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. . . ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL, APRIL ]2, ]999 6 Mayor Probst noted that Councilmember Larson would be in Washington D.C. at the end of the month, He suggested that if the transfer is still pending, Counci]member Larson and Administrator Fritsinger speak on behalf of the City of Arden Hills in order to expedite the land transfer process. E. Roseville Area High School Financial Request Mayor Probst stated that, on behalf ofthe City, he had received a request for funding assistance from the Roseville Area High School, The funds would be used to help host the 63rd Annual National Association of Student Councils Conference. Mr. Fritsinger explained that the Roseville Area High School is hoping to raise $320,000 to help fund the conference, The request had also been submitted to the City of Shore view and Ramsey County. It was not clear whether the request had been submitted to the City of Roseville. The City of Shoreview circulated the request to their City Council and has not taken any formal action on whether or not to participate in the request. Ramsey County has on their agenda a requested action to allocate a $6,000 contribution. The Assistant City Manager of Roseville indicated that he was aware of the activity, however, he was not aware of the funding request. Mayor Probst suggested waiting to take action on this request until it is known what, if any, funding dedications are made by the sister cities, If other cities support the request, it may be appropriate for the City of Arden Hills to consider supporting the request as well. He would be hesitant to offer support if the other cities are not supporting the request since Arden Hills is such a small portion of the High School, Because he is relatively new to the City Council, Councilmember Larson requested background information on how these types of requests have been dealt with in the past. He noted that there are many worthy activities to support and it is difficult to decide who to support and where to draw the line, Mayor Probst stated that he was aware ofthree examples of past funding requests. One request had been from Mounds View to support the activities of this sister city. The Council chose not to support this request. A modest contribution of $250 was made to the Healthy Youth Coalition. The City had also donated $2,000 to the Valentine Hills play structure because it functions as a community playground, Mayor Probst indicated that the City has struggled with these types of requests in the past and deals with them on a case-by-case basis, Councilmember Malone stated that the City has tended to be very stringent when it comes to these sort of requests, He agreed that there are many good causes to contribute to, however, the business of the City is to run the City, The taxpayers do not expect the City to be in the business of charity, Although saying no is difficult, saying yes to contribution requests on any sort of regular basis can create a snow ball affect.