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8.g Administrators report Staff Report Date of Meeting: November 20, 2018 To: City Council From: Neil Soltis, Administrator Re: Administrator’s report Building Inspection – Through the end of October, 397 permits with a total valuation of $24,350,873 have been issued. The 2018 totals include the permits for the Scandia Elementary School improvements and for 15 new homes. The compares to 666 permits with a total value of $26,379,771 with 18 new homes for the first ten months of 2017. The 214 of the 397 permits issued in 2018 were for reroofing or residing. 2018 Aquatic Invasive Species Boat Inspections – Following this report is a summary of the 2018 Watercraft Inspection Program conducted by the Washington Conservation District. The report recognizes the City’s funding of the program through the two watershed districts which helped to provide for an increase in inspection hours. In the approve claims this month was the invoice from the Comfort Lake Forest Lake Watershed District for their portion of the City support. Washington County Historical Society – The Historical Society has submitted a request for the City to help fund their program through a donation. No funds have been provided in the 2018 budget or are included in the proposed 2019 budget for this purpose. A copy of the request letter follows this report. Liquor License Compliance – The City has received notification that the Brookside Pub has failed an alcohol compliance check. Once additional information on the failed check is obtained, this may necessitate a hearing and potential action by the Council. Gateway Trail – Brandon Helm of MnDNR has been meeting with landowners with easements On the Gateway Trail segment. Bolton Menk has completed the wetland delineations and begun the survey work. Due to the early onset of cold conditions, it is not likely that the TEP panel will review the delineations until May, 2019 B3 benchmarking award – The City of Scandia was one of the three local government finalists at the B3 (Buildings, Benchmarks & Beyond) celebration to recognize top sustainable projects and leader in MN. Mayor Maefsky attended the recognition luncheon. On a monthly basis the City inputs information into the B3 application to track and benchmark energy usage at the Bliss Community Septic site, the Fire / Public Works Building, and the Community Center. Following this report is a summary of energy consumption for these location which also provides a comparison benchmark for similar type facilities. Argo Navis Community Solar Garden – 10/31/18 MnDNR issues a water appropriation permit to This is a general permit authorization for the temporary appropriation of up to 3.0 million gallons of water at a rate of up to 250 gallons per minute using up to two portable pumps installed in the on-site stormwater ponds at the Argo Navis Community Solar Garden site. Discharge will be directed into 2 infiltration trenches constructed at the northern end of the Argo Navis site. The City issued a grading former for the construction of the infiltration trench. The Technical Evaluation Panel Findings Report was signed by the parties on November 13th TEP. The next step will be the drafting of a restoration order. A meeting has been set for later this month to discuss potential remediation strategies. Comfort Lake Forest Lake Watershed District Board - The Washington County Board of Commissioners have appointed Jennifer Oknich as a Manager to the Comfort Lake – Forest Lake Watershed District to a term expiring September 23, 2021. Jennifer is a Scandia resident living on Melanie Trail. 2040 Comprehensive Plan – The six-month review period for the draft of the plan ends on December 1. On the agenda for the December Council work session will be a review of the comments. Based on any proposed revisions, the December Council meeting agenda will have a resolution authorizing submitted the plan to the Metropolitan Council for review. Tourism assessment – The UM-Extension Tourism Center gathered their expert team to visit tourism sites in Scandia and conduct a SWOT exercise with community members on October 29th. Many City Council, Commission, and Committee members participated. They are in the data analysis stage and reviewing feedback from both the expert team as well as the mystery visitors but are still waiting for some of the reports. We’ve sent request to a number of businesses to see if they collect and would be willing to provide zip code infor mation on visitors. Their plan is to meet with the Community Leadership Team (CLT) in March to discuss the findings and facilitate a conversation to plan action steps based on the report. About two weeks prior to this meeting, the team will receive a draf t of the report to review and to report any inaccuracies. The report will become publicly available on the Tourism Center's website after the meeting with the CLT. Personnel Policy - Earlier this month, in a unanimous 8-0 decision, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling that the Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) applies