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2023 April - Spring NewsletterApril · April 1, 8-11 a.m., Breakfast with the Easter Bunny, Scandia-Marine Lions · April 15 10 a.m.—1 p.m., Service Project Sampler Day, Scandia-Marine Lions · April 17, 5 p.m., Board of Appeal and Equalization, Community Center · April 20, First Anniversary Celebration with Mellerud, Sweden, 11 a.m., Community Center · April 22, Earth Day Activity, 1-3 p.m. Pinecone Bird Feeders, Hay Lake Park, Park and Recreation Committee. · April 29, Star Watch Party with Mike Lynch, Hay Lake Park · April 29-May 6,Spring Clean-up Collection Week, SRC, Wyoming · April 30, 1 p.m., Earth Day shrub give- a-way and info , Hay Lake Park, Friends of Scandia Parks & Trails May · May 4, Butik Opening - Gammelgården · May 5-7, Opening Weekend, Gammelgården · May 28, Immigrant for a Day, Gammelgården · May 29, Memorial Day, Office Closed June · June 5, 1-6 p.m. Blood Drive, Scandia-Marine Lions · June 14, Farmers Market - Opening Day, Community Center · June 24, Midsommer Day, Gammelgården July · July 4, Independence Day , Office Closed August · August 1, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m., National Night Out, Community Center · August 19, Spelmanstamma, Gammelgården September · September 4, Labor Day, Office Closed · September 9, Taco Daze Festival For more information and a City meeting calendar, see the website www.cityofscandia.com For Gammelgården events, see: www.gammelgardenmuseum.org For Scandia Marine Lions events, see: www.scandiamarinelions.org CITY OF SCANDIA Dedicated to Rural Community Values Household Scandia, MN 55073 City of Scandia Scandia Community/ Senior Center 14727 209th Street North Scandia, MN 55073 Phone: 651.433.2274 Fax: 651.433.5112 E-mail: mail@ci.scandia.mn.us Hours: Mon. thru Fri. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. City Council: Christine Maefsky, Mayor 651.433.2684 Mike Lubke 715.429.0786 Jerry Cusick 651.433.5865 Heather Benson 651.433.0168 Steve Kronmiller 651.538.0094 Regular Council Meeting: Third Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. Council Work Session: First Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. Planning Commission: First Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. City Staff: Anne Hurlburt, Interim Administrator Brenda Eklund, City Clerk Colleen Firkus, Treasurer Bee Stignani, Office Assistant Charles Fischer, Director of Public Works Mike Hinz, Fire Chief Eric Larson, Attorney Eckberg Lammers Ryan Goodman, Engineer Bolton & Menk TJ Hofer Planner, Bolton & Menk Like us on Facebook for the most Up-to-Date Information Community Calendar, April 2023 - September, 2023 PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID Scandia, MN 55073 EDDM Message from the Mayor APRIL 2023 VOLUME 17, ISSUE 1 CITY OF SCANDIA Inside this issue: A twice-yearly publication for residents of the City of Scandia, Minnesota A busy spring, summer and fall lie ahead. The Scandia-Marine Lions will host the fourth annual Service Project Sampler Day featuring 15 hands-on service projects and 21 collection drives. This event in the community center is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 15th. Gammelgarden’s 51st Birthday Celebration & Picnic will be May 6th at Gammelgarden. Look for sign up information on the Scandia and Gammelgarden websites. Eight members of Scandia’s Sister City initiative will be guests of our sister city Mellerud, Sweden in June. Mayor Christine Maefsky, Sister City Board members, Patti Ray, Sue Rodsjo, Paul Rodsjo, Darlene Holtgreve and Lynnette Welch, along with farm connection Sarah Nell Johnson, and bee connection Mike Mackiewicz will be in Mellerud from June 26 to July 4. The visit will coincide with ”Kanalyran” Mellerud’s yearly town festival The members of the group will stay with host families while in Mellerud. Scandia’s committee plans to invite a group from Mellerud to Scandia around the time of Taco Daze, with Scandia families hosting the visitors. If you might be interested in hosting, please contact me. Our new community center playground will be opening early this summer, with an official opening ceremony to follow. Washington County Historical Society’s Hay Lake Beer Tasting fundraiser is set this year for June 17th at Hay Lake School Museum. Once again we will have a Midco Day including a welcoming at the Farmer’s Market, an internet story competition for elementary school students at Lilleskogen Park along with a hamburger picnic from Meisters. The date is August 23rd. The Scandia Heritage Alliance will be hosting a number of events this summer and fall. On June 8th there will be a fundraiser honoring Vice President Walter Mondale with a