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ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — AUGUST 11, 2025 22 it. When there isn't an employee to do the work, the lower priority items just don't get done. He is flexible to the timing but the need exists now. Councilmember Weber asked how we did with seasonals this year. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen said we hired a full crew. We lost one, who found a full time job with Ramsey County, after about a month. We lost another one last week. There are six right now and three more will be done by next week. We will be down to two through September. We are going to check to see what budget is remaining and see if we can post to get another person in to get us through fall. Councilmember Weber asked how we did with those planned hours. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen said they took a lot of PTO so a lot of them have very few full 80-hour pay periods. They stayed busy. They mainly focus on parks work. The big change from the fire department is they will require us to service every hydrant in the City. They provided a three-phase project. There were two seasonal employees who were comfortable servicing the hydrants. They worked on them for a few weeks. Having those employees focused on servicing hydrants for multiple weeks, takes them away from other activities. Councilmember Weber thought the fire department was going to let the City phase into that plan. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen confirmed. We did 50% this year. The other 50% will be done next year. In 2027 we will have to do all of them. Councilmember Weber said that time was spent getting half done this year. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen confirmed. Councilmember Weber asked if ICWC is still difficult to schedule. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen confirmed. They have been an unreliable resource for getting tasks done. Councilmember Holden reached out to their representative and they said they are working on getting back to being more reliable. He isn't sure what the time line is. Councilmember Holden said they are in the process of moving inmates out of Stillwater to three different locations. They have to do that during the work week. They don't have time to plan for City labor, right now. Since we are on the weekends, we may have a better chance. Councilmember Weber asked if the lead positions would be open to external candidates or would it be an internal position. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen said it would be internal, the same as the other lead positions. Current Staff will have first opportunity. It wouldn't be adding a totally new position.