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9.c Discussion on draft of the Spring Newsletter Staff Report Date of Meeting: March 19, 2019 To: City Council From: Judi Negus, Office Assistant Re: Draft Spring Newsletter Background: The City sends out two newsletters a year, one in April and one in October. Staff would like to get the April newsletter out around the first of the month. Therefore, the newsletter needs to get to the printer as soon as possible after the Council meeting. Circulation is approximately 1,915, including about 460 newsletters mailed individually to Scandia residents with Marine mailing addresses. The newsletter is also made available on the City’s website. Issue: Are there any changes the Council would like to see to the newsletter? Proposal Details: The newsletter includes the following: Message from the Mayor Citizen Request Management/311 System 2019 Assessments Road Improvement Project 2040 Comprehensive Plan Scandia Area Community Collaborative Recycling Basics Community Calendar Art in Action Program Codification University of MN Tourism Assessment Program Options: Identify changes, if any, you would like Staff to make before sending the newsletter to the printer. CITY OF SCANDIA Dedicated to Rural Community Values City of Scandia Scandia Community/ Senior Center 14727 209th Street North Scandia, MN 55073 Phone: 651.433.2274 Fax: 651.433.5112 E-mail: mail@ci.scandia.mn.us Hours: Mon. thru Fri. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. City Council: Christine Maefsky, Mayor 651.433.2684 Chris Ness 651.707.5689 Steve Kronmiller 651.538.0094 Patti Ray 612.812.5590 Jerry Cusick 651.433.5865 Regular Council Meeting: Third Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. Council Work Session: First Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. Planning Commission: First Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. City Staff: Neil Soltis, Administrator Brenda Eklund, Deputy Clerk Colleen Firkus, Treasurer Adam Hawkinson, Director of Public Works Mike Hinz, Fire Chief Eric Sherburne, Attorney Eckberg Lammers Ryan Goodman, Engineer Bolton & Menk Merritt Clapp-Smith, Planner, TKDA PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID Scandia, MN 55073 PERMIT #6 Like us on Facebook for the Most Up-to-Date Information Community Calendar, April 2019 - September, 2019 April • April 8, 5 p.m., Board of Appeal and Equalization, Community Center Board Room • April 12, 7 p.m., Women’s Soft- ball Ham Bingo, Community Center • April 27 - May 4, Spring Clean-up Collection Week, SRC, Wyoming May • May 3 - May 5, Opening Week- end - Gammelgården • May 4, 4 p.m. - 8 p.m., Lions Chicken Dinner Benefit, Community Center • May 26, Immigrant for a Day - Gammelgården • May 27, Memorial Day, Office Closed June • June 12, Farmers Market - Open- ing Day, Gammelgården • June 22, Midsommar Dag, Gammelgården July • July 4, Independence Day Holiday, Office Closed • July 13, St. Croix Fat Cat Triathlon August • August 6, 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., Nation- al Night Out, Community Center • August 17, Spelmanstamma, Gammelgården September • September 2, Labor Day, Office Closed • September 7, Taco Daze Festival • September 14-15, Marine Art Fair For more information and a City meeting calendar, see the website www.ci.scandia.mn.us. For Gammelgården events, see: www.gammelgardenmuseum.org. Message from the Mayor APRIL 2019 VOLUME 13, ISSUE 1 CITY OF SCANDIA Inside this issue: Road Improvement Project 2 2040 Comprehensive Plan 2 Community Collaborative 2 Recycling Basics 2 Community Calendar 3 Art in Action 3 Codification 3 U of M Tourism Assessment 3 Short Takes 3 Community Calendar 4 A twice-yearly publication for residents of the City of Scandia, Minnesota Washington County has released the 2019 assessment information for the City of Scandia. In total, the value of residential properties in Scandia increased by 10.9% over 2018. Of the 2,240 residential parcels assessed, there was a de- crease in value or no change for 684 of those parcels and increases of 10% or more in 841 of the parcels. The City Council will meet as the Local Board of Appeals & Equalization on Monday, April 8th, to hear appeals of property val- ues. If you have questions in advance of the meeting, you are encouraged to contact Patrick Poshek, the City’s Assessor, at assessor@gmail.com or 651.430.0360. 