09. d-e Memo - Public Works and Administration Report - April 2022
DATE:
Wednesday, April 19, 2022
FROM:
Ken Cammilleri, City Administrator
TO:
Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
RE:
April 2022 Public Works and Administration Report
Public Works/Utilities
Pothole Repairs
With the current freeze and thaw conditions, we can reasonably expect quite a few potholes to develop. Last week we completed pot hole filling in the following areas:
· 240th Street N at Olinda Trl N and St. Croix Trl N
· Parrish Rd N at Scandia Trl
· Morgan Ave N near 238th
· And other areas reported
If you are aware of a pothole issue, please contact the Public Works Department at 651-433-5223 or by visiting the complaints section on our website, www.cityofscandia.com.
New Flags for City Street Lights
City Crews have finished the assembly and installation of the new American Flags for our street light poles.
Damaged Street Light Pole on Oakhill Road to be Replaced
A street light pole was damaged by a vehicle at some point during the winter season, and will be replaced by crews from the City of St Paul this week. The light fixture is still salvageable
and will be reused.
New Tractor and Mower Attachments
The City now has receipt of the new replacement ditch mowing tractor. There are no issues with the operations of the tractor and its side mower attachment. However, the front mounted
mower’s hydraulics had a minor leak on the vacuum tube and will require service by Diamond for correction which we expect to not be at additional cost. Requested final payments for
the tractor and mower attachments have been included in this meeting’s payment batch.
Anderson-Erickson Lift Station
There have been some recent failure issues with one of the two pumps that serve the Anderson/Erickson Wastewater System’s only lift station. We had the pump condition tested, and it
has been found to be in good condition.
Administration
Development Code Update Process
The City held an open house on recent updates to the Development Code, which are intended to more closely align the code with the 2040 Comprehensive Plan and improve ease of use. It
is proposed that the Code may be presented before a formal evening public hearing at a special meeting in May. Tentative dates to be considered include Monday, May 23rd or Wednesday
May 25th. Once the date and time is finalized, notice of the hearing will be published and publicized on social media.
Implementation of Online Forms
Office staff have made substantial progress setting up our new online permit and reservation system. We have now launched online facility and park registration as our first phase of
testing the new system, which will be able to process all permits with the exception of building permits through our Laserfiche data system. Building permits will be able to be processed
through a software package called Permitworks. This software is currently being used by the City of Hugo, our current contracted Building Official and Inspection services, and our
neighboring communities. This makes the software interactable with Hugo, while maintaining permitting records directly with our City. We hope to have more information on this to come.
Preparations for Bond Rating Call
Staff will hold a conference call with Standard and Poor’s (S&P) in two weeks for reassessment of the City’s financial position. We are hoping for favorable findings.
Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) & Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF)
Staff is preparing a submission to the State for LCCMR funding through ENRTF for completion of the State Gateway Trail project that is intended to connect the Village Center with William
O’Brien State Park. The project scope includes the trail head parking lot at the Annex (the former Fire Station/Town Hall), a one-mile trail segment between the Annex and Oakhill Road,
the realignment of Oakhill Road to accommodate trail, the construction of a tunnel under Oakhill Road to comply with Washington County and Minnesota DNR’s desired crossing specifications.
The project will cost $2.96 Million, and the application will be submitted in time for May’s submission deadline. The state would be responsible for the entire project cost.
The cost breakdown is as follows:
$500,000 – for the trail from Scandia Village Center to Oakhill Road
$1,000,000 – for tunnel construction
$1,460,000 – for Oakhill Road realignment
Code Enforcement
City Staff will be working with the Sheriff’s Department to implement another round of nuisance enforcement this season, which will include utilization of the new Chapter 91 of the City
Code intended to address nuisances with potential utilization of criminal and/or civil action. The City’s ultimate goal with enforcement of code regulations remains to get voluntary
compliance from those who have been notified of an offense. We encourage anyone who is the recipient of a violation warning letter to get in contact with Deputy Boesel or contact City
Hall to work out solutions to violations.
Those violations that are unable to be resolved will be forwarded to the City Council for a hearing prior to final enforcement actions.
Legislative Updates on State Bonding
This year’s legislative session is anticipated to potentially yield the State’s largest capital infrastructure bonding bill of $2 Billion, which is twice that of historical sessions
due to the State’s larger than expected surplus. However, the Governor, the State Senate, and State House of Representatives appear to nowhere close alignment on a variety of issues
this session. This leaves a bit of uncertainty that a final bonding bill will be agreed upon before the Legislature’s Constitutionally mandated end of session on May 23rd.
The Legislature reconvinced this Monday from Easter Break. The next two weeks will be crunch time to finalize each house’s bonding bills. Local capital investment projects, such as
ours, were discussed in Committee with the House. The Senate Committee opted not to use its meeting time to hear these requests. However, the Senate Committee will likely also have
local projects included in their Bonding Bill.
So far, we know that the Arts and Heritage Barn Project is in the House's bill. The goal is to try to get our remaining two requests for the Bliss Wastewater Nutrient Treatment Project
and the Gateway Trail Project in at least one of the bills, so that it can be considered at conference committee.
Please let me know if you have any questions.