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ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 15, 2024 4 Mayor Grant explained the Council had time to draft priorities for the 2026 bonding request. He questioned how the Council wanted to proceed. Councilmember Rousseau suggested the Council discuss its priorities at a future worksession. She indicated the Council could then make a decision to branch off and target several issues. Councilmember Holden commented she was shocked when the trail project came up and Mr. Swearingen had only put a few slides together. She explained she then spent three days with Mr. Swearingen putting together a presentation two days before the legislative bus came. She indicated the Council needs to have plans in place and noted she has explained bonding to Mr. Perrault over the years. She also stated the legislature likes a city's mayor to present requests. Mayor Grant agreed the legislature does appreciate seeing mayors, especially returning mayors. Councilmember Holden discussed how the Mayor has built up trust with legislators over the years. Mayor Grant commented in his case he has been around for a decade and he has answers to questions. Councilmember Monson thanked Councilmember Holden for helping staff prepare for the bond hearing. She believed it would be appropriate for the Council to have a list of items for staff to work on and Councilmembers assigned to each item. She explained this would provide staff with more clear direction on the Council's bonding priorities. She indicated the difficulty with this Council was that Councilmember Holden had a lot of experience in working with the legislature, while there were newer members of the Council that had expertise and connections in certain areas. She was of the opinion the Council was not organized enough this year and she would like this to improve going forward. She supported the Council further reviewing the MMB process. Mayor Grant stated the Council would have to decide on what requests it wants to move forward versus bringing a grocery list forward. Councilmember Fabel commented it may benefit the Council to speak with a legislator who can speak about legislative responses to bonding requests. Councilmember Holden reported the legislature announces their priorities at the beginning of each session. She explained the City has received $4 million in funding for utilities in the past 10 years. She indicated water quality and I&I have been very important to the legislature due to the impact both have on the environment. She wanted to make sure if the City was going through this exercise that the City would be receiving funding. She feared having all members of the Council going to testify would not be as effective as having the Mayor testify. Councilmember Rousseau stated Senator Marty mentioned Shoreview was interested in receiving an update on the legislative session. She anticipated Senator Marty could provide a similar update to Arden Hills and questions could be asked at that time. Councilmember Holden reported legislators have always been invited to provide the Council with an update and she was uncertain why they did not address the Council in 2023.