2019 Assessments As I’m writing this letter, we are just ending the snowiest February (39”) in Minnesota history. It has been a most unusual winter, from the brown Christmas season to February’s extreme whiteness. I’m glad that here in Scandia we’ve had a number of things to enjoy during this time. Our new Scandia celebration of Vinterlights! at the Community Center brought together almost 150 neighbors for this first annual kick off of the holiday season. Then, in January, Vinterfest brought many visitors to Scandia for the Lion’s Pancake Breakfast and the newly named Minnesotan Cup adult hockey tournament. Once again, I heard compli- ments from the players who seemed to really enjoy coming to play, as one remarked, good clean hockey in our small town outdoor setting. And, the chili cook-off at Elim followed by fireworks was a great way to end the day. Now we can look forward to the sure to be coming spring with its Scandia traditions old and several new. Two great new additions are a Community Calendar on the Scandia website homepage and the beginning of a collaboration of Scandia community groups. Read about those new Scandia initiatives in this newsletter. Finally, we are grate- ful to our state representatives for re-introducing the legislative bills to expedite the extension of the Gateway Trail into down- town Scandia and also introducing bills that will potentially help Scandia expand its effective broadband service citywide. Stay tuned. Remember to nominate your “good neighbor” for recognition. I continue to look forward to meeting with those of you who stop by the Community Center during Conversations with the Mayor, the first Wednesday of each month, 8:30 – 10:00 a.m. and 4:30 – 6:00 p.m. Christine Maefsky, Mayor Citizen Request Management/311 System The City is working with Qscend to implement a citizen request management system that will be accessible through the City’s website or a mobile phone application. The system has a self-service portal that will enable residents to accomplish a multi- tude of tasks, such as searching a knowledge-base for information, check the status of an existing request, or submit a request for service. The requests are automatically geocoded based on device location so that staff can manage all requests in one place. The system will be available for use on April 1 and will be expanded based on how the system is being utilized. Information on the appeals process and calendar are available by selecting the Board of Appeals meeting on the website City Event Cal- endar. Page 2 CITY OF SCANDIA We know that recycling is good for the planet and makes us feel good about doing the right thing, but just because an item is made out of recyclable material does not mean it can go in the recycling cart. Do not recycle plastic shopping bags or styrofoam products in the curbside recycling cart. Many grocery stores accept plastic bags for recycling, and foam is not easily recyclable and should go in the trash. Flower pots, plas- tic toys, window glass, wire, pots and pans are just some of the problem items being discarded in the recycling carts. Used motor oil in screw-top containers must go beside the cart. Cardboard and paper must be clean and dry; greasy or soiled paper spoils an entire load of re- cyclables. When trash ruins otherwise good recyclables, recycling contamina- tion occurs. Once contaminated, recy- clables can no longer be recycled and become trash. Please help our waste haulers by keeping that recycling clean! Scandia contracts with SRC, Inc. to pro- vide curbside recycling at no cost to all Scandia residents. Call SRC today at 651.464.2321 to begin your recycling service. More information on recycling can be found on the City’s website. The City’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan is being reviewed by the Metropolitan Council. Once reviewed by the City Council and adopted by the City Council, the Plan will be referred to the Planning Commission to recommend changes to the devel- opment code that are needed to be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. 2040 Comprehensive Plan No major road improvement projects are planned for 2019. In 2018, 15.7 miles of roads were repaved, which is 23% of the City’s paved roads. The charts below show the change in the road ratings from the program. In 2019, the site restoration fr om the 2018 paving will be completed along with planning for the 2020 road projects that will focus on the roads that are curren tly listed as being in fair condition. Road Improvement Project Recycling Basics Scandia Area Community Collaborative On January 19th, representatives from sixteen Scandia area community groups came together at Gammelgarden to discuss how they might support each other to best serve the Scandia area. There was a great deal of excitement and enthusiasm as each group shared its goals and plans. The general consensus of those present was that the group should continue to meet and spread their work. They