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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION – JANUARY 31, 2026 17 Mayor Pro Tem Monson reminded that public comments are typically not taken during Council discussion. She said this would be a portion of the work session discussion. Councilmember Holden doesn’t think we can legally shut down a business. Discussion ensued regarding it not being necessary for them to come in and discuss their stance. Council agreed the item to revoke the position on the Gateway Visitor Bureau board held by the Spring Hills Suites employee should be a consent item at the next regular Council Meeting. Councilmember Holden asked if we can stop them from staging in the hotel parking lot. City Attorney Land said we cannot prevent them from doing any activities inside or outside the building. It’s private property. We can’t shut down a business because the City would be liable for all of the revenue they would lose during that time. Councilmember Holden said we have also heard there is poor driving. Can we have a Ramsey County Sheriff monitor that situation in the morning? City Administrator Jagoe will pass that question on to the Sheriff. Mayor Pro Tem Monson said Councilmember Weber shared this thoughts on the meeting they had with RCSO. She, too, was comforted by the meeting. Their stance is to not help or hinder federal activities. It gets complicated when you start talking about what is interference? What is hinderance? She does not envy local law enforcement. They are trying to ensure that they are not on the wrong side or are not doing the wrong thing. We are very clear about public safety. She asked directly, if ICE busts into a school, will the Sheriff come. They said yes. That is a public safety emergency. They will come to the school. There were a couple of scenarios that she presented that they stated they wouldn’t respond to. That’s complicated; however, they are doing the best to manage a very complex and ever moving situation. They stated there have only been 11 ICE-related phone calls in the last 10 days, from all of the seven contract cities combined. We know there were more than 11 incidents in these seven cities in the past 10 days. The dispatchers are now tracking calls when they are related to immigration. We will finally have a record of how many reports come in. That is an incredibly important piece of information for us. Someone spoke earlier about how history will remember this. Our history needs to show that our community observed what ICE was doing and we reported it. It’s also important for us to understand how much activity increases, over time. The increase in calls is a functional piece of information we need to have because we pay the RCSO for their services. They will use their judgement and policies to determine if a call warrants a sheriff’s response. Residents should definitely call to report what they are seeing, to produce that record. If we’re considering joining the lawsuit that Governor Walz and some of the cities are participating in, we need to have legal standing. Mayor Pro Tem Monson said her call to action is to get these incidents on record. She said it is important to understand the law and how it works. If there is a body cam and an incident happens involving a resident, their home or their business, that entity can request the body cam footage. The City cannot, if we weren’t part of what was happening. Once an investigation is triggered, the information is locked down and no longer available, except to investigators. Noting the immigration calls is an important move for RCSO so they can try to have control over their data It’s important that residents keep the videos they have recorded. If we want to access more, investigations can really limit it.