09.e January 2022 Administration ReportDATE: January 14, 2022
FROM: Ken Cammilleri, City Administrator
TO: Administration Update
RE: Covid-19 Response Considerations
Finance
Our Staff has begun the process of preparing for the 2021 fiscal year audit with our current
auditing firm, Schlenner Wenner & Co. We are still waiting for a few final bills attributable
to the 2021 fiscal year. Once these final bills have been processed and approved by the City
Council, we will be formally closing the 2021 fiscal year and will begin the process of
preparing audit reports as prescribed by our auditors. This year's audit will be conducted
remotely due to the pandemic and is scheduled for March 1" and 2nd of this year. The final
audit report will be presented to the City Council around mid -year.
Local Board of Appeals and Equalization
The City's rights to carry out its own Board of Appeals and Equalization have been
restored. This means that the City Council will be able to resume its role as this board to
hear challenges to property assessments within the City. City Council Members and
property owners should mark their calendars for Monday, April 11, 2022 at 5pm to
attend. The meeting will be held at the Scandia Community Center.
Any property owners who are concerned about their assessments are strongly encouraged to
arrange a meeting with City Assessor Patrick Poshek by calling 651-430-0360. If you are
unable to reach an agreeable resolution to your concerns with the City Assessor directly,
please be sure to be in attendance at the meeting scheduled for April 3,d . Property owners
also have access to the Minnesota Tax Court to also address any errors in valuation or
property classification.
City Council Members are reminded online trait mg must be completed by February 1" to
participate in hearing appeals as required by law.
Update on the Bone Lake Wetland Restoration Project
The Comfort Lake Forest Lake Watershed District received grant funding from the Clean
Water Land & Legacy Amendment in the amount of $171,200 to move accumulated
phosphorus -rich sediment from the northern portion of a wetland directly adjacent to Bone
Lake that had a history of receiving direct livestock manure runoff from the dairy farm
barnyard. The project site is near the intersection of 238th Street N and Meadowbrook
Avenue N.
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The District has just reported that it has now selected a contractor and will be beginning
work on the project shortly. The work will include heavy equipment and some truck traffic
moving soils about 100' or so on the road to the adjacent field. The District will continue to
provide updates on the progress of the work.
Challenge to Water Appropriations Increase Request b)T Martin Marietta Scandia Mine
(Formerly Tiller and Barton Sand and Gravel)
Although the City originally submitted a challenge letter to the Minnesota Department of
Natural Resources (DNR) earlier last year, the official public comment period currently ends
this Wednesday, January 191h.
For those who may be unfamiliar with this issue, the gravel pit is seeking to get state
approval to increase their water appropriation from 20 million gallons per year (gal/yr) to 30
million gal/yr. The company has regularly pumped around 13 million gal/yr for the sand
and gravel washing operations, but with recent drought conditions and challenges with water
retention with their onsite ponds have reduced the amount of water that can be typically
reused during typical washing operations. This has led the company to be more reliant on
pumping to to make up for the shortage. Although the pit has not exceeded their current
appropriations, their concerns about potentially exceeding current appropriation limits have
motivated this requested increase as precaution. The company has indicated that they still
intend to utilize recycled water in their washing process to minimize water use, they remain
uncertain if current appropriation limit and available recycled water capacity will meet the
demand for their operations. They have suggested that as pond conditions improve, the
amount of recycled water use will be able to increase reducing the need to additional water.
The City has taken a position that such increase is likely unnecessary and potentially
detrimental to adjacent wells and the environment, and likely more so under drought
conditions. In order to better provide a qualified response to address groundwater impacts,
I have been attempting to complile expert feedback for additional support.
I am still waiting on final comments from Dave Hume of LRE Water to provide any
feedback on potential adverse impacts of this change. (He serves as the City's contracted
expert for reviewing groundwater impacts of current mining operations.)
My goal is to have an additional letter submitted within the deadline that includes any
additional technical support to our challenge on top of what was already submitted within
the previous letter.
I have attached the comment notice to my report for anyone seeking information on how to
provide their own comments to the DNR on this issue.
Legislative Advocacy
We are now entering the 2021 state legislative session. Based on tradition, the state
legislature even years on the development and adoption of State's Biannual or two year
budget cycle. This leaves odd years available to focus on state bonding. The State's bonding
activities are focused on funding projects through the government bond financing process,
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which is intended to help spread the costs over time, similar to how the City utilizes
debt. The focus of this process is regulated by the State's Constitution which limits bonding
for the improvement of public capital such as land, buildings, and infrastructure. The state
also considers providing grants to local governments under these conditions as well. There
has been an informal expectation that grant requests be made with a 1:1 financial match for
local level projects.
