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ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 15, 2024 13 Mayor Grant stated it was unfortunate that the full Council could not be in attendance to discuss the last item on the agenda, but he understood Councilmember Holden was only available until 6:30 p.m. F. Proclamation Policy City Administrator Perrault stated in 2023, Council discussed creating a proclamation policy, and at the time it chose to wait on creating a policy. In the past, the Council has generally only considered proclamations regarding Public Works Week, Police Week, and Night to Unite. An additional proclamation regarding fair housing was passed last year. Should Council want to create a formal policy on proclamations it should discuss how they are brought forward, do all requested proclamations receive consideration, is there any type of discussion or vetting done by the entire Council prior to consideration, what happens if the entire Council is not supportive? Some possible direction is below: • Proclamations need to be brought forward for consideration by a City Councilmember for discussion at a worksession (this could conflict with how Council sets their agenda) • Proclamations need to have full Council support to be brought forward for approval Councilmember Fabel stated the Council recently observed how Minneapolis and St. Paul got into a long, heated and publicized debate on how to address the cease fire in Israel. He did not believe it would be helpful for Arden Hills to get into these discussions. On the other hand, he believed proclamations that addressed life in the city were fine for the Council to consider. Mayor Grant commented he liked the way the City handled proclamations. He discussed how he did not want to be receiving outrageously wrong proclamations that would then have to be publicized because the Council did not have a policy in place. He stated once the door was open and all groups were allowed to have their proclamation read, he questioned if this was the manner in which the Council wanted to proceed. In addition, he did not support the City getting into political proclamations. Councilmember Rousseau stated she was not interested in micromanaging this process. She indicated there does not appear to be an issue at this time. She reported as new Councilmembers come on, she recommended they be made aware of the legacy proclamations. Councilmember Monson explained generally this was not a problem. She did not believe the Council should have to spend time talking about proclamations that don't impact the City. She supported leaving proclamations as is and if a problem arises, the Council could address this matter again in the future. Councilmember Fabel commented he did not want to slam the door on future proclamations. Mayor Grant discussed how he has signed certificates recognizing certain individuals instead of offering a proclamation on behalf of the City. Councilmember Monson spoke to how doing more proclamations the less value they have. Mayor Grant stated the Council was in general agreement after talking about proclamations.