boat tour out of Taylors Falls. Also, together with Gammelgarden, the Spelmanstamman fiddle festival will be held this year on August 19th at Gammelgarden. And, the Progressive Dinner will be back this year. It is set for October 14th. To find out more about these events and how to sign up for them, keep checking Scandia’s social media accounts (website, Facebook, and NextDoor.) Please keep in touch. c.maefsky@ci.scandia.mn.us, Christine Maefsky, Mayor Trash & Recycling Services 2 Public Works News 2 Fire & Rescue News 2 Watershed: Building & Landscape Project Notification Requirements 2 Waste & Recycle News 3 2023 Assessments 3 2nd Annual City-Wide Garage Sale 3 Burning Permits 3 Parks & Recreation News 3 New City Administrator Selected 3 Community Calendar 4 First Anniversary Celebration with Sweden! Join the fun at the First Anniversary Celebration of Scandia’s Sister City charter signing with Mellerud, Sweden! Festivities will occur on Thursday, April 20th, starting at 11:00 a.m., at the Community Center. An online ceremony on large monitors with our friends in Sweden will include Swedish songs performed by the Bettes drἅgar Choir from Mellerud, American songs by Unexpected Company Chorale, remarks by Mellerud Mayor Karl-Olof Pettersson and Scandia’s Mayor, Christine Maefsky, and an update of our connections during the past year. The celebration will b e b r o a d c a s t simultaneously in each respective international location. Please come and support this important event. Following the brief ceremony, a Swedish FIKA will be held. This is a beautiful Swedish tradition during which people drink coffee, tea, or juice, eat Swedish cakes, cookies, and other light snacks, and talk to each other! The Scandia’s Sister City Committee plans to serve the towering Kransekake cake, Princess Torte, and Krumkaka waffle cookies, to name a few. The food and the company will be excellent! The City of Scandia and The Scandia- Marine Lions Club sponsor this no-charge FIKA. All are welcome to attend; you will learn a few Swedish words! Scandia sought out Mellerud to be our sister city because many of Scandia’s founding families came from the Mellerud area with names such a s Isa acson , Abrahamson, Dahlin, Edstrom, Kuno, and Anderson. Listed are connections between our cities set up by Scandia’s Sister City Committee: connecting the Lions Clubs, our elementary schools, our choral groups, a farm program, tourism e x c h a n g e , m u s e u m collaboration, ancestry information, commercial trade, arts and crafts idea exchange, classic antique cars, beekeeping clubs, quilting club, Girl Scouts and a lake fishing connection. We thank all of the Sister City Committee members for all their valuable time, dedication, and creativity! Please Help US Find You Mark your driveway or mailbox with at least 2" tall reflective numbers (visible from either direction at the road). This will allow fire, police, ambulance & other public safety services to quickly find your home in the event of an emergency. Additional markings may be needed for shared driveways and mailbox clusters. See city ordinance 152.20 on the city web site for further details - www.cityofscandia.com/FireAddress Smoke alarms Smoke alarms save lives. Smoke alarms that are properly installed and maintained play a vital role in reducing fire deaths and injuries. If there is a fire in your home, smoke spreads fast and you need smoke alarms to give you time to get out. Like coupons and canned goods, smoke alarms have an expiration date. Per NFPA they have a life of 10 years, but if it has a built-in CO detector you may need to replace it sooner per the manufacturer's recommendations. According to Consumer Reports, most CO detectors come with a five- to seven-year warranty. Trash & recycling service became a hot topic after Scandia’s dominant trash & recycling provider, SRC, was acquired by Waste Management (WM) in late 2022. For nearly 30 years, Scandia has contracted with SRC to provide recycling service, with the city providing a small subsidy. SRC also contracted directly with many residents and businesses for trash service. As WM, the only other company serving Scandia, began serving former SRC customers and the recycling contract expired, there has been some confusion. The city also learned that it had been operating under an obsolete ordinance (from 1970) requiring review and updating. After discussing citizen concerns and options available for both residents and businesses, the City Council has begun the process to update Scandia’s ordinance and pursue an “organized collection” system. With organized collection, the city chooses the city’s waste haulers. Advantages include a greater ability of the city to manage