estimate that and it's on a state contract that we order with a whole bunch of other cities that like there's probably a hundred plus cities on it. So, you get a a discount pricing it on it. But with that, you um whatever you
order, you can take 20% less or 20% more. But if you you short yourself, you can't they won't bring you anymore. So, you'd have to get it from another city or work out a deal with another city to get it. So, it's kind of a hard thing to do. We kind of go back and forth. We get
other guys involved with it and say, "How much should we get?" And I always before I hit that submit button, you're like, "Well, hopefully this works." But, um, yeah. So, the last couple years we we've been doing, you know, good with that. So, >> with that amount of salt, where do we Is that all stored at the public works? >> It is. Okay.
>> Um, we have a salt shed there. >> We have our excuse me, our salt shed divided kind of in half. Um, we order all just regular salt. If you guys have seen salt that's green or blue on the highways, that's a treated salt. You pay
more money for that treated salt. It's treated with different things. Um, what we do to save some money is we order all regular salt and then we order beet juice. And beet juice we will mix up kind of like a 100 tons at a time. Um,
salt only works down to 15°. Um, so below that, uh, we have to use something that's treated so it activates or it works in the colder weather. So I think we save, I think, $15 to $20 a ton by mixing it ourself um, for that. And we
kind of mix it as needed for that. So, >> okay. >> I I think I think they say 15 below, but it's when it gets so cold, I've heard 12 below and nothing works. But um it's
that that's kind of what they what we go off of. So >> juice, just beet juice. >> No, it smells like molasses actually. You know, if if we have leftover uh treated salt from and it sits all summer, it kind of all drains out or, you know, soaks to the bottom, but we
can remix it up and and use it again. So >> yeah, >> when you take that full load in that you have to be allotted, are you have enough room in your salt shed for it or do you are you expanding out at all? >> So So uh with the salt when we like if
we ordered let's say we ordered 500 tons. We have a time frame when we can take that. So we may only take 100 ton at a time depending on where we're where we're at. The last two years we carried over about 400 ton. So are our shed and
then you have I think a date I think it's like July or something you have to take it by and if you don't take it by then then they charge you a storage fee for each week that you don't take it. So you have to have the room you know we've jammed it in there before just so we
don't get charged a fee for you know a storage fee for them you know holding on to it. So >> good. Yep. >> All right. Street sweeping. Um, like I said, we are very diligent with our street sweeping. Um, Randy and I go to
uh classes at uh um watershed district and they have grants and they have different things out there for people to hire like an additional sweeper to have extra, you know, people come out and help them sweep so they can get out
more. Um we average about six to eight times per year street sweeping. So we're actually we actually do a really good job with that. Um you know in the springtime we try to get out as soon as we can once the snow is melted. Um and
then get that spring sweep in and then depends when the leaves bud sometimes or if we have a storm come through you might have to go out and do that again. Um, the biggest thing with street sweeping is getting rid of what you what you collect. It basically has to go to a
landfill. And I know I've mentioned this before, but we actually we we'll store our street sweepings at our shop, we have a bin and then on rain days or days that are, you know, bad weather, we actually haul our street sweepings to
MOA. And it's a it's a long trip, but we actually save about $1,000 a load by doing that. If uh we got rid of it at a place in Burnsville here, it's about $1,200 a load and I think we pay about $260 to get rid of it there. So, I don't
really like to even talk about it out here because I don't want other people to do it. I haven't we kind of luck in because but it's a really tough thing. Everyone has the same problem on where to get rid of this and the cost of getting rid of this stuff. So, um, we're kind of lucky that we have that.
