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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION — OCTOBER 15, 2024 8 Mayor Grant said that Councilmember Holden has said she is not available due to a surgery that needs to take place so that's not an option. Councilmember Monson said if we can't schedule the work sessions to have the discussions in a timely manner, she would prefer the two JDA representatives negotiate with Bob Lux and then come back to the Council with that information. She would rather do the work sessions but she believes they have to be now. She thinks time is of the essence. Councilmember Holden asked how time is of the essence within two weeks when the County and the Developer don't even have an agreement yet. Stacie Kvilvang said they are negotiating. Councilmember Holden said yes, they are negotiating but that could take another six months. Stacie Kvilvang doesn't think it will be six months. They are going back and forth between their legal departments. The big things Bob Lux wants to know the planning fees. That's non- negotiable at this point, the $1 million was decided. The civic site is the other big one. If Council wishes to keep that or not. It is in there right now and if Council chooses to remove it later, that is another discussion, but for right now we have it. Councilmember Holden said the problem with the civic center was all the strings that were going to be attached. The negotiators need to know that. There was a requirement for a YMCA and it had to be built to look a certain way. Stacie Kvilvang the YMCA is not a requirement and there was not that it had certain aesthetic standards. It is the City's civic space. If the City decided not to keep it there was a buy-back option because the County was giving that to the City for $1. Mayor Grant said that was taken out. In the Term Sheet there was nothing saying the developer gets it back. Councilmember Holden said that's because he only gave us 2 years to build something and we're just bonding for the water. Stacie Kvilvang said the essence is if the City wants to keep it. Is it important and what does that look like. Mayor Grant remembers there were strings attached and he didn't sign the MOU. Then in 2022 the MOU is created and it's referenced in the Term Sheet. There was nothing saying the developer gets it back if it's not used. Councilmember Monson supports holding the civic space. The exact use doesn't need to be decided today. She supports keeping that in there and reviewing the options in the agreement and make sure it looks good, doesn't have strings and we'll know the timeline so we can figure out what to do with it. Mayor Grant he thinks an inquiry to the City Attorney about whether it can be held by the EDA, instead of the City.