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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-15-24 -SWS 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. Rice Creek Commons/TCAAP Discussion 4. Council/Staff Comments Adjourn Requested Date: 10/15/2024 Requested time: 5:30 pm Open meeting X Closed meeting Signature of person(s) making request: 10/10/2024 Mayor or Council Member Date / / Council Member Date -This section to be completed by City staff- Date received: 10/10/2024 Date meeting to be held: 10/15/2024 Time of meeting: 5:30 pm Location: City Hall All necessary posting and notices have been completed. 10/10/2024 Signature of City Clerk Date City of Arden Hills ▪1245 West Highway 96 ▪ Arden Hills Minnesota 55112 Phone 651.792.7800 ▪ Fax 651.634.5137 ▪ www.cityofardenhills.org -7kR EN HILLS Approved: November 12, 2024 CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION OCTOBER 15, 2024 5:30 P.M. - ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, Mayor David Grant called to order the City Council Work Session at 5:30 p.m. Present: Mayor David Grant, Councilmembers Tom Fabel, Brenda Holden, Tena Monson and Emily Rousseau Absent: None Also present: Interim City Administrator Jessica Jagoe; Public Works Director/City Engineer David Swearingen; Deputy Clerk Jen Estling 1. PUBLIC INQUIRIES/INFORMATIONAL None. 2. RESPONSE TO PUBLIC INQUIRIES None. 3. AGENDA ITEMS A. Rice Creek Commons/TCAAP Discussion Interim City Administrator Jagoe said staff is seeking direction for next steps to continue the development discussion with Alatus and Ramsey County. Staff has been providing the JDA updates on where the County is at with the purchase and sale agreement with Alatus that has led to some of the discussions that are necessary, on the City side. Interim City Administrator Jagoe said the Term Sheet is provided in the packet. She outlined that Staff is seeking direction from Council to reaffirm the list on the Term Sheet is still the Council's general negotiation items. Staff is also wanting Council to reaffirm the additional work session topics outlined in the agenda packet. Staff thinks a regular meeting cadence is appropriate if Council wishes for Staff to bring background information on any of the topics outlined. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2024 2 Interim City Administrator Jagoe introduced Stacie Kvilvang of Ehlers who is the financial advisor for the project. Kori Land, The City Attorney for the TCAAP discussions could not make it to the meeting. Scheduling regular meetings would make it easier for everyone to make it to the meetings, rather than surveying who has availability which delays the progress on the discussions. Interim City Administrator Jagoe said after establishing regular meeting times, Staff seeks direction for the process for the negotiations. Outlined in the memo, is the prior process that two City Council members had been primarily leading that negotiation with approvals being brought back to the full Council. Staff wonders if the Council desires to keep that process. Mayor Grant asked Councilmembers if there was any background information they wanted other than the previous Term Sheet. Councilmember Holden said she has talked to Interim City Administrator Jagoe about what she would like to see. Mayor Grant said he would like to see spreadsheet financials. He said there is reference to 4D Housing. He asked if that is 50 or 60. Stacie Kvilvang said yes 4D is typically a minimum of 20% of the units at 60% of the area median income to quality for it. She pointed out one item in the development plan that has not changed throughout the discussions. There is one building that would be 100% tax credit project. So, 100% of that building would qualify for 4D. There is another building or two that would have 20% of the units at the 60%. Councilmember Holden would like to see the parks plan. The developer didn't want to do park dedication fees because he said he can build it so much cheaper than if he paid park dedication fees to the City and the City built it. She would like to take a closer look at that plan. Mayor Grant would like a full detail about what would be at each park. Interim City Administrator Jagoe said that the equipment detail sheet was attached to the memo of understanding. Councilmember Monson asked what information Councilmember Holden requested from Interim City Administrator Jagoe. Councilmember Holden said she was looking for financials. Councilmember Monson asked for clarification if Councilmember Holden was looking for financials of what it looks like today or at each step. Councilmember Holden said financials of City cost. Stacie Kvilvang thought it was the spreadsheet that has the City's cost for staff and capital and the taxes that come off of it. Councilmember Holden said the new one is missing several items. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2024 3 Councilmember Rousseau asked if Interim City Administrator Jagoe would share the information with the entire Council. Interim City Administrator Jagoe confirmed. She would look to see if there is an earlier list and also include the proforma. She didn't think there have been any revisions to that document. There may have been some refinement of current cost. She will provide that to everyone. Stacie Kvilvang asked if Council has received the most recent updated proforma. Interim City Administrator Jagoe said the previous City Administrator did provide the newer versions. Mayor Grant said he isn't sure if he has the latest one. Councilmember Holden said the last one she has is from January. Stacie Kvilvang said there is one updated version since January to reflect tax rate changes. Mayor Grant would like the most recent update, as well as, the previous ones to compare how it has changed. Interim City Administrator Jagoe asked if there were specific years or benchmarks Council would like to see. Mayor Grant said he would like whatever went with the Term Sheet. Interim City Administrator Jagoe will provide the 2022 Term Sheet information. Mayor Grant would also like to see a signed copy of the Memo of Understanding (MOU) for civic sites. Interim City Administrator Jagoe said there is just the partial option agreement and Staff will provide a copy of that. Mayor Grant said there should be a signature on the paper. Stacie Kvilvang believes it was fully executed. Nothing has changed. Councilmember Monson asked if this will just be information sent in an email to all Councilmembers. Interim City Administrator Jagoe confirmed and said it would be as we get into the utilities discussion. She would provide the cooperative agreement, as well as anything Kori Land has updated. Councilmember Monson asked if Council is requesting all of these documents provided in the next couple days, or to have them for an upcoming work session meeting. She said most of the information being requested is already available from previous discussions. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2024 4 Mayor Grant wants to be sure he has the most current versions of everything. Interim City Administrator Jagoe said the option agreement for the civic site, the MOU for the parks, the cooperative agreement have not changed. Councilmember Monson asked if the green energy is a new item. Interim City Administrator Jagoe said that will be new but that has previously been identified as one of the development agreement items to be drafted. Councilmember Holden commented and Interim City Administrator Jagoe concurred that it was previously part of the white paper. Councilmember Monson asked if it was just the old agreements from before the lawsuit. She asked for clarification if Staff is asking Council to look at those agreements and reaffirm, noting there may be some changes because the purchase agreement has changed. The purchase agreement is no longer phased so some things will be different. Interim City Administrator Jagoe confirmed. Any changes to the cooperative agreement would be changing dates. There has been no direction to change any of the original content. Mayor Grant said we have to sit down and negotiate with Alatus. He asked Council how they want to handle that. Councilmember Fabel outlined the current Term Sheet noting it was created by two councilmembers that had worked with Alatus and that Council had adopted. He said presumably those two councilmembers were the two members from the JDA, the Mayor and Councilmember Holden. Mayor Grant said that's not entirely true, it was no more than two at a time. He noted that the City Council approved the document at the time. Councilmember Fabel stated he thinks it makes sense for the two councilmembers to begin with the document we have and if there are terms that Council doesn't want included anymore or if there is something Council wants added, the councilmembers involved in the negotiations can bring those forward. Councilmember Holden said it wasn't only two members who were negotiating. She said everyone, such as Steve Scott, Fran Holmes, were at the table negotiating at different times. They made sure everyone's opinion was included. Councilmember Monson asked Interim City Administrator Jagoe to confirm who the two primary councilmembers were who participated in previous negotiations and if they were the JDA members in 2022. Interim City Administrator Jagoe recalls the primary discussions included the two JDA representatives and former City Administrator Perrault met individually with the other councilmembers to go over the discussion items. The primary discussions with the developer occurred with the two JDA representatives. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2024 5 Councilmember Monson said she is fine with continuing that structure for negotiations. Councilmember Rousseau wondered if the 2 or 3 special work sessions Staff is requesting are intended to be held before going into the negotiations with the developer. Mayor Grant believes so. Councilmember Rousseau asked if Council is to be setting up a second set of meetings, in addition to the 2 or 3 special work sessions. Mayor Grant was thinking those meetings were the negotiating meetings with the developer. Councilmember Holden said it would make sense to know what the City wants before going into negotiations. Councilmember Fabel presumed Staff and the JDA representatives would take the document that was already negotiated in the past and make sure all items are still on the table for the developer. They would then bring that back to the full Council and open and rediscuss any items that need to be. It wouldn't be starting from scratch. There has been a lot of agreement already. He thinks the most efficient way to move forward is for Staff and the JDA representatives to begin talks with the developer, using the existing document and then bring