services, guarantee service to all, decrease the wear and tear on streets, reduce truck traffic, and keep costs lower. Some neighboring cities (including Forest Lake, Marine on St. Croix and Stillwater) manage their trash & recycling this way. State law dictates the process a city must follow. The first step is to provide formal notice to the public and current solid waste haulers. The city must negotiate exclusively with current haulers for a 60- day period. If an agreement cannot be reached, the city must then create a “Solid Waste Options Committee” to study the issues and draft an RFP (Request for Proposals) to solicit for waste & recycling companies. Reviewing proposals, negotiating a contract and updating ordinances will take some time, likely until later this year. As this newsletter goes to press, Scandia is still in the required 60-day negotiation period with WM and is actively meeting with the company. Council will receive a report in April and decide whether to pursue a contract with WM or move to the next step in the state-defined process (a committee and RFP.) In the meantime, WM will continue to provide waste & recycling services to Scandia customers. Concerned residents are encouraged to follow updates on the city’s website www.cityofscandia.com/ Alerts, follow the directions to receive notification for 2023 Waste and Recycling Updates. Notification Requirement - Building and Landscape Projects If you have a stream, wetland, or lake on your property, or within 1,000 feet of your property, PLEASE contact the City of Scandia and the Watershed District prior to beginning any project. Contractors are frequently unaware of local requirements and we will assist you to prevent stop work orders and unintentional violations. In addition to helping you understanding local permitting requirements, the Watershed District may be able to provide free plan development services and identify portions of your project eligible for cost share funding. When permits are needed, our requirements seek to not only protect the water resources during construction, but also incorporate long -term habitat and water protection practices such as adding trees and shrubs, low maintenance perennial buffers, and rain-gardens. These practices add up to large benefits to your property, water resources, and community! Before beginning a project, please either go to Scandia’s website, w w w . c i t y o f s c a n d i a . c o m / WatershedsInScandia,, or call office staff during regular business hours (651) 433-2274 for watershed contact information. Page 2 CITY OF SCANDIA Fire & Rescue Trash & Recycling Services Remodeling? Adding a storage shed? Building a deck? Any new project—check out the NEW UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT CODE adopted in October 2022 for guidance to meet all zoning requirements—www.cityofscandia.com/UDC Out of the f re e z e r and into construction season! Public Works’ road improvement projects are paving and seal coating. Look to Scandia’s social media accounts (website, Facebook, and NextDoor) for updates. As spring is springing, please consider installing swing-arm style mailbox supports. They cushion impact by swinging out of the way if a vehicle or snow from the plow blade comes in contact with the mailbox. Specifications are available at: w w w . c i t y o f s c a n d i a . c o m / StreetsIceSnowMailboxes under the tab Streets: Ice and Snow Control. Contact your local post office for placement details including height and distance from the edge of pavement regulations. Additional details at www.cityofscandia.com/Mailbox. As snow recedes and rain begins, clearing culverts is key to preventing flooded ditches and roadways. Well drained ditch areas also prevent mosquito habitat. Please help to clear culvert openings on either side of your driveway by removing brush, sand or soil, and fallen leaves. Have a safe spring and summer this year! Public Works Spring Projects? Page 3 VOLUME 17, ISSUE 1 Burning Permits Washington County has released the 2023 assessment information for the City of Scandia. In total, the value of all taxable properties in Scandia increased by 4.7% over 2022 assessment. Of the parcels assessed, approximately there was a 0 to 5% increase for 2000 parcels, 6% to 10% increase for 250 parcels, 11% and up increase for 250 parcels. If you have questions, you are encouraged to contact Patrick Poshek, the City’s Assessor, at 651.430.0360 or attend the Local Board Review & E q u a l i z a t i o n meeting Monday April 17th 2023 5:00 to 6:00 pm S c a n d i a C o m m u n i t y Center 14727 209th St N (listed on your valuation 2023 Assessments Waste & Recycle News · Clean-Up Week- City-Wide Clean-up Week is