to state and local governments regardless of the number of people the public entity employs. I am working with Lida Bannick of Eckberg Lammers to determine if any changes need to be made to the personnel policy. Insurance renewals – I’m working with Security State Insurance Agency and the League Insurance Trust on the renewal of the property and liability and workers compensation coverages. The renewal quotes will not be available until December but based on the recently published rates for 2019 it appears as though sufficient funds have been included in the proposed budget. Projected year end fund balance – Earlier this year a revision to the Fund Balance Policy was adopted that establishes a target range for the General Fund year-end fund balance of between 50% and 65% of the following year’s budgeted expenditures. Using current projections, the 12/31/2018 unassigned balance in the General Fund will be approximately $1,550,000. Based on this amount and 65% of the proposed General Fund expenditures, the funds available to reduce the property tax levy or transfer for future capital projects project to be $450,000. The projections will be updated based on the claim approved at this meeting and presented at the public hearing on the budget scheduled for the December work session. Olinda Lane lot – The deadline for the Option Agreement for the purchase of the City’s lot on Olinda Lane expires on December 1. If not executed, the options for the sale of the lot will be on the December work session agenda for discussion. December work session – Also on the December work session will be discussion on electrical inspection fees, providing subsidies for skating programs, amending the update to road maintenance policy for platted but unopened streets, pay equity study, Administrative Citation Ordinance, and amending the Right of Way ordinance to comply with FCC regulations regarding small cell wireless and unopened streets Supervisors: Louise Smallidge ▫ Bob Rosenquist ▫ Diane Blake ▫ John Rheinberger ▫ Jim Levitt MEMORANDUM TO: CMSCWD Board of Managers Council of the City of Scandia Square Lake Association FROM: Matt Downing, Washington Conservation District DATE: 11/7/2018 RE: Countywide Watercraft Inspection Program Thank you for your support of the 2018 AIS Watercraft Inspection Program. With your commitment to the resources of your watershed, those of the county and state an additional 470 hours of inspections were performed that otherwise would not have. In CMSCWD alone, 4,104 watercraft inspections were performed. This was 2,335 more inspections than occurred in 2017. Particular emphasis was placed on Square and Big Marine Lakes, with 2,479 inspections occurring on Big Marine alone. Through the inspection process, boaters were educated on how to better protect the lakes that they are using, and steps were taken every time to ensure that invasive species were not introduced into each lake at the time of that launch/transported away from the lake. Attached you will find the summary of the 2018 season that was prepared for Washington County. Please contact me if you have any questions about this or any other aspect of watercraft inspections. I look forward to working with you in the future on prevention and management of invasive species. Supervisors: Louise Smallidge ▫ Bob Rosenquist ▫ Diane Blake ▫ John Rheinberger ▫ Jim Levitt AIS Inspection Summary Points 2018 The WCD supervised 7 DNR authorized Watercraft Inspectors for the 2018 season. Funding was received from Washington County, Carnelian Marine St. Croix Watershed District (CMSCWD), Square Lake Association (SQA), the City of Scandia and Valley Branch Watershed District (VBWD). These inspectors were present at 14 county water access locations starting May 14 th through October 14th. During the inspection season 2,742 hours of inspections occurred, resulting in 6,462 inspections. Compared to 2017, 722 more hours of inspections occurred, and 3,420 more inspections were performed. The substantial increase in hours and inspections performed was thanks to the addition of 2 new partners (Scandia and SQA) and increased funding from the watershed districts. 2018 funds were $12,000 higher than 2017, allowing for 3 additional part time staff to be hired. Further refinement of shift scheduling also contributed to the increase of inspections performed. The number of inspections performed in 2018 was more than double the number performed in 2017. Entering versus exiting inspection percentage was comparable to previous year’s results. The statewide average distribution is 60/40 entering to exiting. Steps were taken in 2018 to encourage more evening inspections; these may have been marginally effective as the distribution in 2018 was the closest to 50/50 that has been observed since the inception of this program. While there has been more of an emphasis statewide lately on entering inspections to prevent new infestations, the high proportion of already infested waters in close proximity to, or within Washington County, makes exiting inspections equally as important. 