8.g) Administrator's Report� CJ
SCANDI .
Staff Report
Date of Meeting: January 21, 2014
To: City Council
From: Kristina Handt, City Administrator
Re: Administrator's Report
Since last month's meeting there has been two written complaints submitted relating to the hauling from
Zavoral. The first claimed a truck going south on Lofton rained gravel on his vehicle and broke his
windshield and also claimed there was an excessive amount of gravel on the road. Trucks leaving the
Scandia pit via Lofton are empty as they head back to the Zavoral Mine location so there is some
confusion as to how they could have rained gravel. City and County staff have not noticed any excessive
gravel on Lofton since hauling began. The second complaint was again about a large rock falling off of a
truck and the load not being covered. Tiller has been reminded to communicate the requirement to cover
loads with their subcontractors. The sheriff's office has spent hours monitoring the roadways and not
found any violations to date.
Letters to four properties in the Bliss Development went out the end of December. Violations included
too many recreational vehicles and personal property on vacant lots. Follow up visits will be conducted
in the next couple weeks to monitor compliance.
I attended another meeting of the County Economic Development Work Group on January 16th. The
work group reviewed and provided feedback to Springsted on the next report to go to the County Board
on January 28th. A League of Local Governments meeting is being planned for the end of March so that
the research and options can be shared with all elected officials in the county.
At their January 13th meeting, the Scandia EDA heard from Liz Templin, U of M Extension. She
provided data on businesses in the Scandia and Marine zip codes as well as information on Extension
programs related to community economics. One interesting fact was that 76% of the businesses located
in those zip codes have 1-2 employees. This seems to indicate a high number of home based businesses.
Since home based businesses in particular, as well as others, rely heavily on a good broadband
connection, the EDA has made the expansion of broadband one of their top priorities. An application to
the Blandin Foundation for a grant to cover technical assistance was approved on January 16th. The first
step will be to meet with the consultant at the EDA's February meeting. More community meetings will
likely follow. Please share any specific concerns (i.e. where should broadband be expanded in the City?)
with the EDA.
The 2014 St. Croix Valley guide has been completed and will be available soon. The City has a presence
in this guidebook to help draw tourists to the area. The St. Croix Valley Regional Tourism Alliance is a
group focused on promoting communities within the St. Croix River Valley and increasing visitors to
these communities. The guidebook will also be available shortly on their website
http://saintcroixriver.com/