information from the negotiations back to Council. Councilmember Holden said prices have really increased recently. Bob Lux of Alatus had planned to purchase things off the shelf and she thinks it's important to determine if the City wants a park dedication fee. If Bob Lux is saving a million dollars on park equipment. That may be the difference between something extra special the park could have if he paid the park dedication fee, instead of purchasing the equipment. Mayor Grant noted the build-out cost of the project is somewhere over $700 million. If there were a 10% park dedication fee included that would be $70 million. He estimates the creation of the parks would be approximately $20 million. Stacie Kvilvang said the park dedication is not a percentage it is calculated per residential unit and on the commercial side the park dedication is based on a percentage of the land value, not the value of the development value. The Council picked the amenities and equipment they wanted for the parks and those are outlined in the Park MOU. That was priced out by the City's consultants and the amount was $16 million. The park dedication fees were sized to pay for that. Today's cost could be higher, but Bob Lux is going to pay for it, no matter what it is. It will be important for Council to look at the parks' uses outlined in the MOU drafted eight years ago. Mayor Grant said we may have tennis courts in there and maybe pickleball courts are more appropriate now. He asked what the land value is. Stacie Kvilvang thought$63 million, not including the commercial land. Councilmember Monson asked about the process. Does Council want to have the work sessions and then go to negotiations or have the JDA representatives begin negotiations and come back to a work session with information. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2024 6 Councilmember Fabel said beginning negotiations and bringing the information back would give Council something concrete to deal with at the work sessions. Councilmember Rousseau prefers for Council to get together to discuss where the focus should be. She is fine with the JDA representatives bringing those discussion points to the developer and the county. It has been hard to get everyone together for meetings in the past. If coordinating a work session proves to be difficult, it might change her view. She would like to shoot for the third Monday of the month and establish a schedule, that would be great. Councilmember Holden asked how long it took to arrange the meeting tonight. It didn't take a year. Interim City Administrator Jagoe thought it was September. Councilmember Rousseau said there is an issue with the code of conduct for committees that was identified in January and the discussion still has not happened. In April or May the City Administrator requested one, as well. There is a pattern. Councilmember Holden said Council had the opportunity to move that item to a work session and no one did. Mayor Grant said Council needs to focus on getting it done, not on what has happened in the past. Councilmember Monson said for scheduling work sessions, she's looking at the list, it can probably be split in half and schedule two work sessions in October and early November. If the desire is to do a work session prior to negotiations, she would want a weekly cadence starting next week. The developer is keen on having discussions on the Term Sheet. Mayor Grant thinks it needs to be faster than that. He thinks it should be no more than two work sessions and the procedure for the negotiations needs to be decided. Councilmember Fabel thinks the first meeting with Bob Lux won't necessarily be a give and take, it will be more of a touch base to determine where we start from. He thinks there should be a meeting with the developer to determine where we are. Mayor Grant reminded the Term Sheet is only an agreement between the City and Bob Lux. The County is not included but the County has requested that we take this step so the process can move forward. Councilmember Holden said Council needs to know what the priorities are going to be. Is it the civic site or the pocket parks or something else? The negotiators need to know what the City's priorities are. They aren't all equal in her mind. Discussion ensued regarding how many work session meetings are needed and how often. Stacie Kvilvang said nothing has changed. The developer and the County want to know if this Council still wants the things that are on the current Term Sheet. The big discussion is going to be TIF because that changes with the financials. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2024 7 Councilmember Monson thinks it is clear that what is in the Term Sheet is not going to change and she agrees that the larger discussion will be surrounding TIF and what will that mean for all the other pieces. Costs have gone up. Overall, she doesn't know why anything would change in terms of the core goal. She thinks it would be valuable to have a separate discussion regarding the Parks MOU. She thinks the reaffirmation should be pretty quick because everything is pretty well ironed out. Mayor Grant asked if someone should sit down with Bob Lux and ask him where he is with this. Councilmember Fabel said he is prepared to do that. Councilmember Holden said Interim City Administrator Jagoe could do that. She still thinks Council needs to look closer at the parks and rec stuff. Mayor