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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-15-24-SWS City of Arden Hills ▪1245 West Highway 96 ▪ Arden Hills Minnesota 55112 Phone 651.792.7800 ▪ Fax 651.634.5137 ▪ www.cityofardenhills.org Request for Special City Council Work Session A special meeting may be called by the Mayor or by any two Councilmembers. Reason for meeting: 1. Public Inquiries/Informational 2. Response to Public Inquiries 3. Agenda Items A. Work Session Scheduling B. Legislative Priorities and Goal Setting C. Strategic Goal Setting D. Committee/Commission Youth Membership E. Committee/Commission Liaison Roles and Responsibilities F. Proclamation Policy 4. Council/Staff Comments Adjourn Requested Date: 04/15/2024 Requested time: 5:00 pm Open meeting X Closed meeting Signature of person(s) making request: 04/11/2024 Council Member Date 04/11/2024 Council Member Date -This section to be completed by City staff- Date received: 04/11/2024 Date meeting to be held: 04/15/2024 Time of meeting: 5:00 pm Location: City Hall All necessary posting and notices have been completed. 04/11/2024 Signature of City Clerk Date ,-AREN�HILLS Approved: May 13 2024 Pp Y CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION APRIL 15, 2024 5:00 P.M. -ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, Mayor Grant called to order the Special City Council Work Session at 5:00 p.m. Present: Mayor David Grant; Councilmembers Tom Fabel, Brenda Holden (excused herself from meeting at 6:33 p.m.), Tena Monson and Emily Rousseau Absent: None Also present: City Administrator Dave Perrault 1. PUBLIC INQUIRIES/INFORMATIONAL Linda Swanson, 1124 Ingerson Road, addressed Councilmember Rousseau noting she would continue to exercise her rights in attending City Council meetings and she would express her opinions, questions, concerns and recommendations. Mark Kelliher, 3712 Chatham Court, stated he was pleased the Council would be formally defining the role of Council liaison. He explained he could not offer any feedback on the effectiveness of Councilmember Holden or Mayor Grant as a liaison because the slate has chosen to exclude them from participating in any committee assignments. He offered firsthand feedback on how Councilmember Rousseau conducted herself as a Council liaison, which was the epitome of how not to be a liaison. He stated having residents serve on committees gives the Council fresh perspectives and generates new ideas, but only if there is a liaison willing to listen. Instead of listening, Councilmember Rousseau spends a good deal of time talking and interjecting her opinions into the meetings and of course she is a legend when it comes to behind the scenes maneuvers. For proof, look at the minutes from any PTRC meeting. Every third entry is Councilmember Rousseau opining or interrupting the proceedings. He encouraged the public to listen to the February PTRC meeting. At that meeting, there was a resident expressing a concern and given Councilmember Rousseau's behavior at the meeting you would have thought she and not the PTRC Chair, was in charge of the meeting. He explained Councilmember Rousseau's model of actively micromanaging the committees she oversees is not effective and in fact, counterproductive. He noted the PTRC was still waiting for the Councilmember to bring forward the PTRC's motion to install remote locks at the bathroom at Perry Park, this has been over two ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—APRIL 15, 2024 2 years. He recommended that as the Council formally defines the role of liaison, he urged the Council to mandate the liaisons spend less time talking and more time listening as this would bring about a better result for the City. 2. RESPONSE TO PUBLIC INQUIRIES None. 3. AGENDA ITEMS A. Work Session Scheduling City Administrator Perrault stated Council recently changed its worksession schedule from the third Monday of the month to putting the worksession prior to regular meetings. Now, the worksessions start at 5:30 PM and the regular Council meeting starts at 7:00 PM. Should Council want to make a change to the worksession start-time permanently it would require an ordinance change. Should Council want to consider alternative start times on a temporary basis it could be done by having a special worksession,however, this would limit the flexibility of the agenda. Councilmember Rousseau indicated she would be interested in moving the worksession meeting start time to 5:00 p.m. Councilmember Holden commented she may not be able to attend worksession meetings at 5:00 p.m. She explained she would be willing to move back to the original meeting schedule holding worksessions on the third Monday of each month. Councilmember Fabel stated he supported holding the worksessions at 5:00 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of the month. Mayor Grant supported the Council staying the course with worksessions beginning at 5:30 p.m. Councilmember Holden questioned when worksessions would begin at 5:00 p.m. Councilmember Rousseau indicated she was willing to change the schedule around to 5:00 p.m. sooner rather than later and holding special meetings when agendas get too long. She recommended the start time for worksessions be permanently changed to 5:00 p.m. Councilmember Holden commented this change would take her out of each worksession meeting for 30 minutes. Councilmember Rousseau stated she could support making the change to 5:00 p.m. for just the summer months. Councilmember Holden indicated as soon as school was out, there was extra aides that were available. Mayor Grant questioned if the worksession time could be adjusted just for the summer months. Councilmember Rousseau agreed to this change. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—APRIL 15, 2024 3 Councilmember Monson stated there was a problem trying to get through all the meeting topics on the agenda. She indicated she would rather keep worksessions at 5:30 p.m. and pick up the slack with a special worksession when necessary. Councilmember Fabel explained he was hearing the worksessions would be moving to 5:00 p.m. for the summer months and if the work does not get done a special worksession would be scheduled for that month. He stated this schedule would be fine for him. Mayor Grant questioned if the Council would support holding worksessions during the summer months at 5:00 p.m. Councilmember Monson indicated this would generally work for her. She stated all of these changes were not generally good for the public. However, she noted she could make this work for the summer months. Mayor Grant asked if staff could support holding worksessions at 5:00 p.m. for the months of June, July and August. City Administrator Perrault stated he could make this work. Councilmember Holden reported it would be difficult for her to attend a special worksession without having at least a three week notice. She indicated she would be unable to find an aide in a week and suggested the special meetings be scheduled with at least a three week notice. Council agreed to hold the June, July and August worksession at 5:00 PM B. Legislative Priorities and Goal Setting City Administrator Perrault stated the City Council should discuss how to approach future legislative priorities. For 2024, the City has two bonding requests for consideration, these were worked on by different Councilmembers and Staff. This legislative session is expected to end late Spring. It is not anticipated that the State will accept funding requests for 2025 this year; the next typical request would be for 2026 but would start in late Spring of 2025. Prior to this year's requests, Staff worked with members of the Council on existing capital projects, such as the Lexington Avenue Watermain or the County Road E Utility replacement. Council may want to consider planned capital projects, such as, water meter replacement ($1,500,000) or water/sewer force main work ($240,000). Council could also consider projects that we have discussed, but may be waiting on a funding source, such as the Old Highway 10 Trail ($2,800,000). Should Council want to refine this process, Council should direct how it wants to approach the process, either by designating one or two Councilmembers to work with Staff to bring back a recommendation for Council consideration or discussing the priorities with the full Council at a worksession. Council may also want to consider outside assistance to guide Staff and the Council through the process, i.e. utilizing a lobbyist. Councilmember Monson supported the Council having a process in place when considering how the Council decides MMB. She wanted to hear from Councilmember Holden and Mayor Grant on how the Council addressed lobbyists. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—APRIL 15, 2024 4 Mayor Grant explained the Council had time to draft priorities for the 2026 bonding request. He questioned how the Council wanted to proceed. Councilmember Rousseau suggested the Council discuss its priorities at a future worksession. She indicated the Council could then make a decision to branch off and target several issues. Councilmember Holden commented she was shocked when the trail project came up and Mr. Swearingen had only put a few slides together. She explained she then spent three days with Mr. Swearingen putting together a presentation two days before the legislative bus came. She indicated the Council needs to have plans in place and noted she has explained bonding to Mr. Perrault over the years. She also stated the legislature likes a city's mayor to present requests. Mayor Grant agreed the legislature does appreciate seeing mayors, especially returning mayors. Councilmember Holden discussed how the Mayor has built up trust with legislators over the years. Mayor Grant commented in his case he has been around for a decade and he has answers to questions. Councilmember Monson thanked Councilmember Holden for helping staff prepare for the bond hearing. She believed it would be appropriate for the Council to have a list of items for staff to work on and Councilmembers assigned to each item. She explained this would provide staff with more clear direction on the Council's bonding priorities. She indicated the difficulty with this Council was that Councilmember Holden had a lot of experience in working with the legislature, while there were newer members of the Council that had expertise and connections in certain areas. She was of the opinion the Council was not organized enough this year and she would like this to improve going forward. She supported the Council further reviewing the MMB process. Mayor Grant stated the Council would have to decide on what requests it wants to move forward versus bringing a grocery list of items forward. Councilmember Fabel commented it may benefit the Council to speak with a legislator who can speak about legislative responses to bonding requests. Councilmember Holden reported the legislature announces their priorities at the beginning of each session. She explained the City has received $4 million in funding for utilities in the past 10 years. She indicated water quality and I&I have been very important to the legislature due to the impact both have on the environment. She wanted to make sure if the City was going through this exercise that the City would be receiving funding. She feared having all members of the Council going to testify would not be as effective as having the Mayor testify. Councilmember Rousseau stated Senator Marty mentioned Shoreview was interested in receiving an update on the legislative session. She anticipated Senator Marty could provide a similar update to Arden Hills and questions could be asked at that time. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—APRIL 15, 2024 5 Mayor Grant noted that legislators typically fund what they find appealing, and what the Council may find as being nice or an improvement may be different to them. He stated they tell us what their priorities are and if you can hook into those priorities, then you are a lot better off. Councilmember Holden reported legislators have always been invited to provide the Council with an update and she was uncertain why they did not address the Council in 2023. Councilmember Monson agreed with Councilmember Holden noting the goal would be for the City to receive grant funding. She encouraged the Council to address the MMB process prior to 2025 and consider who would be testifying. Councilmember Rousseau stated she liked how it was. She suggested assignments be made based on the topic. Mayor Grant commented the force main was thoroughly documented as a City priority, along with the Old Highway 10 trail. He reported if the City did not receive funding for these, he believed the City may want to try again in the next bonding session. Councilmember Holden asked if staff had a report from the County on Lake Johanna Boulevard. City Administrator Perrault stated he would follow up with Public Works Director Swearingen and would report back to the Council. Councilmember Monson suggested the items on the list be worked on by the Mayor plus one Councilmember. She indicated she did believe there was weight of value in having the Mayor testify at the Capitol. Councilmember Rousseau questioned if the City applied for sewer funding in 2024. Mayor Grant explained the City applied for funding for the force main,which was a sewer line. Councilmember Rousseau asked where this matter was with the State legislature. City Administrator Perrault stated the City did not get a hearing and the bill was not introduced yet. Councilmember Holden indicated requests do not always have to have a hearing as sometimes the requests go straight through the Governor's office. She requested that all items or requests be brought before the entire Council for comment and consideration and not that they only be considered by the Mayor plus one Councilmember. Councilmember Monson discussed how items could be addressed in the future noting it was her hope the process could be laid out so the Council knew what to expect. Mayor Grant indicated he hoped the Council could all work together, with several Councilmembers working on a matter while still bringing the remainder of the Council and staff along. Councilmember Rousseau stated she liked this proposal. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—APRIL 15, 2024 6 Councilmember Fabel commented he supported the proposal as well. He asked that a legislator be brought in to provide the Council with a summary of this session. Councilmember Holden indicated she supported the proposal. City Administrator Perrault summarized the Mayor would be testifying and noted the Council would revisit this topic in January of 2025. Councilmember Monson spoke to the pros and cons of having a lobbyist working on behalf of the City. She indicated it was a lot of work to follow bills but she believed Representative Moller and Senator Marty were very accessible to the City Council. However, when the Council had to go broader, it may be more difficult to get access. Councilmember Fabel asked if the League of Minnesota Cities did a good job tracking the broader issues. Mayor Grant commented the League of Minnesota Cities would keep track of broader issues but would not track issues for Arden Hills. Councilmember Holden discussed how it was a negative to have a lobbyist because it was assumed if the City had funding for a lobbyist, it had funding for its projects. Councilmember Monson questioned if the cost of a lobbyist would be worth it because the City would receive more funding. Councilmember Holden did not believe this would be the case, because this lobbyist would be working on behalf of 40 other cities. She believed the best bet was for the Council to do the work themselves, or to work through the local legislators. Mayor Grant indicated the City has received $7.2 million for smaller projects and all of this funding was received without a lobbyist. Councilmember Rousseau was of the opinion Representative Moller does a great job shepherding projects. She stated it may be a different story if she and Senator Marty were not responsive to the City. Consensus of the Council was to not pursue a lobbyist at this time. C. Strategic Goal Setting City Administrator Perrault stated as part of the LMCIT meeting earlier in the year, Council discussed Strategic Goal setting as a priority. Council should discuss how it wants to approach strategic goal setting, and a path to move forward. One option would be to engage with a consultant. Last year, the Council considered Ethical Leaders in Action (ELA) but opted not to move forward. The 2024 budget does have $10,000 included for such services. Councilmember Holden indicated she didn't understand the difference between a goal session and the retreat. