8.g) Admin Report
Date of Meeting: May 19, 2015
To: City Council
From: Kristina Handt, City Administrator
Re: Administrator’s Report
EDA:
EDA is discussing the creation of a promotional brochure and looking into possible updates to the sign
ordinance. Their next meeting is June 8th. About a dozen Scandia business representatives attended the
EDA’s Coffee and Connections event at Meisters on May 13.
Capital Improvement Committee:
Met on May 11th. Next meeting scheduled for May 20th. Tentative final recommendations at June 3rd
meeting. They would like to survey residents on their spending preferences (roads, parks, fire, etc) so I
will work on including that in the fall newsletter under a similar format that we used last year for road
funding.
Union Negotiations:
Ongoing.
HRA Meeting on Affordable Housing Allocation:
Attended a meeting at the Washington County HRA offices to discuss the affordable housing allocation
from MetCouncil. Since Scandia is an unsewered community we aren’t expected to have any
requirements. I shared with them our desire to create more life cycle housing and how Met Council
density requirements make that difficult. Washington County HRA will be submitting comments to the
Met Council on cities behalf.
Forest Lake YMCA:
Mayor Simonson and I met with a representative from the Forest Lake YMCA. They are looking for
Scandia citizens interested in serving on their board.
Washington County Waste Processing Meeting:
I attended a meeting at Washington County regarding their possible interest in purchasing the waste
processing facility in Newport. County is expected to make a decision in the next few weeks. There
would not be an impact to the City as they believe they can operate it at lower cost and not need to
subsidize haulers. The County Environmental Fee may be reduced over time as subsidies are phased out.
Additional information can be found in a May 1 Pioneer Press article.
Prepayment of 2007 Road Bond:
I’ve been coordinating with the Assistant City Attorney, Financial Advisor and Treasurer to have the
documents prepared so the Council can act on prepaying the 2007 Road Bond in September. We have the
fund balance in the debt service fund to do so and the bond is callable 12/1/15. This will open up some
room in the levy.
Public Works Director:
I spent time with Tim getting information about current and upcoming projects and tasks for public
works, parks, and sewers. As of this writing we have received one application for the Director position.
Deadline for applications is Friday, May 22.
Citizen Complaints/Contacts/Misc.:
Complaint about mailbox and unlicensed vehicles on a property on Novak
Complaint about vegetation removal and shoreline disruption on City easement off of 192nd St.
Numerous calls about zoning related to properties for sale around Big Marine needing variances
and other parts of the City.
Notification from MN Dept. of Ag of investigation into pesticide use on 220th St. No action
required by City at this time.
Approved one year variance extension for Continenzas.