10-27-25-WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION – OCTOBER 27, 2025 15 Councilmember Monson said it’s challenging because the data presented is very limited. If it’s going to pass anyway maybe we ask for a third party to look at it next time. We may be too little, too late to prevent anything this time around. Councilmember Weber said we should ask for an independent audit, anyway. Statistics can look however the presenter wants them to. We were provided some statistics but it didn’t answer the questions we wanted to know. He isn’t challenging the integrity of what they provided, it just didn’t answer our questions. It is worth asking if we can have an independent audit before this decision is made. He would also support saying no. Councilmember Rousseau is in favor of voting yes. However, she thinks they gave us data that tells the story they want to tell. She would have a hard time with them coming back with the same story next year when asking for additional FTEs. Mayor Grant said he requested industry standards and asked if LJFD is meeting those standards. Councilmember Weber remembered seeing something in the information regarding industry standards. They were unachievable. Mayor Grant is leaning towards voting no. He doesn’t like to take that position. He thinks this will probably pass anyway, but they are asking for a lot. Maybe we need to make a statement and vote no. He asked Councilmember Holden if she had everything she needed to make that vote. Councilmember Holden confirmed. D. 9 Cities Meeting Update Mayor Grant said the Mayors and City Administrators get together every other month. They discussed how the League of MN Cities does not support the Missing Middle Housing Bill. We will get together with legislators to tell them why. He won’t be presenting but wanted Council to know what was happening. E. 75th Anniversary Budget Councilmember Weber said he doesn’t like the date selected. He would prefer the event take place on a Saturday, rather than a Friday. Councilmember Holden said the committee all agreed. Councilmember Monson said the committee discussed a lot of options, in depth. We considered multiple days, Friday vs. Saturday, dealing with competing events in neighboring cities, attendance and how we set ourselves apart. The Penny Carnival draws over 400 people. We landed where we needed to land, based on those committee discussions. No date is going to be perfect for everyone. This seems like a nice narrowed approach that the entire committee agreed on. Council agreed to discuss the budget for the event after the next committee meeting.