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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION – MARCH 10, 2025 18 <br /> <br />Councilmember Monson understands but the document reads like an issue has to go to the <br />Personnel Committee and she would like to have it explicitly say it can go straight to Council. <br /> <br />Councilmember Weber said a closed-door session could be used, just the same if there were an <br />issue with a City employee. <br /> <br />Mayor Grant said there was a highlighted section in one of the documents that said “Be kind.” <br />He thinks it was originally drafted for Council. There were norms before that, that as <br />Councilmembers we should speak for ourselves. There are exceptions. Sometimes he gets phone <br />calls and he has to speak on behalf of the City. He doesn’t do it all that often. He notices <br />sometimes people aren’t always speaking for themselves from the Council bench. <br /> <br />Councilmember Monson agrees. She thinks the norms are interesting but they don’t address all <br />of the issues that this Council has had over the last couple of years. She thinks we should split <br />them in terms of the discussion. She thinks the Committee and Commission Code of Conduct <br />specifically outlines that it doesn’t have to bypass Council and go to Personnel first, she is fine <br />with it. <br /> <br />Mayor Grant agrees the language of the Committee and Commission Code of Conduct. He <br />would like it kept in mind that it was originally drafted for Council. There should be a line in <br />there that people speak for themselves and not on behalf of the whole committee or Council. We <br />are all individuals. We have differing opinions but they are each our opinions. We need to respect <br />each other. Sometimes in committees that can be an issue. Council is basically a committee. <br /> <br />Councilmember Monson does not like the Personnel process for the Council. She doesn’t think <br />that is appropriate. She asked if Mayor Grant is saying that he wants this to apply to the City <br />Council, as well. <br /> <br />Mayor Grant said originally, that’s where we were going. <br /> <br />City Administrator Jagoe said at first glance, it reads like it is for the City Council. When you <br />look at the statements, it is for City Councilmembers who are interacting with an appointee. The <br />Norms of Council Behavior are for Council interacting with each other and with Staff, which is <br />what the resolution outlines. The Committee and Commission Code of Conduct, as drafted, is <br />Council interactions with Committee and Commission members and members’ interactions with <br />each other. <br /> <br />Mayor Grant said for historical context, some of the meetings at the start of 2023 were kind of <br />contentious. He thinks this Council has gelled a little more since then. That’s where we started <br />designing these for Council. Then there was the issue with a particular committee member. That <br />shifted the focus. <br /> <br />Councilmember Monson asked if Mayor Grant likes it and would like to go on Consent or <br />would he like to edit. <br /> <br />Mayor Grant thinks the item of people speaking for themselves should be added. <br /> <br />Councilmember Weber asked if he was saying the first item in the resolution should be added to <br />the Code of Conduct. The items states “Speak for only yourself, not for other Councilmembers.”