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09.e Memo - June 2022 Administration ReportPage 1 of 3 City of Scandia 14727 209th St. N., Scandia, Minnesota 55073 Phone (651) 433-2274 | Fax (651) 433-5112 | www.cityofscandia.com DATE: Friday, June 17, 2022 FROM: Ken Cammilleri, City Administrator TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members RE: June Administration Report 2023 Street Improvement Project on Melanie Trail N and 238th Street N There has been some difficulty with finalizing a start time for construction on the street improvement project. Work on the project has faced unexpected delays due an extended review period of the wetland delineation report, which is still waiting for approval from the Technical Expert Panel (TEP), to proceed. On Friday afternoon, I was informed by our project engineer that Astech, the project contractor, is now planning to start culver and street improvement work on Thursday, June 23, 2022, in areas outside of wetland impacts. They planned to pave the base course for these areas. Then, they will come back once all wetland/watershed requirements have been met in late July/early August and complete the final pipe crossings/ditch work and then pave the wear course, or final lift, for this project. Bolton and Menk will be providing project schedules to all affected property owners. Bliss Addition Stormwater and Water Quality Improvement Project The Carnelian Marine St Croix Watershed District held an on-site meeting last Thursday evening with Bliss Addition Residents to go over the extent of the project prior to starting the design phase of the project. I was not able to attend this meeting due to scheduling conflicts with the Internet Action Committee, but I hope to have feedback from that meeting available to share at this upcoming City Council meeting. Recently, it has come to our attention that all 4 outlet pipes originally included in this project are either eligible for grant assistance or to meet the grant matching requirement. This means the funding originally estimated for this project is deficient to cover the project costs as originally intended. (A visual of these outlet pipes are denoted in red in Figures 3 and 4 in this packet.) I will be working with the City Engineer and staff to prepare a cost estimate and a plan to fund these improvements with the hope of presenting options to the City Council at its July 6th meeting. 2023 City-Wide Budget Preparations Early efforts are currently underway to assemble the draft staff proposal for the 2023 budget. Our departments are currently in the process of obtaining cost estimates for scheduled capital requests and selecting operational costs in light of recent inflationary market conditions to assure that we are using practical cost projections. There are key cost estimates that are still outstanding, at this time, to finalize our draft, this includes a proposal from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office for costs of service and estimated insurance costs associated with operations and employee benefits. Typically, we will start budget preparations shortly after July expenses have been reconciled so as to include spending trends at mid-year into estimates, but the hope is that this earlier start will provide us with the Page 2 of 3 City of Scandia 14727 209th St. N., Scandia, Minnesota 55073 Phone (651) 433-2274 | Fax (651) 433-5112 | www.cityofscandia.com capacity to introduce adaptations to the budget that will help the City meet its key operational and capital investment goals. Later this year, we will also start discussion on the potential for bonding for the upcoming Big Marine Sewer Project and other possible capital investments. The City Council is encouraged to provide us with guidance as to spending priorities at any time so that we can develop a budget that more directly applies to your goals. The working plan is to attempt to fit the Internet Action Committee’s proposal within our Capital Investment Plan Goals. Capital Investment Committee meetings and City Council workshops are tentatively planned to begin in mid to late July. Progress on the Scandia Gateway Trail Grant with Legislative‐Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) Our Final $3,070,000 Gateway Trail Project LCCMR proposal for the 2023 (FY2024) RFP for funding from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF) is still being processed. LCCMR received 174 proposals requesting a total of approximately $164 million. Approximately $70 million is anticipated to be available from the lottery-generated fund through this program. On July 25, LCCMR members will meet to select a subset of high‐ranking proposals to invite for presentation on August 8-10 and 16-17 to receive further consideration. On August 30, it is anticipated that LCCMR will make final selection and funding allocation decisions. Increased Water Appropriations and Ground Water Monitoring Activity at Martin Marietta Gravel Pit On May 26, 2022, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) approved an appropriations permit to increase Matin Marietta’ (formerly Tiller) maximum water use from 20 million gallons per a year (MGY) to 30 MGY at the gravel pit. The company supplied a water monitoring plan to staff on June 9, 2022. The plan was reviewed and approved on June 14, 2022 by Dave Hume of LRE Water. (Mr. Hume serves as the City’s consulting hydrogeologist who specializes in monitoring groundwater flows and the impact of high-capacity wells.) The operation will continue to make use of sedimentation basins for recirculation and plans only to pump water as needed for its aggregate washing operation. Monitored 24/7 pumping was recently undertaken this week to fill the sedimentation basin but will end when the basins are filled, then pumping will only be done as needed. Regular monitoring of well activity and water levels will continue to be observed to monitor the effects of pumping during operations. It will take several weeks to a few months to assemble a data set for Mr. Hume’s analysis. A report will be prepared and presented to the City Council upon its completion. There are currently no compliance issues under the annual operating permit at this time. Code Enforcement Updates The last month has been relatively busy for code enforcement related activities. There have been several instances of illegal grading and filling activities, numerous property maintenance violations, and a repeat home occupation violation. Most of these issues are new and will be receiving warning notices form the City. Council Member Cusick and I met with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office’s Patrol Commander, Tim Harris to discuss approaches to dealing with persistent reckless motorcycle operation, speeding, and noise complaints from the 14800 Block of Oakhill Road N near Meister’s Bar and Grill. Commander Harris noted that scheduling will shift to summer weekend coverage and a few special focused enforcement activities may Page 3 of 3 City of Scandia 14727 209th St. N., Scandia, Minnesota 55073 Phone (651) 433-2274 | Fax (651) 433-5112 | www.cityofscandia.com be implemented from time to time to help crack down disruptive motorcycle activities. It was agreed we would revisit future consideration of special detail assignment if issues persist or worsen. The Sheriff’s Office has been successful in catching a number of motorcycle operators in this area during this season and we are hopeful their efforts will detract riders from not following the law. Playground Project Funded We are pleased to report that the City was selected for funding through the Minnesota Outdoor Recreation Grant Program for the Community Center playground replacement project. I want to thank the efforts of: • Public Works Director Charles Fischer for all of his assistance with planning process and writing and preparing this grant application grant; • Cami Van Able, Christine Johnson, and Sean Bibus of the Scandia Park Playground Equipment Replacement Subcommittee (SPPERS) for all of their planning efforts including researching play structure options, site design, and identifying funding sources; and, • Parks and Recreation Committee for their efforts and support getting this project going and help soliciting donations to enhance the project. Please see Director Fischer’s report for more detail on this project’s progress.