Right now we are preparing to push 3 state bonding grant requests:
The Scandia Water Tower Barn Regional Arts and Heritage Center Project —
City recipient
The Bliss Waste Water Treatment Plant Improvement Project and
Rehabilitation of Lift Station 2 of the Bliss System — City recipient
The Gateway State Trail Bond Request — DNR recipient
The Dater Tower Barn Pi ojeet Bonding Update
This $1,500,000 request will go through the City to finance this project's construction. The
Scandia Heritage Alliance will be responsible for securing the matching funds and helping
lead advocacy efforts at the capital.
This request was originally introduced during the 2021 legislative session. (Bonding requests
are frequently introduced in the proceeding session.)
In the House, the Bill, HF 1461, is authored by our local state Representative Bob
Detemer. We were also able to get Representative Shelly Christianson to also sign on as an
author. The bill has been referred to the House Capital Investment Committee, and we have
since been able to provide a presentation on the project and our Bliss Wastewater Project
late last year during the Committee's capital project tour.
The companion bill, authored by our local Senator Koran Housley and Senator Mark Koran,
is is pending consideration at the Senate Capital Investment Committee. We were not
contacted for to participate Committee's tour which has been scheduled January 18th though
the 20th, but it is likely we may still have the opportunity to provide testimony at the
Committee.
The Bliss Vastezvater hnpi ovement Piojeet
This project was included on the House Capital Investment Committee tour last year, but we
are waiting for the draft bill to be jacketed and assigned a number. We are planning to
assemble a contingency of utility users to help us build legislative support. Members of the
Wastewater Advisory (Sewer) Committee have expressed their interest in assisting in this
effort.
The Gateway Trail Pi ojeet
This state bonding request is uniquely different from our other two requests because we are
requesting funding be provided to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), rather than
ourselves. We are hopeful to build on the momentum that we had in 2020 to get this
request to advance.
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A new bill is currently being reviewed by the Legislative Revisor's Office, and will differ
from the request made in 2019 and 2020, which had been only $500,000. This amount only
covered the first phase which consists of the trailhead parking lot at the Annex (14800
Oakhill Rd N) and the trail segment between it and the anticipated pedestrian tunnel
site. This year's request now includes an additional $1,000,000 for the pedestrian tunnel, and
an additional $2,460,000 for road alterations to Oakhill Road N (Hwy 52) and the trail
segment that will run within the highway right-of-way. (Both the DNR and Washington
County have stressed that they do not desire a crosswalk alternative and insist that the tunnel
alternative presents the greatest level of safety. They have also both indicated that they
support the project as proposed.) The total request is $2,960,000.
We are also preparing to submit a similar LCCMR grant request. If bonding is awarded, this
request would be retracted or modified so as not to duplicate funding. Applying for both
funds are anticipated to improve the likelihood for obtaining funding.
Next Steps for Bonding Requests
Our advocacy groups will attempt to to get as many legislators as possible to sign on as bill
authors and will seek general support. (There is a maximum of 5 authors for the Senate and
35 for the House.) Focus will be on obtaining support from Capital Investment Committee
members of both houses and the Capital Investment Conference Committee.
Anyone interested in joining the effort to support the advancement of these grant requests,
please let me know.
Also, please reach out if you have any questions.
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From: NOREPLY.MPARS.dnr@state.mn.us
Sent: Monday, December 20, 20212:45:07 PM
To: k.cammilleri <k.cammilleri@ci.scandia.mn.us>
Subject: [MPARS] DNR Request for Comments - Sand and Gravel Washing, Dust
Control - Washington County - Application 1986-6193
The Minnesota DNR has received a permit application for sand and gravel washing and
dust control in Washington County. More details are provided below. If you would like to
review the application and provide comments, please click on the link below to navigate
to our online permitting system. Comments are due by 01/19/2022.
Project Details:
Project Name: SCANDIA PIT 741
Activity: Sand and Gravel Washing, Dust Control
Landowner: Barton Sand and Gravel Co.
County: Washington
Legal Description: T32N-R20W-S7, T32N-R20W-S8 SWSW
Water Resource: Groundwater: QWTA, Sand/Gravel Pit
This is a request to amend DNR Water Appropriation Permit 1986-6193 by increasing
the authorized volume of DNR Water Appropriation Permit 1986-6193 to 30 million
gpallons of water per year. the increase in volume is required by the need to increase
production at the facility.
The water is used for washing sand and gravel. Water is pumped from one well at a rate
of 500 gallons per minute. The water from the well is discharged into a line pond and
taken into the washing machinery at a rate of 1,800 gallons per minute from the pond.
Water that flows from the washing machinery is routed through a series of settling ponds
before it flows back into the intake pond for the washing machinery.
haps://webappsll.dnr.state.mn.us/m ark s/request for_comment/reviewer_comments?revs
ewer 1cey=d4dcb35f945c0eb0eaF>e28987a547f79dc3c2a7d.
If you have questions about this application or how to enter comments via the online
system, please contact Joe Richter at j oe. ri chter@ state. mn.us, 651-259-5877.
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