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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 13, 2026 3 Senior Planner Fransen, Economic Development Commission Chair Jud Murchie, Commissioners Ihsan Isik, Kristine Poelzer and Ted Brausen introduced themselves and joined the discussion. Senior Planner Fransen said there have been conversations surrounding how the EDC can help serve the Arden Hills community. The commission has been working on building momentum over the past few years. The Work Plan was developed with the City's 2026-2027 Strategic Plan in mind. Commissioners identified a mission that states the EDC is a bridge connecting Arden Hills businesses with the City. Their goals include the EDC connecting with businesses to understand their needs, as well as leveraging the City's operations to support Arden Hills business. She noted the EDC's work on Sign Code. She also outlined that the EDC participated in in -person visits to business locations and facilitated a Common Grounds business event in 2025. EDC Chair Murchie said the EDC Members have been discussing how we can create spaces for businesses to connect with each other but also looking for opportunities to be a bridge between businesses and the City. He said the Sign Code is an example of where those two things overlap. We aren't saying what the Sign Code should be, but we can provide the feedback that we hear from the business community. He shared examples of how EDC can help produce newsletter features and suggest sponsorship costs for large events. Councilmember Holden said she knows commissioners are working hard but there hasn't been a lot of success. The survey results were disappointing. When asking businesses to complete a survey, you have to get the survey to the right person. The only way to do that is to go in person. She asked if any issues have been identified for why the survey didn't get a big response. EDC Commissioner Brausen said a lot of the businesses are franchised so you aren't going to find the owner there if you stop in. The owners want appointments. He thought we received some really good information. He believes that if the EDC continues to engage businesses with events like the Common Grounds breakfast, and businesses become aware of the work that the EDC is doing, it will help. He also said Arden Hills has never been known as a business -friendly community. That needs to change. Given support and the right education the EDC could help the City to attract new businesses. We shouldn't just be looking to the open land for business generation. We need to look at the established parts of Arden Hills. He said Council thinks about things differently than the residents and business owners on the EDC. We have to invest the time to work together. Councilmember Holden asked how the EDC can grow attendance at the business breakfast if one of the issues with the survey was franchising. EDC Commissioner Brausen said he thinks we were thinking too small. The survey should maybe have been targeted at the larger companies because they are the ones who will invest more in the City. We have to be prepared for TCAAP. That will be a really good tax base. Councilmember Holden said some of the property is owned by people or companies that aren't in Minnesota. She shared an example of one company that was doing business here but the building owner, who is based in New York, tripled the rent and that company had to move. She would like to see the EDC help problem solve for those situations. EDC Chair Murchie said those are the kinds of questions the EDC can take on. We can talk to business owners and see how often that is happening. Sometimes we hear from one or two people about something but everyone else is happy. EDC can help find the balance.