Like I said, it's it's kind of a hassle, but it's actually good work for you some rain days and, you know, we can haul it up there and it's worth the trip. So, um, yeah. Um, parks, um, I said our park
amenities continue to grow. Um, so is the need for maintenance. Um, you know, we've added uh irrigation um in some of the parks. We've added around Hy Park down at uh Casey Park. You know, to try to make those areas look nicer, greener. You know, with that
um you know, comes fertilizing, weed control, you know, more mowing on that on that stuff. Um but, you know, we're trying to make a nicer appearance in there. Randy is an ex excellent grass grower. Um he he he loves green grass
and he does a great job with with that. Um I don't know if you talk to Dan from the Bets Park. Uh he loves Randy because Randy is on that grass out there and you know it's but with that you know does come a lot of extra maintenance and you
know mowing and you know and watering but it it looks really nice. Um >> congratulations on that. I we get a lot of uh comments on the vets park how nice it looks. Yeah, >> for the crew. >> Yep. And we all the bushes got ripped out last year and we've been on uh they
picked out some new ones between Ada and Randy and Dan. Um they said we have to order them. I think we had a note about a week ago that we needed to order them and I don't know if Girtton is still on winter break or whatever, but we're trying to get a hold of them so we can
get the bushes in. Um, uh, new playground got installed, uh, at Polar Park. It got installed I I don't know, late December, middle of December. It was after we got all that snow and
they insisted on putting it in. I mean, it it's fine. They got it in, everything's good. Um, what um, we'll just have to get some uh, wood chips in there. We got some of them in there, but it it's all installed and ready to go. So, we should be able to get it as soon as everything dries up. Get some wood
chips in there and it'll be good to go. But yeah, they they were supposed to come early November and then they pushed it out and then they pushed it out and they said, "Hey, we're going to come in two weeks." And I'm like, "I don't know where you live, but we got like a foot and a half of snow." And they're like,
"Ah, we'll dig it out and work through it." Is a little probably I don't know if they'd do it again, but I I think they just probably want to get their last uh playground in for the year, but it it worked out. Um, we got a Gaga ball pit that we have. We're in the middle of
assembling at it's at public works. Um, we're putting it together kind of right now on uh, you know, bad days outside. Um, and Casey Lake. Uh, the the two ball fields got taken out in the back of
Casey Lake uh, last year, last fall. Um, and that got all hydro seated and grass is going really nice. um at the at the end of the year last year. We got a kind of a good jump on it. Again, Randy was growing some good grass down there. So,
um we're hoping in the spring here we can get some fertilizer on it. Um soccer nets are are ordered. They should be here in next week or so. Um so, that will be ready to go and that was per for the parks commission last year. You know, that kind of stuff. So,
um yeah. Any questions on park stuff right now? Okay. Um, water. Um, we can talk about chlorine at the end if you'd like. Um,
uh, street and utility project, uh, when whenever we have a street and utility project, uh, it requires staff to, um, we we operate all the valves that happen in a project area. So planned water shutdowns, if we turn something on, turn something off. And we do that so we know
what's on, what's off. If there's a new water man put in, we know uh that it's not hooked up to our system without being tested. Um so when we do have these uh projects, there's a lot of work that goes into it on our side uh working with the contractor to, you know, make
sure that everyone knows that we know um what's what's going on. Uh Randy and I spend a lot of time and so do our guys uh you know operating those valves and working with the contractors when we have these big uh street utility projects. We're very involved with it
and it's it's so we can answer any questions to you the residents or you guys of what's going on. Um in the next uh you know two two years two to three years uh we're going to need to start replacing all our residential water
meters. Um there's I think we have about 4800 4,900 water meters. Um we're going to have to do this. We put it in the CIP a couple years ago for planning on this, but um we're going to have to go and just start in parts of the city. You
know, I think we're just going to take one side of the city and just kind of start doing that. Um when they when they all got replaced about 15 to 20 15 to 18 years ago, um there was really kind of no rhyme or reason. and we kind of kind of went everywhere doing it. So, we're
just going to have to start someplace and and just go with it. Uh the water meters that we use, it's a census water meter. There's a battery in them and there's a battery life in them and there it's about a 20 year battery life in those. Uh there's commercial meters, there's also a battery in those. Those
are about a 10year uh life cycle on them. We have replaced, I'd say, a good portion of those already. Um, and they kind of 10 years to in a day they go out. I mean, it's almost like
clockwork. All of them are pretty pretty close. But, um, that's something that we're going to have to be working on. And I think, you know, we'll have to we'll run some numbers, but we'll probably have to look for a contractor to go out and replace these meters because it's a huge job. And getting in
people's houses nowadays, it's not as easy as it used to. I mean, it wasn't real easy before, but nowadays people really don't want you in their houses, but we'll have to come up with a plan and see how that goes. Um, and know we test daily. Um, we have
water tests that we do daily. Um, it used to be just fluoride. Now, we test for chlorine daily. You know, we're still in temporary chlorine right now. Um, hydrant flushing. Um, that is something that we we try to do each year. um you know with the chlorine and
stuff and the the brown water. I was talking to um the mayor and uh Dave before uh the meeting here and you know with that us having to chlorinate the time of the year. It was just a really bad time because winter was coming. You know, it didn't give us an opportunity
to go through and really flush the system and we had a little bit of an opportunity to do it. But, you know, for brown water calls and dirty water, um that that is coming from the chlorine being in the pipes, you know, you taking minerals off the pipes and just um the
chlorine mixing with the iron in the water. They say it discolors it. flushing would help that, you know, along, but in the middle of winter, it's really hard to go out and really do a thorough flush. So, um, that's something we'll be looking at doing in the spring.
