-22-24-R - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL — APRIL 8, 2024 11 agreed to work on. She noted this was a timely issue that should be addressed prior to the June budget discussions. She believed the 5:30 p.m. worksession meeting time was not working. She supported the Council holding its worksession meetings at 5:00 p.m. Councilmember Holden indicated she would not object going back to 5:00 p.m. but noted when the Councilmembers were elected, the third Monday of the month meetings were to be held at 5:00 p.m. and the other two meetings were to begin at 7:00 p.m. She stated due to personal reasons, she could not be at meetings prior to 5:00 p.m. She hoped the Council would keep meetings times so that all members could attend. She understood Councilmembers wanted to spend more time with their families and noted this could be accomplished by spreading out the committee appointments. She believed it would be complicated to have the Council rating items by priority at each worksession meeting. Councilmember Monson stated she generally felt neutral about the agenda setting policy until recently when it became clear that the Council's priorities were not clear and the Council did not hold a strategic goal setting meeting. She commented on how challenging it was to call a special Council worksession for April 15 and therefore she did not believe the current agenda setting policy was working. She indicated she was willing to give this a go and could rely on the Mayor during worksessions to set aside several minutes at the end of each meeting to discuss upcoming priorities. Councilmember Fabel reported he was comfortable with the proposal. Mayor Grant indicated he was not comfortable with the proposal. He believed the list was long now and would be knocked off shortly. He stated if the Council wanted to get through these items, he did not believe specific procedures had to be put in place, rather the items had to be discussed in a concise matter and the Council had to move on. He suggested before procedural changes are made, that the Council be allowed to work through items on April 15 and April 22 and after that time the list will narrow. Councilmember Holden stated back in November when the scheduling changes were made for the worksessions, she was told the changes were being made for staff. She believed adding worksessions would now be burdensome for staff. She indicated the strategic planning retreat was nixed because the Council was told these items could be addressed at regular worksessions. She questioned which items were a priority for the City versus a personal priority. She suggested some of the items be addressed by staff versus being further vetted by the Council. Mayor Grant reported the Old Snelling matter would not take long to discuss. He understood there were difficulties in getting to all the items. However, he was of the opinion the Council could get through all of the items without putting new policies in place. MOTION: Councilmember Monson moved and Councilmember Rousseau seconded a motion to approve the agenda setting policy as outlined in the memorandum from staff dated March 11, 2024. Councilmember Holden stated approving this policy would take any power away from the Mayor to set an agenda.