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—APRIL 15, 2024 7 City Administrator Perrault stated the retreat would be more all encompassing and goal setting could be a part of it. He explained a goal setting session would define timelines for goals with the Council working with staff to implement the goals with metrics or some other form of tracking. Mayor Grant reported the staff memo says strategic goal setting. He stated the definition of a strategic goal is one that was longer in terms of timeframe. He indicated if the goal was to set strategic goals, he would think the Council could nail down some of its top strategic goals in pretty short order. He did not believe the Council would disagree with a strategic goal of completing TCAAP. He explained another strategic goal would be to complete certain trail segments. He anticipated the Council could have secondary goals in place under its strategic goals. He questioned how many strategic goals the Council should have in place. He suggested the Council have two more strategic goals in place for the five year time horizon. Councilmember Rousseau supported the Council using a consultant to assist with holding a strategic goal setting. She understood a consultant was reached out to several years ago. City Administrator Perrault stated the City has engaged with a consultant on two different occasions for proposals for a Council retreat. Councilmember Rousseau was in favor of the Council holding a goal setting retreat to set long term goals and then to meet back each year to revisit these goals. She believed land management was an interest in the City and she wanted to understand how staff resources could address this matter. She questioned if rain gardens could be invested in. Councilmember Monson discussed a goal setting session would be one focused session within a Council retreat. She supported the Council setting goals, both short term and long term. She believed it would greatly benefit the Council to hold a cohesive discussion in order to drive the City towards a vision and improvements that the residents in the community want. She indicated she was supportive of bringing in a third party to assist with the goal setting session that addressed both short term and long term goals for the City. Mayor Grant commented he did not believe spending $10,000 on this was not a wise investment. He believed the Council could come together with staff and discuss its strategic goals. He was of the opinion the City did not have to pay $10,000 in order to accomplish his. He stated that was his faith in this Council. Councilmember Rousseau indicated her understanding was this money was budgeted and may not all be spent. She commented on how the public was asking this Council to work together more cohesively and this would provide an opportunity to set standards going forward. Councilmember Holden stated there has been many opportunities for the Council to work together and the Committee assignments has been a slap in the face and there was no intention of the Council working together. Councilmember Fabel commented on how a third party would bring to the Council visions that were encountered by other municipal areas. He discussed how changes were needed for housing and zoning. He supported the Council bringing in a third party in order to bring a larger picture than the Council's regular day to day operations. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—APRIL 15, 2024 8 Councilmember Holden anticipated a lot of this could come from the Met Council. She indicated she was uncertain what would happen with public works, their building or equipment. She commented on how she fought for maintenance of the equipment, streets and trails. She was uncertain if the Council had to split its goals between basic needs versus wants and changes. Mayor Grant stated in terms of education and trends that were out there, the Council could invite the League of Minnesota Cities and Met Council in for presentations. He explained when it comes to strategic goals this should be determined by what the community wants. He questioned if these should be determined by a consultant that was brought in from outside the community. It was his hope these goals could be set by the Council. He suggested each Councilmember come up with a list of five strategic goals and that they then be ranked. Councilmember Monson indicated she wouldn't generally be opposed to the Council trying to do this themselves, but the Council has had a difficult time scheduling a retreat and meeting with the LMCIT. She hoped the goals could be in place prior to June when the Council began addressing the budget for 2025. Mayor Grant proposed each Councilmember write up their top five strategic goals for the City and staff could then compile the list for the Council to review at its next worksession meeting. He understood the citizens of Arden Hills wanted the Council to work together and he hoped the Council could come together on this. Councilmember Rousseau stated she supported the Council holding a goal setting session with a consultant. Councilmember Holden indicated she did not believe the retreat faded away, rather at a worksession two Councilmembers voted it down and Councilmember Rousseau looked at her and asked what she wanted to do and she replied she wanted to go home. So it didn't fade away, it was voted down. Mayor Grant noted the vote was sort of a quasi-vote at 3-2. Mayor Grant believed the Council could come up with strategic goals without bringing in a consultant. Councilmember Fabel explained someone from the Met Council or LMCIT could come in and provide broader visions. He stated the Council needed to consider being leaders while also being responsive. He supported the City bringing in ideas from outside. Councilmember Holden questioned why the Council needed someone to come in and tell them what leadership was. She indicated she read the LMCIT newsletters and there were thousands of ideas on their website. She commented on how Councilmember Rousseau was interested in land management and Councilmember Monson was interested in energy and sustainability. She didn't believe the Council had to bring in someone else to point this out. Councilmember Monson indicated the question before the Council may not be just about the content, but rather was about the