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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — SEPTEMBER 22, 2025 4 been a sore spot for him while working at Ramsey County. He is in a position to try to make some change. Councilmember Weber said this is in response to the Hennepin County letter. John Mazzitello said Hennepin County City Engineers helped get the rest of Ramsey County on board to have a discussion with our Cities. Councilmember Weber appreciates his outlook on cost participation and his proactiveness. The community of engineers coming together to tell the County we can't afford this stuff is commendable. He can't see how this can go bad. Of course, the Board could vote it down. It can't get worse than 50150. But we do face the risk of increased costs due to delaying the project. He thinks we should take this opportunity to possibly save a significant amount of money. This trail is important but the City would benefit if there is significant savings. Councilmember Holden said Ramsey Commissioners are well aware of what happened in Hennepin County. That's probably why they are open to listening to this. She heard this trail would fit better into the Ramsey 2027 season. She asked if that is true. John Mazzitello said potentially. There is a large project that may or may not be built in 2027. He is planning on it being built. They just hired a lot of new technicians. They will be fully trained and capable of handling more projects in 2027. We can still do it in 2026. Councilmember Holden said if we postpone it a year and get a 10% larger break, it could pay for another trail. She said the County would have to pay more for the County Road E Trail and Lake Johanna. John Mazzitello confirmed. The County would pay a larger percentage. The goal is to keep the Cities invested in the work the County does to balance out the work across the cities. They are looking to reduce the amount of share that cities give for cost participation on a County job. Mayor Grant said the trail we're talking about leads to TCAAP. It's important to the City and County. It would increase safety. He thinks pushing it a year to see what happens with the cost participation policy is a good idea. Councilmember Rousseau asked where the additional funding would come from, on the County's side, to offset the increase in participation. What would be cut to make room for this? John Mazzitello shared a story about a light rail project. When the County Board decided that wasn't going to happen, the revenue that had been set aside came up for grabs. He has been given a chunk of that money. Councilmember Rousseau said it's sad to push it out another year. This is going to the underserved community with manufactured homes to the high school. It sounds like there could be a substantial change. John Mazzitello said Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen did a great job expressing how important this project is to the city. This project has been on the table for the whole time he