also generated the idea of having a community calendar which would be a central place where the groups’ activities could be shared. Groups represented include Bone Lake Association, City of Scandia, Cycling Scan- dia, Elim Church, Farmers Market, Friends of Scandia Parks and Trails, Gammelgarden, Girl Scouts, Internet Focus Group, Marine Community Library: Adult and Children’s Program- ming, Marine Mills Folk School, Scandia Parks and Recreation Committee, Scandia Heritage Alliance, and Town of May 4-H. Several other groups were not able to send representatives to this first meeting but have indicated their interest in being part of the group going forward. Page 3 VOLUME 13, ISSUE 1 Scandia Parks and Recreation is sponsoring the Art in Action summer camp offered through St. Croix Festival Theatre. Par- ticipants will:  Create, rehearse and perform in an original short play  Design and paint  Create characters and design costumes  Choreograph an original dance  Perform their play for a live audience of family and friends Dates: August 12-16, Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to Noon at the Com- munity Center Cost: $60 Register Online at www.FestivalTheatre.org or by calling 715.483.3387 Scandia residents now have the ability to quickly find out what community events are happening in and around Scandia. On any given day go to the Community Calendar on the City’s website homepage; look for a star; if it’s there, click on it and learn about what is happening. If you select “Read More,” you can easily see all the events planned for the month. Then select the event for additional information. This new fea- ture will give us all the opportunity to become even more connected to our great com- munity. Community Calendar Art in Action Summer Camp Short Takes Hazardous Materials & Electronics Washington County will sponsor special one-day household hazardous waste collections throughout the county, at no cost. Nearby collections are scheduled at the Hugo Public Works Building on April 13th from 8 a.m. to noon, and at the Forest Lake Transit Center (enter at Headwaters Parkway) on June 8th from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Paper shredding will be offered at these events as well. New! Organics Drop-off at the Envi- ronmental Center Washington County residents are now able to drop-off food scraps, paper tow- els, and more at the Environmental Cen- ter in Woodbury. Known as “organics,” these materials can be recycled into compost, a valuable resource that im- proves soil and decreases the need for fertilizers. This program is separate from the regular yard waste program for leaves, grass clippings and brush. Visit www.co.washington.mn.us/organics or call 651.275.7475 for more information. Clean-Up Week City-Wide Clean-up Week is scheduled for Saturday, April 27, through Saturday, May 4, at the SRC/Forest Lake Sanitation site in Wyoming, MN. Residents may drop off rubbish items not taken by their regular trash hauler such as appliances, tires, furniture, mattresses, scrap metal and wood at the SRC facility located at 6320 East Viking Boulevard, Wyoming, MN. During this week, Scandia resi- dents will receive a 20% discount off regular collection prices. Be prepared to show proof of residency such as a driver’s license. Hours of operation are 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturdays, and 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. M—F. Please call SRC at 651.464.2321 for more infor- mation. A pricing schedule is posted on the City’s website. Codification The City is working with the League of Minnesota Cities and American Legal Publishing on codifying the City’s ordinances. Scandia has passed 207 ordinances. Ninety-eight of the ordinances relate to the Development Code, which is updated with each amendment. Currently, there is no organizational structure for the remaining 109 ordinances. Once codified, the ordi- nances will be in a single searchable document that will be classified by subject matter. The codification process will be completed over the coming months. University of Minnesota Tourism Assessment Program In 2018, the Scandia Economic Development Authority (EDA) contracted with the University of Minnesota Tourism Center to conduct a tourism assessment that is intended to inventory local tourism assets, assess tourism assets from local, visitor an d expert perspectives, uncover opportunities for tourism development, and identify action steps for sustainable tourism de- velopment. The target date for the release of the assessment report is March 31. The recommendations contained in the report will serve as a starting point for Scandia to develop its tourism assets.