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10g. City Administrator Report1 Staff Report Date of Meeting: July 21, 2026, City Council Meeting To: Mayor and City Council From: Kyle Morell, City Administrator Re: City Administrator Report 2026 Scandia 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. Bids were opened on Wednesday, March 11. The bids came in under the engineer's estimate, which bodes well for the City’s plans to install a parking lot at the tee ball field. The project is scheduled for construction in 2026. The preconstruction meeting is scheduled for the week of April 20, with work beginning the last week of April or the first week of May. The sidewalk along Olinda was poured this week. Trail paving was completed in May. The boardwalk will be installed in early 2027. The City Engineer will have the most up-to-date project report for you at the meeting. Once the pay request is approved, the City will apply for reimbursement from the DNR. Bliss Sewer Project The City has been awarded 80% grant funding for the project. The remaining 20% will be a low-interest loan from the Clean Water Revolving Fund. The project was put out for bid in January. Bid opening was pushed back to February 18. The low came in under the engineer’s estimates. The City has held the preconstruction meeting. Work will begin in May, with infrastructure installation. The project will be finished in the fall when the new building arrives. The City Engineer will have the most up-to-date project report for you at the meeting. Council approved the GO Bond to cover the loan portion of the project award on their July Work Session. The City has 1 applied for its first draw from PFA. This draw will reimburse the City for the contractor's first pay request and engineering on the project dating back to April of 2021. Gateway Trail Project Contracts have been signed. Utilities are being relocated. Notice of this work was sent to the property owners on Friday, unfortunately, not before markings began. The trees within the easement were cut in the last week of March. The preconstruction meeting was held on April 15. Work on clearing the easement will begin in May. Country Road 52 was closed on June 8 for the road realignment and tunnel installation. It will remain closed all summer and reopen in September. The City will seek to secure short-term financing to fund the project at its June Council meeting. The LCCMR funds are reimbursable, and the City does not have sufficient funds to make timely payments to the contractors while awaiting reimbursement from the State. A short-term loan will be needed to bridge the financial gap. I will have more information on this in May. The Council will be asked to approve short-term financing for the Gateway Project at Tuesday night's meeting. That financing will be used to pay the contractor while the City waits for reimbursement from LCCMR. Peterson Companies will have its full crew on site to begin work on the trail on May 18. Oakhill Road (CR 52) will be closed from June 8 through Labor Day for tunnel installation and road realignment. July 15 Update from Engineer  Peterson Companies started grading the North side of the road from 0+00 – 3+00. They are currently building this section of the road back up with select granular and aggregate base  JP Concrete has poured the North headwalls face around the box culvert along with the second and fourth 27’ sections of the wall going NW. They will be pouring the remaining North headwall sections this Friday  Peterson Companies has continued working on cutting and capping the sheet piles. They are 80% complete with this now  Peterson Companies placed the 36” RCP at station 13+00  The South box culvert excavation will start tomorrow July 7 Update from Engineer  Peterson Companies started grading the trail down to subgrade grade this week. They have graded from roughly station 48+00 – 39+00. They will farm this material as needed to help it dry out  JP Concrete has now poured all of the North headwall footing and the bearing ledge that the box culvert is placed on. A couple more sections of the North headwall will be poured later this week  Peterson Companies will cut and cap the sheet piles on site to grade this week  Peterson Companies is placing the box culvert at station 14+50 for this project today. The last section of the wall will be placed after it has been cut to the correct length  The South box culvert excavation will start either later this week or early next week  Pay application 2 for this project is finalized and ready for payment at July’s council meeting The City Engineer will have the most up-to-date project report for you at the meeting. Once the pay request is approved, the City will apply for reimbursement from the DNR. 1 Right-of-Way Planting Exemption Permit Staff is still working on this document. We should have something in the coming months. 2027 Budget Staff continues to work on the 2027 budget. The Capital Improvement Committee will meet on July 23 to review those funds. A draft preliminary budget will be presented to Council in August.