scheduled for Saturday, April 29, through Saturday, May 6, at SRC, Inc. Waste and Recycle site in Wyoming, MN. Residents may drop off rubbish items not taken by their regular trash hauler such as appliances, tires, furniture, scrap metal and wood at the SRC facility located at 6320 East Viking Boulevard, Wyoming, MN. Discounted prices and other information is located at www.cityofscandia.com/Recycle · Mattress Clean-up Coming in early May—In collaboration with Ramsey/Washington County Recycling and Energy, Scandia residents may schedule free mattress and box spring recycling collection pick up by Second Chance Recycling. Curbside collection on Monday, May 1st and Wednesday, May 3rd. Registration opens up April 24th. To schedule your curbside pick-up, watch for instructions on Scandia’s social media accounts (website, Facebook, and NextDoor) or contact staff during regular business hours (651) 433-2274. You MUST register to participate. · Film Plastic Recycle - Bring clean and dry plastic film products that are free of food residue to the collection bin in the Community Center to earn a park bench for Scandia! Accepting grocery bags, produce bags, newspaper sleeves, bread bags, bubble wrap and other such plastic film with the recycling numbers 2 and 4 printed! 500# collected before July 1, 2023 earns a bench. · Electronics/Hazardous Waste—Washington County sponsors free one-day household hazardous waste and electronics events. Paper shredding is available. Restrictions and details at www.cityofscandia.com/Recycle Forest Lake Transit Center Saturday, May 6 | 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. Saturday, June 3 | 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. Saturday, September 9 | 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. · More Recycling News —www.cityofscandia.com/Recycle 2nd Annual City-Wide Garage Sale Parks & Recreation News The 2nd Annual City-Wide Garage sale will be Thursday, June 1st through Saturday, June 3rd. All residents and businesses are encouraged to register their garage sale to be included in the digital map. Register at www.cityofscandia.com/GarageSale, or contact staff during regular business hours (651) 433-2274 for assistance. Participants have the option to set up a sale table in the Community Center parking lot on Saturday only. Mark your calendars to both sell and shop! Apply online at www.cityofscandia.com/BurnPermit for open burning permits. Please notify the Washington County Sheriff’s Office (651.439.9381) one hour before all burns except recreational 3’x3’ campfires which do not require permits. Watch for Spring Burning Restrictions! New City Administrator Selected Kyle Morell has been appointed to serve as Scandia’s new City Administrator. The Mayor and Council approved an employment agreement at their March 21, 2023 meeting. Morell will begin his duties on Monday, April 17, 2023. The Council chose him from a field of five finalists who were interviewed on March 10th . Mr. Morell currently serves as the City Administrator and City Clerk for Hinckley, Minnesota and has 16 years of experience in local government, having previously served the cities of Clara City, Columbia Heights and Inver Grove Heights. Morell has Bachelor of Arts in History from Marquette University in Milwaukee and Master of Public Administration and Master of Arts in Management from Hamline University. He is a resident of Forest Lake, Minnesota. Mr. Morell replaces Anne Hurlburt (retired Scandia Administrator, who served from 2006 to 2012.) Hurlburt has been serving as Interim City Administrator since the departure of Ken Cammilleri in December of 2022. · Free Earth Day Activity – Build a pine-cone bird feeder at the Hay Lake Park pavilion Saturday April 22nd, 1-3 pm. Materials for the feeders and refreshments for participants will be provided while supplies last. · Star Watch Party with Mike Lynch – Learn about and enjoy the spring-time night sky with the popular Twin Cities meteorologist. Saturday April 29th at Hay Lake Park. Sponsored by Security State Bank of Marine. Watch Scandia’s social media accounts (website, Facebook, and NextDoor) for more specific details. · Tai Chi Class – Tai Chi is a great fitness and mindfulness activity. Register for an 8-week class, held at the community center on Wednesday nights, starting on May 3rd – for more information and registration, go to www.cityofscandia.com/TaiChi · Children’s Story Path at Lilleskogen Park – Walk the path to look for regularly updated stories and drawings from the elementary school kids around Scandia. · A new ‘Little Library’ is coming this summer to Lilleskogen Park. Exchange your used books for new reading adventures in a miniature Water Tower Barn.