Grant said it behooves us to be prepared with what we want prior to sitting down with Bob Lux. Councilmember Rousseau would like to set up several weeks in a row where a work session is scheduled. If the meetings are not needed they could be cancelled. She will make room for this in her schedule. Councilmember Fabel thinks many of the parks elements will continue to evolve. Mayor Grant thinks we want to go in with what we want and put it on the table. Councilmember Holden a lot of the things that get changed, may affect Public Works. It could add another half position. She doesn't know if the amphitheater is still in there, she doesn't know if a lot of the previous promises are in there and who's paying for it. Stacie Kvilvang said if it was in the MOU, it's in there. Bob Lux is paying for that. That is part of their special service district that will help pay for the maintenance. Interim City Administrator Jagoe agrees the regular meeting cadence will help with scheduling. She asked Kori Land for availability. She has some commitments in place on some Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Kori Land is available every Thursday. She thinks it's important that Kori Land and Stacie Kvilvang be involved in these work sessions. Councilmember Monson would like to propose Thursdays, starting on October 24tn Mayor Grant personally is not looking at every week. Councilmember Monson said we don't have time to wait. Councilmember Rousseau would like to schedule a work session every week and if it is not needed, it can be cancelled. Councilmember Holden can't do anything until after November 6tn Mayor Grant suggested Thursday,November 7tn ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2024 8 Councilmember Rousseau said that's getting into November, with Thanksgiving and she would rather start on October 24th Mayor Grant said that Councilmember Holden has said she is not available due to a surgery that needs to take place so that's not an option. Councilmember Monson said if we can't schedule the work sessions to have the discussions in a timely manner, she would prefer the two JDA representatives negotiate with Bob Lux and then come back to the Council with that information. She would rather do the work sessions but she believes they have to be now. She thinks time is of the essence. Councilmember Holden asked how time is of the essence within two weeks when the County and the Developer don't even have an agreement yet. Stacie Kvilvang said they are negotiating. Councilmember Holden said yes, they are negotiating but that could take another six months. Stacie Kvilvang doesn't think it will be six months. They are going back and forth between their legal departments. The big things Bob Lux wants to know the planning fees. That's non- negotiable at this point, the $1 million was decided. The civic site is the other big one. If Council wishes to keep that or not. It is in there right now and if Council chooses to remove it later, that is another discussion, but for right now we have it. Councilmember Holden said the problem with the civic center was all the strings that were going to be attached. The negotiators need to know that. There was a requirement for a YMCA and it had to be built to look a certain way. Stacie Kvilvang the YMCA is not a requirement and there was not that it had certain aesthetic standards. It is the City's civic space. If the City decided not to keep it there was a buy-back option because the County was giving that to the City for$1. Mayor Grant said that was taken out. In the Term Sheet there was nothing saying the developer gets it back. Councilmember Holden said that's because he only gave us 2 years to build something and we're just bonding for the water. Stacie Kvilvang said the essence is if the City wants to keep it. Is it important and what does that look like. Mayor Grant remembers there were strings attached and he didn't sign the MOU. Then in 2022 the MOU is created and it's referenced in the Term Sheet. There was nothing saying the developer gets it back if it's not used. Councilmember Monson supports holding the civic space. The exact use doesn't need to be decided today. She supports keeping that in there and reviewing the options in the agreement and make sure it looks good, doesn't have strings and we'll know the timeline so we can figure out what to do with it. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2024 9 Mayor Grant he thinks an inquiry to the City Attorney about whether it can be held by the EDA, instead of the City. Stacie Kvilvang said there would be more restrictions if it's held by the EDA because that's for economic development purposes and you have a shorter time that you can legally hold it. If it's going to be a civic parcel, it makes sense to leave it with the city. Mayor Grant said the parks are owned by Alatus. Stacie Kvilvang said the neighborhood parks are. The big central park is City-owned but the developer has to pay for the maintenance. Councilmember Monson wanted to discuss the process and scheduling with the few minutes left in the meeting. Mayor Grant thought Council was making good progress. Councilmember Monson said this is good information but it would be nice to schedule the work sessions. If that is not what the Council can do, she would support having the JDA reps negotiate with Bob Lux and come back. Councilmember Fabel asked if Mayor Grant is okay with the