7.f May Administrator's ReportPage 1 of 1
City of Scandia
14727 209 th St. N. PO Box 128, Scandia, Minnesota 55073
Phone (651) 433 -2274 Fax (651) 433 -5112 http://www.ci.scandia.mn.us
DATE: May 19, 2020
FROM: Ken Cammilleri, City Administrator
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
RE: May 2020 City Administrator’s Report
Upgrades to Information Technology
Staff has completed 50% of the network upgrades. This includes the replacement of
equipment, partial setup of the new domain server, and implementation of improved public
Wi-Fi. Visitors to the Community Center’s parking lot or grounds can now access reliable
internet. The network name is Scandia-Guest and the user name is “dalahorse”. My goal is
to potentially set up a splash screen setup so that a password will not be needed. This means
that there will be a welcome page laying out the rules for using the service and a possible
time expiration. Staff will start much needed records and data achieving at the Fire
Department and Public Works. This project is expected to take a much longer timeframe.
Covid-19 Response and Emergency Declaration
Fire Chief Hinz and I remain concerned about how Covid-19 rule changes in Wisconsin, and
particularly the resulting lax attitudes towards preventing Covid-19 exposure will have on
our community. The next two weeks will likely give us a better idea about these
implications. In the meantime, we recommend that the City Hall access be by appointment
only, so staff can maintain precautions and social distancing. In addition, we recommend
the continuation of the cancelation of events at the Community Center. Should we open
earlier, staff will need to prepare a Covid-19 Response Plan similar to what businesses have
been required to do during the current reopening process. We would like to have the
Council revisit its emergency declaration status at its June 16th meeting, when it may be
possible to have a better understanding of infection rate trends.
Worker’s Compensation Leave
Right now the City currently has a staff member who is on worker’s compensation leave. As
many of you know, worker’s compensation insurance only provides employees with 2/3
their normal compensation. As a result many employers offer employees the opportunity to
draw on their existing paid leave banks to offset the difference. I request that the City
Council authorize this policy change in order to better accommodate this and future
employees who may find themselves on worker’s compensation leave in the future.
Spring Code Enforcement
One of the most common misconceptions regarding City ordinance enforcement is that our
enforcement activities are strictly complaint based. Each season city-wide enforcement
efforts will be launched to address nuisance and other code compliance issues throughout
the City. We will not catch every violation, but the hope is that this process will educate the
Page 1 of 1
City of Scandia
14727 209 th St. N. PO Box 128, Scandia, Minnesota 55073
Phone (651) 433 -2274 Fax (651) 433 -5112 http://www.ci.scandia.mn.us
community about requirements and result in less compliance issues overall. This week the
City will be issuing around a dozen code compliance notices. Each notice provides property
owners or other responsible parties with 28 days to resolve their violations or to make
contact with the City to commit to a reasonable and amicable solution to their issues.
Citations will follow for those who do not respond to these requests, but to be clear the City
only wants compliance. The sooner letter recipients come forward, the better.
Property Tax Settlements
As of two weeks ago, Washington County reported that it had received 46% of this year’s
property tax payments. This means that they anticipate that property tax settlements will be
on track for what was originally expected for this settlement period. It is unclear if the
County will have the same success rate for the 2nd and final installment in December, but
the City’s current cash position remains strong to weather any potential deferred payments.
New Building Official and City Planner Update
The City of Hugo has narrowed their selection of a new Assistant Building Official to two
candidates. The plan is that the current Building Official Chuck Preisler will remain on the
job to train and settle in the new inspector before he eventually finalizes his retirement.
TKDA has recently hired Evan Monson to replace Merritt Clapp-Smith as our point
planner. Evan recently worked for the City of Marshfield, Wisconsin since August of 2018
providing both planning and zoning administration. Although Evan's experience is not as
long as that of our outgoing planner, I recommend we give Evan a shot to show us how
zoning administration is done! Merritt will remain for a period of transition to assist Evan
with acclimating to his new role.
Please let me know if you have any questions.