3637 56% 2825 44% Inspection Breakdown 2018 Entering Exiting Supervisors: Louise Smallidge ▫ Bob Rosenquist ▫ Diane Blake ▫ John Rheinberger ▫ Jim Levitt The number of total drain plug violations observed in 2018 dropped increased slightly from the prior year, but as a percentage of inspections performed it was flat at 5%. For incoming inspections the rate of violation had dropped each year of the program from 9% (2015) to 7% (2016) to 5% (2017). While the rate remained at 5% in 2018, it should be noted that the number of potential violations was double what was observed in 2017 (3,637 versus 1,804). After four years of data collection it does appear that this is a trend, and indicates that increased inspections and education are having a positive impact on the behaviors of boaters in Washington County. While these data are encouraging, efforts should continue to get results in Washington County closer to the statewide average of 4%, or better. Further education efforts should be explored in 2019, and steps should be taken to work with the Washington County Sheriff’s office to increase the enforcement of AIS laws. Of violations where the last lake the watercraft visited was reported, 55% of them had come from waters infested with Zebra Mussels, Flowering Rush or Eurasian Water Milfoil. 32% of those violations listed Big Marine as the last lake visited; greater effort should be made to increase both the number of inspections and education of this lake’s users to reduce the likelihood of spread of AIS from that source. The number of violations coming from infested waters was drastically higher in 2018 than 2017 (55% vs 18%). Supervisors: Louise Smallidge ▫ Bob Rosenquist ▫ Diane Blake ▫ John Rheinberger ▫ Jim Levitt Of the 3,637 incoming inspections performed in 2018, 166 AIS violations were observed. This is roughly double the actual number observed in 2017, but is steady at 4% of the number of inspections performed. 128 of the 2018 violations were plants attached to the boat or trailer attempting to launch, and were successfully removed by hand and did not enter the lake in question. 29 violations were water present in the watercraft; all of which were directed to completely drain before launch was allowed. 5 violations were mud located on either the watercraft or trailer, these were able to be scraped or washed prior to launch. 4 Zebra Mussel violations were observed on incoming inspections; all of these were dead mussels that were able to be removed by hand prior to launch. Additionally all 4 Zebra Mussel violations were forwarded to the DNR for enforcement action. These results are slightly lower than the statewide trend for violations. Every access scheduled had inspections performed in 2018. Big Marine Lake had the highest number of inspection hours, followed by the rest of the lakes in the CMSCWD and those in the VBWD. This was Supervisors: Louise Smallidge ▫ Bob Rosenquist ▫ Diane Blake ▫ John Rheinberger ▫ Jim Levitt because of additional funding provided by those organizations, as well as dictated by historic boater use patterns. Big Marine was the most inspected lake in 2018, as in years prior. Big Carnelian was the second highest, again as in years prior. Average number of inspections per hour of staffing also shows that CMSCWD and VBWD lakes tend to be the highest use landings in the county. When comparing 2018 averages to 2017, it appears that program changes have generally increased the efficiency of the inspection program. Many of the lakes in the county saw an increase in the number of inspections performed per unit of effort. 2018 results also showed an interesting trend at one lake in particular; the inspections per hour at Tanners Lake increased from 0.23 to 1.48, indicating that there is potentially higher use of that lake than initially thought. Please note, although this summary addresses trends and data for Washington County lakes it references only those that are serviced by the Washington Conservation District. All the lakes located in CLFLWD have inspections performed by CLFLWD or Chisago County staff. Also, the MNDNR performs inspections on many of the high use landings in the county, as well as being primarily responsible for the access points on the Saint Croix River. City of Scandia Reporting on 2 of 3 sites, 2 buildings and 5 meters Consumption Summary By Year Period Days Complete SF Actual kBtu/SF Benchmark kBtu/SF Change From Benchmark kBtu/SF % Change Ratio Total Cost $/SF Cost Rate $/kBtu Nov 2016-Oct 2017 365 100%20,416 64.43 102.04 -37.61 -36.85%0.63 $1.04 $0.016 Nov 2017-Oct 2018 365 94%20,416 66.88 102.04 -35.16 -34.46%0.66 $0.90 $0.013 Benchmark Report SF Normalized Nov 2016Feb 2017May 2017Aug 2017Nov 2017Feb 2018May 2018Aug 20180 10 20 30 kBtu/SFBenchmark Natural Gas PV Renewable Electric ©2004-2018 The Weidt Group, Inc. All rights reserved. B3 Framework version 7.7.0.7728 Page 1 of 2B3 Benchmarking 11/15/2018https://mn.b3benchmarking.com/Application?v=7.7.0.7728 ©2004-2018 The Weidt Group, Inc. All rights reserved. B3 Framework version 7.7.0.7728 Page 2 of 2B3 Benchmarking 11/15/2018https://mn.b3benchmarking.com/Application?v=7.7.0.7728