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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 22, 2024 7 Councilmember Monson stated she fully supported the proposed projects, noting the City would be making a great investment in its parks. She appreciated the State grant funding that would assist the City in making these projects possible. While she understood there would be a long- term maintenance cost, she supported the City taking advantage of the grant funding. Councilmember Rousseau questioned what timeline was to approve this project in order to secure grant funding. Ms. Tucker stated the opportunity for grant funding was not time sensitive. She indicated the City had time to further discuss the maintenance costs prior to approving the projects. Councilmember Rousseau requested Ms. Tucker provide the Council with an example of a plan that was utilized in another community. Ms. Tucker reported she had a number of natural resource management plans that could be provided to the Council that would provide cost estimates for maintenance as well as the type of information that would be provided at the start of the project. Councilmember Rousseau stated this would be beneficial information for the Council. Councilmember Holden indicated she really needed to know how much the maintenance cost would be for the City for the next 10 years. While she supported these projects moving forward, she also understood the City had other parks that needed maintenance as well. Councilmember Fabel stated these projects made a lot of sense. He appreciated the fact the City could make some great improvements to its parks through the assistance of professionals and State grant funding. He believed it would be in the City's best interest to properly maintain these parks once the initial work was done. Councilmember Rousseau commented the entire PTRC recommended the City Council move forward with these projects. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen explained he would work with staff from Great River Greening and provide Council with documentation on the long-term maintenance estimates. Mayor Grant adjourned the worksession at 6:54 p.m. Mayor Grant reconvened the worksession 8:00 p.m. C. Recycling Discussion City Administrator Perrault stated the City Council entered into a recycling contract with Republic Services in 2015, and since then the City has elected to exercise its right to renew the contract with the final renewal being exercised last year. The current contract is set to expire in April 2025. City Staff has engaged with Foth Infrastructure and Environment LLC to assist the City in its renewal process. Foth has a contract with Ramsey County to provide technical assistance to cities when it comes to garbage and recycling services. Foth is preparing a memo for the City Council to review regarding its options, the memo will be made available at the meeting.