10.g City Admin Report for 08 15 23 City Council Meeting1
Staff Report
Date of Meeting: August 15, 2023, City Council Meeting
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Kyle Morell, City Administrator
Re: City Administrator Report
______________________________________________________________________________
Parks Plan Update
The Plan was presented to Council at their July 5 Work Session. The Planning Commission will
hold a public hearing for the Plan at their October meeting. The Adjacent and Affected
Jurisdiction Review Form went out on Monday, July 31, 2023. I have received one response at
this time.
Gateway Trail Project
City Engineer Ryan Goodman and I met with Nathan Moe and Kent Skaar from the Minnesota
Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on Monday, July 10, 2023. We discussed the next
steps in the work plan, including the environmental review, soil borings, and topographical
survey. Ryan and the DNR are working to complete these items before the end of the year. This
group plans to meet monthly to ensure the project stays on schedule.
Kent explained that the LCCMR funding has a hard deadline of June 30, 2027. All spending
must be completed before that date. The City would need to plan for 2026 construction to
complete the project before the grant funding disappears. Our DNR Grant Administrator has
also contacted me. LCCMR administers the project. The funding comes from the DNR.
I spoke with Washington County Public Works Director Wayne Sandberg on Thursday. He and
his department will work with County Administration to navigate the City’s request for County
support through the Board process. City Engineer Ryan Goodman and I met with representatives
from Washington County to discuss the project and the fiscal agent relationship. I am following
up with LCCMR to determine the timeline for declaring a fiscal agent, and we are planning on
having the County join the City and the DNR in our monthly project update meetings.
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Water Tower Barn Project
I attended a DEED Capital Projects Information Session on Monday, July 10. DEED and MMB
will be administering the Water Tower Barn project and funds. Members of the Scandia
Heritage Alliance (SHA) and I met with DEED on August 1 to discuss and clarify the Grant
Agreement timeline. The meeting went well. The SHA received the clarification they were after
about the timing of the Grant Agreement and the spending of funds before the Agreement is
signed. The City has until June 2027 to sign the Grant Agreement and five additional years to
spend the funds. The next step is for the City and the SHA to establish a project timeline for
DEED to review.
Trash and Recycling Services
At the July 5 work session meeting, the Council extended the 60-day exclusive negotiation
period with Waste Management (WM) by 30 days (to August 7, 2023.) The City has an
Agreement with Waste Management on an Organized Collection contract. On Wednesday, June
14, I meet with Washington County to discuss updating Chapter 52—Garbage of the City Code.
The County and its consultant will work to provide the City with a draft ordinance modeled on
the County Solid Waste and Recycling ordinance. The City has received and is reviewing the
draft ordinance. The plan is still to have the revised ordinance language before Council for
approval in September.
Councilmember Kronmiller and I met to discuss the Waste Management Agreement. This
conversation will be detailed in a later agenda item.
192nd St Landing
Below is an update from Tom Langer with the Carnelian Marine St. Croix Watershed regarding
the 192nd St N. landing project.
“Quick update: I stopped by the site this week with Mike (CMSCWD) and Lori (WCD) to
familiarize them with the discussion we had and the steps to begin developing the site
plan. Mike noted that the Bliss Stormwater project is utilizing space on this parcel that
needs to be considered. Additionally, it became very clear that there is a very robust
emergent vegetation community (photo below) that DNR approval/permits will be
required.”
“To ensure we are providing the City with a comprehensive understanding of the
implications of altering the shoreline on this parcel, our next steps are to survey the
parcel and contact the MnDNR pertaining to regulations and permitting process around
the ice heave and vegetation removal. From there, we will better understand how to
proceed with pulling together a site plan that incorporates the feedback from our group
discussion, doesn’t conflict with the other project, and meets DNR plant management
regulations. Realistically, these efforts, along with pulling together an initial site plan are
going to take at least the next couple of months. “
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When the plan has been put together, it will be presented to Council for review.
Scandia City Center Study
The Request for Proposal (RFP) was published on July 28, 2023. Proposals are due by August
31. The City and County will meet the week of September 5 to review the proposals, with the
contract being awarded on September 26. The Study will kick off the first week of October and
should be completed by August 31, 2024.
2024 Budget
Staff is working on the requested budget changes; they will be presented at the September 6
Work Session. I have also contacted Baker Tilly about updating our 2019 Salary Study.