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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — JUNE 9, 2025 2 events and programs. She outlined the information that would be collected on the form. She said having a formal policy gets the City and businesses on the same page regarding expectations. She asked Council to look at the sample brochure. It lists the recreation focused events that we currently hold and it estimates the attendance for the events. She outlined there are different levels of sponsorships. She created the draft policy based on the comments from the City Attorney. Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky said the policy outlines what types of businesses will be allowed to sponsor programs and events. Council has shared concerns in the past that a smokers group may want to sponsor something. The policy outlines that we have sole discretion on who we will allow to sponsor events. Councilmember Holden said the photos in the brochure should be more generic. She thinks the white print is hard to read. She thinks the Lions Community event should not be on there. They are non-profit. If we do that, we'd have to include the church that does a Halloween party and Ribfest. We need to stick to City events. She wondered if these sponsorships are tax deductible. She thinks cannabis should be included in the list of who can't sponsor events. She noted the item that said there would be publicity through the city's newsletter or website. She asked if that is just a thank you. She thinks publicity should be explicitly outlined. Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky assumes that there would be a regular feature in the newsletter that will outline sponsorships. Councilmember Holden thought we should use job titles, rather that Staff names if we are producing print copies of the brochure. Councilmember Rousseau said she likes the simplicity of this. She is fine with there being a name attached, so people will know who to reach out to. She asked if a business wanted to sponsor with frisbees, soccer balls or water bottles, what would the process look like? Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky said she originally had a blank space for the business to write in what they wanted to sponsor. She removed that because she didn't want to complicate things. She thinks that can still be an option, even if it's not listed on the form. Councilmember Weber agrees the white writing is hard to read. He asked if the plan is to develop a web page on the website for this. Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky said she would like to see that in the future. Mayor Grant said businesses were mentioned. It doesn't specifically say it is a business sponsorship. He wonders if it should state that it is business and organization sponsorships. Councilmember Holden said individuals do donate to the City. Mayor Grant asked if we would do a banner for an individual. Do we even want to? Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky thinks individuals can sponsor events or give in -kind gifts. During her research, she found most cities just call it a "Sponsorship Program". The unspoken assumption is that a business will sponsor so they get recognized in the newsletter or a table at the event. Typically an individual isn't going to want a banner or a table at the event.