process and putting what should be followed in order to put the goals into action. She discussed how a professional would help the Council determine what the community wants and how to implement this into a plan. She stated her.concern about doing the ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—APRIL 15, 2024 9 goal setting without a consultant was that this would put more work on staff, while a third party would take this work off of staff. Councilmember Holden suggested the Council pursue a hybrid by coming up with its criteria first and that a consultant then be brought in to assist with moving a plan forward. Mayor Grant stated this would make sense. Councilmember Monson indicated she could support the Council moving forward in this direction. Mayor Grant requested each Councilmember provide staff with their top five strategic goals for the City and the Council would discuss these goals at the April 22 worksession. City Administrator Perrault commented the Council could provide staff with 25 goals and these could be honed down. He stated his concern would then be how a consultant would work with the City on a plan moving forward. He discussed how important it would be to work with a consultant through the entire process. Councilmember Holden recommended the goals drafted by the Council be focused. She anticipated a professional in this field would be able to help the City address its goals and make a plan to move the goals forward. Mayor Grant stated the Council would come up with 20+ goals that would be honed down to five or six goals. It was his hope that a consultant could then be brought in to assist the Council with defining how to move forward on these goals and to assist the City with putting a plan in place to reach these goals. Councilmember Rousseau indicated her goals would have to do with an improved canopy and rain gardens. She questioned how she would get buy-in from the Public Works Department. Councilmember Holden stated if this was the goal the City wanted to go, then the Council would have to address staffing and costs. Mayor Grant recommended a discussion be held regarding strategic goals on April 22 and the Council could then determine if there would be staffing or budgeting needs. Councilmember Monson explained she could support the Council going down this path, but she anticipated the Council would only be able to go so far before hitting a roadblock and staff would have to be asked to do a great deal of work, or a third party would have to be brought in to assist with finishing this process. She indicated the Council had budgeted $10,000 for this process. Mayor Grant requested the Council review goals on April 22 and see how much commonality was in place. Councilmember Fabel questioned how the Council defined a strategic goal. He recommended these be broad issues. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—APRIL 15, 2024 10 Councilmember Monson stated this was a good point. She noted the Council's strategic goals should be something that could be accomplished in the next five years. Councilmember Holden explained the Council may want to look longer than five years given the fact the City has some major projects coming up such as the fire station, fire equipment, water meters, and Lake Johanna Boulevard, which were massive undertakings. D. Committee/Commission Youth Membership City Administrator Perrault stated last year, Council approved ordinance changes allowing for youth members to the Parks, Trails and Recreation Committee (PTRC) and the Economic Development Commission (EDC). Both committees have designated youth members, members were also appointed to the committee/commissions that were considered "youth"but appointed as regular members due to the youth position being filled. A Councilmember had requested this topic be brought for discussion. Councilmember Holden indicated she requested this item be placed on the agenda because she did not want committees to be represented three-fourth or one-third by youth that were 16 or under. Councilmember Rousseau commented on the openings on the PTRC and EDC. She noted there were additional spaces available on both of these committees and explained the EDC specifically asked people if they were willing to serve a shorter term so that members' terms could be staggered. She thought this would be a great opportunity to get another person on the committee. She referenced one application had arrived after the application period closed, and noted that the shorter, one-year term was of more concern than the age. Councilmember Monson questioned how many youth were serving at this time. Councilmember Rousseau reported there were two youth members serving on the PTRC and two youth members on the EDC. It was her understanding each of the youth members was a senior in high school. City Administrator Perrault clarified there was only one youth position and the other youth member was serving as a regular sitting member. Mayor Grant commented if there was a number of open positions, the City could have a number of youth coming in to serve. Councilmember Monson indicated she expected the Council liaison could balance the positions. While she didn't want too many youth serving on these committees, she appreciated the fact the City had interest from youth in the community to serve. Councilmember Holden reported she did not believe the Council liaison should be responsible for managing this. She feared there was a concern with exclusiveness and who people want on or not on a committee. She indicated she could support limiting the number of youth to two. She recommended the Council have a policy in place on how to address this matter going forward. Councilmember Monson stated she could support this recommendation. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—APRIL 15, 2024 11 Councilmember Rousseau suggested the language read no more than two youth commissioners per committee. Councilmember Monson stated if there was no age limit on commission members and youth only served for one year, this seemed complicated. Councilmember Rousseau indicated the applications for the youth members came in under the youth membership. Councilmember Fabel commented the commissions were organic in nature and no person would come onto the commission that they were not looking for. He supported the liaison bringing names forward. He suggested up to two youth commissioners be allowed on the commissions. City Administrator Perrault questioned if the Council wanted to set an age limit for youth commissioners. Councilmember Monson recommended only an age minimum be set for youth commissioners. Councilmember Rousseau indicated she was not interested in pursuing this type of language. She was of the opinion two youth commissioners seemed appropriate on the PTRC given the fact this group has 13 members. She also believed the EDC could support two youth members. City Administrator Perrault stated the committee/commission language currently states one youth commissioner was allowed. He requested further direction from the Council on how to address the additional youth commissioner. Councilmember Monson questioned what the criteria was for the youth commissioners. City Administrator Perrault stated the youth commissioners had to be enrolled as a high school sophomore,junior or senior. Council directed the City Administrator to work with the City Attorney on ordinance language allowing for only up to two members that could qualify as Youth Members. E. Committee/Commission Liaison Roles and Responsibilities City Administrator Perrault stated as part of the earlier LMCIT discussion, Council requested to discuss the roles and responsibilities of Council Liaisons. The role of the liaison has not been formally discussed in the past, below is the applicable ordinance that pertains to the liaisons. Subd. 14 Council Liaison. The City Council shall appoint oint a council member to serve as a liaison to each Board, Committee, Commission or other Appointed Body. .Y City Administrator Perrault explained Council may want to discuss how it defines the liaison role, possible expectations and if a formal policy needs to be approved and/or ordinance changes need to be made. Council could also discuss how it wants updates from its committees/commissions and their workplans/projects. As part of the previous discussion, Council discussed adding formal reports from Council Liaisons to agendas; however, this was put ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—APRIL 15, 2024 12 on hold pending a discussion on what the expectations are regarding updates. Council may want to discuss and direct Staff on this. Councilmember Rousseau indicated she was looking for direction on how to bring items back to the City Council from the PTRC/EDC/Planning Commission. She explained the PTRC has created a road map for future projects and they want to inventory all rain gardens in Arden Hills in order to create a renovation program. She commented she would like buy-in from the Council on this matter before the PTRC moves forward with this project. Councilmember Holden reported all rain gardens have to be reported to the Rice Creek Watershed District and the City has contracts with everyone who has a rain garden. Mayor Grant drew the focus back to the topic at hand. He noted the role of the liaison was to liaise by providing Council with updates during Council Comments. He indicated liaisons do not vote on items at committee/commission meetings and they do not set agendas. Councilmember Rousseau questioned how the Council wanted to receive information from the PTRC such as on the buckthorn removal plan. Mayor Grant stated any items that need Council involvement could be brought to a worksession for comment and direction. Councilmember Holden stated in the past the Council liaisons sat back, let the committees move through their agenda and when plans came forward the Council could then vote the plan up or down. She reported the Council liaison was not interjecting throughout the committee/ commission meetings. Mayor Grant indicated he saw the role of the Council liaison as one that communicates from the committee/commission to the Council and from the Council to the committee/commission. Councilmember Monson explained she did not believe this was working very well for the Commissions. She was hearing that they want to do good work, but they don't want to have a no at the end. She questioned how the Council could engage with the committees/commissions to assist with their planning before projects get too deep. Councilmember Holden stated for the past year she has been trying to address the liaisons' responsibility to make sure the committees do not get ahead of the Council. She appreciated their great ideas, but she wanted to make it clear that work plans should be brought before the Council for discussion and input before work begins on projects. Mayor Grant asked if this meeting was to adjourn by 6:30 p.m. City Administrator Perrault explained he viewed the City's website calendar and a 6:30 p.m. end time was entered in error on the website. He indicated the special notice itself does not call for the meeting to adjourn at 6:30 p.m., nor does the agenda. Councilmember Holden reported when she responded for this meeting, she explained she could only attend until 6:30 p.m. She provided staff with her comments regarding proclamations and then excused herself from the meeting. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—APRIL 15, 2024 13 Councilmember Rousseau asked if the Mayor wanted her to set an agenda topic at a future worksession regarding the PTRC's plans regarding rain gardens. She stated the PTRC was also interested in pursuing grants with Great River Greening for buckthorn removal. Mayor Grant believed these items had to come before the Council. Councilmember Monson agreed. She understood buckthorn removal was important to the PTRC, but when money started getting involved this matter should come before the Council. City Administrator Perrault stated the Great River Greening matter would be coming before the Council at the April 22 worksession. Mayor Grant stated it was unfortunate that the full Council could not be in attendance to discuss the last item on the agenda, but he understood Councilmember Holden was only available until 6:30 p.m. F. Proclamation Policy City Administrator Perrault stated in 2023, Council discussed creating a proclamation policy, and at the time it chose to wait on creating a policy. In the past, the Council has generally only considered proclamations regarding Public Works Week, Police Week, and Night to Unite. An additional proclamation regarding fair housing was passed last year. Should Council want to create a formal policy on proclamations it should discuss how they are brought forward, do all requested proclamations receive consideration, is there any type of discussion or vetting done by the entire Council prior to consideration, what happens if the entire Council is not supportive? Some possible direction is below: • Proclamations need to be brought forward for consideration by a City Councilmember for discussion at a worksession(this could conflict with how Council sets their agenda) • Proclamations need to have full Council support to be brought forward for approval Councilmember Fabel stated the Council recently observed how Minneapolis and St. Paul got into a long, heated and publicized debate on how to address the cease fire in Israel. He did not believe it would be helpful for Arden Hills to get into these discussions. On the other hand, he believed proclamations that addressed life in the city were fine for the Council to consider. Mayor Grant commented he liked the way the City handled proclamations. He discussed how he did not want to be receiving outrageously wrong proclamations that would then have to be publicized because the Council did not have a policy in place. He stated once the door was open and all groups were allowed to have their proclamation read, he questioned if this was the manner in which the Council wanted to proceed. In addition, he did not support the City getting into political proclamations. Councilmember Rousseau stated she was not interested in micromanaging this process. She indicated there does not appear to be an issue at this time. She reported as new Councilmembers come on, she recommended they be made aware of the legacy proclamations. Councilmember Monson explained generally this was not a problem. She did not believe the Council should have to spend time talking about proclamations that don't impact the City. She ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—APRIL 15, 2024 14 supported leaving proclamations as is and if a problem arises, the Council could address this matter again in the future. Councilmember Fabel commented he did not want to slam the door on future proclamations. Mayor Grant discussed how he has signed certificates recognizing certain individuals instead of offering a proclamation on behalf of the City. Councilmember Monson spoke to how doing more proclamations the less value they have. Mayor Grant stated the Council was in general agreement after talking about proclamations. 4. COUNCIL COMMENTS AND STAFF UPDATES Councilmember Fabel asked if the Council would be setting or discussing the agenda topics for the April 22 worksession. City Administrator Perrault stated he sent the Council information on the proposed policy and noted worksession topics would be discussed at regular worksessions. Mayor Grant reported the City had a resignation from the Twin Cities Gateway board. He indicated bylaws state one of the members from the City had to be a Councilmember and the other a hotelier. He commented on the process that must be followed for the position noting the Chamber president or local business owner could be considered for the hotelier seat. He suggested the Chamber president be considered for this position. Councilmember Rousseau asked if John Connelly supported this appointment. Mayor Grant stated he did. Councilmember Fabel questioned if a member of the EDC should be appointed to this position. Mayor Grant commented the bylaws were specific about who could and could not be appointed. The Council consensus was to support this appointment. Mayor Grant stated Councilmember Fabel brought up a request regarding pickleball practice boards. He suggested the PTRC look into practice boards for the pickleball courts. Councilmember Fabel stated pickleball participation was exploding. He encouraged the PTRC and the City to consider how to add more pickleball courts to the community. Councilmember Fabel commented on the trail encroachment issue. He stated he recently rode his bike past this property and broader overview be considered with respect to the encroachment at a future meeting. Councilmember Rousseau explained the PTRC was interested in a land management plan and the PTRC was looking for guidance with respect to encroachments. She indicated the PTRC has a big list of goals and may not get to this item until 2025. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—APRIL 15, 2024 15 City Administrator Perrault reported the Council would be addressing the encroachment issue at their first worksession in May. ADJOURN Mayor Grant adjourned the City Council Work Session at 6:57 p.m. it ie Hanson David Grant C' y Clerk Mayor