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09.e August 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: Tuesday August 16, 2022 FROM: Ken Cammilleri, City Administrator TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members RE: August 2022 Administration Report Bliss Addition Stormwater and Water Quality Improvement Project Staff is still in the process of finalizing cost estimates for this project, which is expected to be lower than totals originally included in this year’s Capital Budget. This month, staff will be identifying culverts for replacement to be included within this stormwater quality and management project, so staff will be assembling a list to be included within these cost estimates, which should be available within the next few weeks. The engineering, planning, easement acquisition for this project is planned for this year. In September, staff will be seeking approval for appraisal work and expenditure of funds to acquire the easements needed to complete this project. Consideration of developing a City Street Sweeping Program Recently, the Carnelian Marine St. Croix Watershed District (CMSCWD) has suggested that the City consider developing a street sweeping program. This program would be a prerequisite to obtaining grant funding for third party street sweeping or acquisition of a street sweeper under the Clean Water Legacy Grant through the Minnesota Board of Soil and Water. Canopy cover, sweeping frequency, timing of sweeping, and sweeper type can reduce sediment and phosphorus discharges from urban areas. Increasing late spring, early summer, and fall sweepings in catchments with medium or high tree canopy cover reduces the greatest amount of phosphorus discharging from streets. The Lower St. Croix Partnership provides funds to implement increased sweeping in late spring, early summer, and fall in catchments with medium or high tree canopy and directly flowing to priority water resources. Participating communities will be responsible for implementing increased sweeping in late spring, early summer and fall in targeted areas identified in an enhanced sweeping plan. The cost of completing such a study is not available at this time but is estimated to be between and will be completed for a cost between $3,000-$5,000 for each Enhanced Street Sweeping Evaluation, depending on scale. Staff is currently working with the CMSCWD to see what this project would cost and if the Comfort Lake Forest Lake Watershed and Rice Creek Watershed would also be willing to participate. This also can be expected at an upcoming meeting. 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 2023 City-Wide Budget Preparations The next budget workshop and Capital Investment Committee Meeting is anticipated to be scheduled for Wednesday August 7, 2022 at 6:30pm. Materials for this meeting will be made available next week for review. 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) has advanced. We presented the project to the Commission at 10:00am this morning. Increased Water Appropriations and Ground Water Monitoring Activity at Martin Marietta Gravel Pit Staff currently has Martin Marietta Corp. collecting data related to its pumping activities and the change in groundwater levels. At this point, we still do not have enough data to complete an analysis. A report prepared by our groundwater consultant will be delivered at the completion of the data collection period. Follow up to review results is expected this September or October. Primary Election and Upcoming Filing for City Offices This year’s primary election went very smoothly. We had 542 in person voters. Candidates interested in filing for the Offices of Mayor or City Council Member (2 Council seats) should note that the filing period is from August 2nd to August 16th at 5pm. Candidates for City office must submit their filling application to the City Clerk. Applications have a $2.00 fee. The Friend of Scandia Parks and Trails have successfully obtained a grant support habitat restoration from invasive species for Wind in the Pines Park Great River Greening has awarded the Friends of Scandia Parks and Trails $39,300 to carry out habitat restoration in Wind in the Pines Park. Staff is currently working with the granting authority on the contractual arrangement that will authorize the work to be carried out in the park. Both Great River Greening and the Friends are further interested if the City might also consider offering funding for the project. Public Works Director Fischer and I will look into the potential to use available funds from the Parks and Recreation Department budget to recommend to the Council, if such funding is available. This recommendation and the work authorization agreement is anticipated to be brought forward to the City Council at its next meeting. This City is contributing $500.00 to this project which will be coming out of the Parks Budget and is included in this meeting packet bills. Code Enforcement A dozen notices went out this week, and there have been two compliance arrangements arranged. We are two-three months out from arranging any City Council hearings, which have been newly introduced as part of the City’s new nuisance ordinance, Chapter 91. Complaints have remained steady but have been in lower quantities for the 30 days. 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 Discussion remains in the works for establishing a neighborhood watch for the Bliss Addition & Holiday Beach neighborhood. Regulatory concerns in this area have also prompted the City to arrange a listening session with residents. A date and time for this activity will be shared soon, so that all that are interested may attend. Solar Ordinance Research and Survey The City has recently released a survey regarding the regulation of solar farms, (referred to as Distribution Scale Solar Energy System in the City’s Development Code,) as part of its temporary moratorium. Small-scale residential solar installations are still able to be permitted. Currently, solar farms are only allowed on parcels in the city zoned as Agricultural Core (AG-C). The AG-C Zone was established to protect and preserve land for long-term agricultural production and to preserve the rural character of the city. Federal and state departments of agriculture have referred to commercial solar production as an agricultural commodity. The moratorium on new solar farm development has tasked the Planning Commission with researching and developing code improvements to address the quantity of solar farm installations, screening requirements, effects on the environment, impacts on neighboring uses, how permits are processed, and the conditions that will remain on-going with these solar farm sites. The public survey will help guide that report. The Solar Survey may be filled out online at www.cityofscandia.com/SolarSurvey, or a copy obtained at City Hall (14727 209th St N) and is open for submissions until 3 p.m., September 2, 2022. Server Equipment Migration Last week, the City completed the transfer of its document server from the City’s old server equipment. The process had a few hiccups on the public side, which temporarily took public document access down. All services are now restored. The City Council is requested to authorize placing the old server on the surplus list for sale. If approved, server will be sold via online auction in as in condition without the hard drives, which will be retained or destroyed according to the City’s data retention policy. Implementation of Online Forms Bee has been working diligently to move more of the City’s applications to a digital format on the City’s website, which utilizes the City’s existing Laserfiche system. Before this functionally is launched, staff will be testing the new platform to assure that all necessary data is collected and that the processes are functioning as intended. As part of a trial run, we will be implementing a select application process to test functionality with users. A launch date has not been determined, as there are still multiple applications that will need to be set up, which includes programming the correct workflows to assure the application gets to the right person for processing. Staff is also making another attempt to contact Permitworks, (a company and software platform for processing building permits that is currently utilized by the Building Department at the City of Hugo.) Utilizing this platform would better streamline permit application processing and review, while allowing the City to retain building records within its own systems. Should this system not be available to us, staff will be exploring other options to implement a digital permit application processing system that will be accessible between offices.