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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. 2 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. “ 3 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.