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ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 14, 2024 8 Councilmember Holden said no. This doesn't require a public hearing but residents can make their comments at any time. She thinks it will be residents asking questions about how Council chose the individual amounts. She wants it to be clear that this is not up for consideration. Mayor Grant said we are building the fire station. That's true. Councilmember Holden said we need to lay it out. We're building the fire station. We chose to do bonding. We chose to use franchise fees. Mayor Grant said we can have residents come up during the public comment section at the beginning of the meeting but then they won't have the information. His recommendation would be to do it as a public hearing. Staff would give a full presentation. Then anyone at the meeting will have all the information and then it can be opened for a public hearing. Councilmember Holden would like to make sure residents aren't coming in thinking this is up in the air and their comment may impact if it's a yes or no. We are beyond that. Councilmember Fabel said if there is strong opinion against the use of franchise fees,the alternative is to put off the fire department decision for a year. Mayor Grant thinks the cities of Shoreview and North Oaks would be against that option. Councilmember Holden said we have a contractual agreement that it will be built in 2025. Councilmember Monson said there is also some state bonding that needs to be used, but she isn't certain by what date. Interim City Administrator Jagoe understands that the cities will need to show their matching funds at the time that the state dollars are issued. That's usually when the permit is issued. So,the state dollars come in and the three participating cities need to show their matching dollars. Mayor Grant said that's when we show the sources and uses. Interim City Administrator Jagoe confirmed. Mayor Grant said putting it off a year is not possible. He summarized that Mike Wilhelmi will bring back $435,000 in a similar format as presented tonight with three ways to reach that $435,000. Councilmember Holden said we have agreed to the $435,000 and 15-years and now we are just needing to figure out how we get there. Mayor Grant confirmed. Councilmember Monson said Council is in agreement, but she thought it would be helpful to give Mike Wilhelmi a target residential rate. Is there a cap we don't want to go above for the residential fee? She would be fine staying at $3.50 but wouldn't want to go higher.