JDA reps having the discussion with Bob Lux and come back to discuss the existing agreement and what revisions are there and what needs more work. Mayor Grant is leery because at one point one councilmember was frustrated with what was given to the developer and characterized it as "we gave you everything" and was upset that certain parties wanted more. Councilmember Fabel said it would come back to Council. Mayor Grant thought asking the developer at a 40,000 foot view, without getting into changing numbers or changing other things. He doesn't have an issue with asking Bob Lux his thoughts on the terms of the old Term Sheet and if anything gives him heartburn. Councilmember Fabel would like to know the same thing from Mayor Grant. Mayor Grant said most of the Term Sheet is good. There are some numbers, dwelling units and affordability. He thinks TIF was addressed; he thinks that's too high. Councilmember Monson asked if it's too high now. This is what was agreed upon in 2022. She asked if it was too high now. Mayor Grant has heard comments made that TIF is off the table. Councilmember Monson asked who said TIF is off the table. Mayor Grant thought Councilmember Fabel said that at one time. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2024 10 Councilmember Fabel never said it was off the table. He said it hasn't been brought to Council as a major piece to finance the development. We aren't going to be the banker. There is a provision in there that the TIF would be assisted with the parking in the town center. He assumes Bob Lux is probably still anticipating that TIF will be used for that. Councilmember Monson said Councilmember Fabel said no TIF spending to cover the mass grading. Mayor Grant said he had taken that as a more global off-the-table. He said in an ideal world all five members would be available for these discussions. One member has a medical thing. He asked Councilmember Holden what her first available day is. Was it November 6tn Councilmember Holden said that would be the first Thursday. She feels it has been made clear it doesn't matter if she's here or not so what's the difference? Councilmember Monson refuted that. She said she would like to do these work session meetings in the next two weeks, which is her preference. If that is not possible, option B would be to have the JDA reps go negotiate with Bob Lux and come back with the items. She wants to be clear, she is not saying she wants to have meetings without Councilmember Holden. She would prefer to have everyone there. There is a timeline. The JDA reps can go to the meeting and come back to Council and get everyone's opinion. Staff can also, reach out and talk to everyone individually. Councilmember Holden said it amazes her that now we only have weeks to do this. She has been trying to get the Council to talk about TCAAP for two years. She kept asking to have it on the agenda to clarify the City's position. That hasn't happened.Now all of a sudden we have to do it in two weeks. We've had 18 months to talk about what the City's position is. Every time she tried to put it on the agenda it was taken off. Councilmember Monson said we have not been able to discuss anything related to the Term Sheet until the mass grading financing was resolved. That has been publicly clear for a very long time. We had months where the JDA did not meet because that solution had not come to the table. That solution has now been proposed. It is in the purchase agreement. Mayor Grant asked what the solution is. Councilmember Monson said the County is going to fund it. She doesn't know the terms. Now that it is part of the purchase agreement, we have to talk about the Term Sheet. We have the pieces so they can confirm the civic site and the planning fees. That all ties back to the Term Sheet where the core issue is the TIF. There was no discussion on the TIF in the past because it was not the time to do it. Council could have talked about it but it would have been worthless because the project didn't have a pathway forward. Councilmember Fabel said as a lawyer, he appreciates precedence and efficiency. He looks at the memorandum that states as part of the 2022 Term Sheet"there were two councilmembers who are leading that process with approvals being brought to the full council and if the Council were to follow the same approach, it may provide a timelier advancement of the discussion". There is a clear precedent. That process resulted in the 2022 Term Sheet which was satisfactory to the entire council, at the time. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2024 11 Mayor Grant said that took nine months. Councilmember Fabel said it was done and it resulted in a significant agreement. This is a well thought out City position, not a blank slate. He suggests the precent is this agreement started with two people, not the full five. Mayor Grant said it has been discussed that that isn't true. Councilmember Fabel said the memo said it's true. Mayor Grant said according to Interim City Administrator Jagoe that's what happened. If the former City Administrator wrote the memo he would have outlined there were substitutions over the course of time. Councilmember Fabel said the good thing about two is it's easier to schedule. He suggested the precedent be followed and as soon as the work sessions can be scheduled, when everyone can participate, they will come back to discuss the details. Stacie Kvilvang