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10.g City Administrator Report1 Staff Report Date of Meeting: October 21, 2025, City Council Meeting To: Mayor and City Council From: Kyle Morell, City Administrator Re: City Administrator Report ______________________________________________________________________________ Gateway Trail Project A public information meeting was held at the Community Center on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. Representatives from the City, County, and DNR were present, along with between 30 and 40 residents. The meeting went well; it was a little contentious at times, but all resident questions were answered. Concern was raised about the fiscal responsibility of building a trail that does not connect to any existing infrastructure. There was also frustration over the project's cost, related to the requirement for a tunnel under Oakhill Road. Some of the residents present suggested that the grant money go unused and the project be delayed until the trail from William O’Brien Park is completed. At this point, the only way to delay the project would be for the City Council to vote to cancel the City’s participation. The Council will receive an update on the Gateway Trail at its July 2 work session. The Council discussed the Gateway Trail project at their July 2 work session. The City Engineer provided an update on the project timeline and costs. The council discussed the June 11 public information meeting, which featured many residents opposed to the trail and/or the construction of a tunnel under CR 52, which has increased the project's cost. Since that meeting, public support for the trail has poured into City Hall, led by the Friends of Scandia Parks and Trails, who have been working on securing funding for the trail since 2018. The City has received 35 emails of support and has received a copy of the original petition and letters of support collected when the project was first discussed. 926 names signed the petition, and 62 letters of support were gathered. The City, County, and DNR continue to meet to finalize the project design. Two properties along Oakhill Rd N. have not signed the Temporary Construction Easement Agreement, which is needed to complete the project as currently designed. Without those two signed agreements, the trail section in front of their properties may need to be redesigned to avoid encroachment onto their property. This is likely to increase the project's cost. 2 Water Tower Barn Wetland Trail Project The City’s LCCMR proposal was selected to move forward in the review process. I presented it to the LCCMR committee on June 28. The Committee met on July 31 to determine funding amounts for all projects. The City received $907,000 of the $998,000 it requested. The project was funded with the passing of the LCCMR bill last month. Council approved the design and engineering of the trail network at the September meeting. A change to the UDC will be required to permit the trail. This will be presented to the Council and Planning Commission in November and December. Bliss Sewer Project The Legislature met on Monday in a Special Session to approve all remaining budget bills. While a bonding bill was approved, it included no local projects. The Legislature approved $200 million for the MPCA Point Source Implementation Grant (PSIG) program to fund water and sewer infrastructure. The City has been assured that this level of funding is sufficient to fund the Bliss project this year. However, I have yet to verify this claim. The official PSIG projects that received funding are expected to be released in September. The list of funded projects was not released in September. Instead, the MPCA increased the minimum point cutoff. Each project on the list was assigned a score; our project scored 40 points. The minimum cutoff for funding in 2026 was raised to 40 points. Additionally, each project was asked to indicate its expected start date, in hopes of removing projects with later start dates, thereby making more funding available for projects intended to start in 2026. We hope that these steps will eliminate enough projects so that funding becomes available for our project. We now anticipate a mid-November release date for the funded list, with the final list to be issued in December. 2026 Budget The City’s Truth-In-Taxation Hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, December 3, 2025, at 6:30 p.m.