suggested it may be best to go back to Alatus and ask them to redline the Term Sheet. Then we have a starting point. It would be nice to have Kori Land involved but she suggested Council figure out a day that works for Councilmember Holden and get it on the schedule. Stacie Kvilvang said she can contact Bob Lux tomorrow and ask him to redline it and get it back to us by the end of the week. Mayor Grant doesn't have a problem with the developer redlining the document. Interim City Administrator Jagoe said if Council is comfortable without Kori Land attending, we can work around that to find a pathway forward. Mayor Grant said the caveat is that whatever he redlines, hasn't been discussed. It's not final. Stacie Kvilvang said that's when it will be brought back to the work session to discuss any changes. She doesn't think there will be a lot of changes. Councilmember Rousseau asked Councilmember Holden what day she would be available. Councilmember Holden said November 7th, tomorrow and Thursday. Mayor Grant recommended everyone pencil in November 7th Councilmember Holden said we can do November 4th or November 5th, November 6th , November 7th . She wondered why the City Attorney for TCAAP isn't available for us very often. Interim City Administrator Jagoe said she is available but she has some prior evening commitments where she would be available on the same day every week, except Thursdays. If there were to be a weekly cadence, Thursday would be wide open for her. She has availability ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2024 12 Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays but prior commitments make it difficult to coordinate the same day every week. Mayor Grant directed to have Bob Lux redline the Term Sheet with the understanding that Council hasn't taken any position on any of it. He asked how TIF was reflected on the spreadsheet. Stacie Kvilvang said TIF is reflected over 15 years, which is a lesser amount. The change is due to changes in rates, values and a higher interest rate. Mayor Grant asked if there was ever discussion of$10 million worth of TIF. Stacie Kvilvang said that was mentioned in the original negotiations. Councilmember Rousseau said the work session was supposed to be an hour. She said since there are three weeks before all councilmembers can meet, she supports sending the term sheet to Bob Lux and have the JDA reps start meeting with him and begin negotiations. Then meet on the 7th for a Special Work Session. Mayor Grant thought it should come back to Council for input. Councilmember Rousseau thinks that something will come up again and again and again. Scheduling meetings has been an issue with this Council. Mayor Grant thought there was a path forward after Bob Lux redlines the term sheet. Council should pencil in November 7tn for the Special Work Session. Councilmember Monson agrees with Councilmember Rousseau to get the redline and then the JDA reps can talk to the developer about it, without committing to anything. Then the financial information will be available to discuss on November 7th. Mayor Grant said it would be the first proposal to Bob Lux. Councilmember Monson thinks there need to be discussions before November 7th. Councilmember Holden said this all had to wait until now and now we're on the County's deadline. Mayor Grant said it always goes slow, until it goes fast. He would prefer to give input to the negotiators before they meet with Bob Lux. If input is not wanted, he asked what are we even doing? Councilmember Monson said as the JDA rep, she would love input. But there is no opportunity for that for three weeks. When the redline document comes back, maybe it's not a counter. It might just be a conversation with him to gather information that would be helpful for a counter that will be discussed on the 7th. Councilmember Fabel said Council can get a better understanding of where things might go. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 15, 2024 13 Mayor Grant said we might find out that the County goes back and forth with Bob Lux for five weeks. Councilmember Fabel said what we know right now is there was supposed to be a closed session at the county but that didn't occur because they didn't receive a response from Bob Lux. Mayor Grant said we don't want to hurry needlessly. Councilmember Rousseau said she has a time commitment and understood the meeting would be done at 6:30. Mayor Grant said the meeting can be done. Council has agreed to have Bob Lux redline the document and bring it back. Councilmember Rousseau said she is in favor of the JDA members beginning to have the conversations that need to take place. Councilmember Monson said she thinks Council has agreed to have Bob Lux redline the document. The JDA reps will be looking at and preparing all the information to prepare for a counter and bring all that information to the meeting on the 7th. No counter will be made before then. She asked if Council was okay with that. Councilmember Holden said it's already three who want that, so let's go home. She didn't know it was going to be an hour meeting. Mayor Grant said it has been an hour. Council should look for the redlined document and prepare to discuss the counter on November 7th 4. COUNCIL COMMENTS AND STAFF UPDATES None. ADJOURN Mayor Grant adjourned the City Council Special Work Session at 6:33 p.m. C ,,tt • , ,L11- Je st mg David Grant Deputy Clerk Mayor