Um, just, uh, fire hydrant replacement, just the average cost of a fire hydrant replacement is about $15,000. We have, you know, a lot of older ones in town. We have some money in the budget to try to pick away, you know, at four, five, six of these each year or ones that get
uh, broken. um lead service line inventory. Um you know, that is something that um is going to be a requirement that we keep doing this every year. We're going to have to put out a notification every single year for this. Um that's something that's new
that just came out this year. I confirmed that with Morgan and his people because I was like, man, the last time we sent the letter out, people were really upset. They're like, why do I keep getting this letter? And the bad thing about it is it goes out to every
resident regardless if they've done their inventory or not. And I I don't quite understand why, but it is a requirement. So, >> it comes very >> Does this mean you're on the clock? >> No, no, no. All right.
>> But it's But it is important. And when I looked into it, I think I was surprised to find this out. the information that we get primarily um from the state from Minnesota Department of Health has been good, but it it's never really been comprehensive. And we've been dealing
with this for the last couple years. But this most recent information that we got that okay, these letters that uh all cities put out, it's not just a one-time thing. It's an annual thing. And the question was, well, why why why do we have to send the same letter? Um the
answer is because it's federal law. So when they pass the laws at the federal level that require cities to inventory the water services and that sort of thing, part of that law is the the annual notification. And I guess it makes sense because if the title changes
on a home, there might be somebody coming into town that didn't get the previous notification. So, I guess from a public health and safety standpoint, I can understand why it's a requirement, but it was we did not know it was going to be an annual thing until just recently. So, the answer is it's federal
law. That's the the real reason why we need to comply. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So, yeah. So, that so the last letter that went out um we um do waterline inspections on Mondays and Fridays. Normally we don't schedule them for the
winter because if uh snowstorms come in and we have a bunch scheduled it's hard to we need pretty much all hands on deck to plow. But this letter went out late in the year and ever since it went out we have been full on. So we've been doing these inspections on Mondays and
Fridays and there's been 10 to 12 a day um since that letter has gone out. So, we've been busy doing that each uh Monday and Friday, and I I don't see any end in sight on that. At the moment, we're getting towards spring, so it makes it a little easier. Um we we had
to one time uh just we did a couple inspections right away in the morning. We had a couple water main breaks when it was really cold out and we had to cancel like six of them for one Friday just because we didn't have the the manpower to kind of handle everything.
But um it is we have been getting a lot of uh a lot of people signing up for that. Um and then with the lead service line inventory comes lead service line replacement. um we put in for a grant
for that and Morgan you probably I can't remember what that what we put in for the number but it will these people that have lead service line they are going to be required to replace those and there will there will be some type of program that we'll come up with um for helping
them replace them with this grant money. So >> yeah, so we applied last year through the uh uh PFA program um which is uh part of the drinking water revolving fund and they the state does have
dollars that are made available for lead and galvanized service line replacement. Um you wind up going into a a a pool of uh all applicants which are you know all cities statewide. Currently, we're ranked, I think, somewhere in the two to
300 range out of like about 1,200 placeholders in the overall list. And so, we moved up from 2025 to 2026, but we're not in the fundable range yet. So, we're hopeful maybe we'll get selected in 27 or 28. Um, I mean, those dollars
aren't going to last forever. Uh, but they're still out there. But we do have our hat in um you know in the ring and um I think the amount is $600,000 and that's based on what we have in terms of true inventory plus a little bit extra
in case we find more between now and then. But um that would uh cover the costs in some instances of not only replacing the water service from the main out to the curb stop, but potentially all the way from the curb stop to the home as well, especially if
it's a lead service or a galvanized surface, right? So it depends. There's a little bit of investigation to figure out if we need to do both sides of the shut off valve or not, but um that is all going to be investigation or or work that would come after we get the funding. we'd have to kind of develop a
program and a bid package at that time. So maybe 27 I think is what we can tell right now for that $600,000, but no guarantees. >> Thanks, Morgan. And yeah, I just want to mention too um this mandatory letter letter that does come out, it does say
on there in in bold letters, if you have already um replied to this or had this done, you know, you can disregard this letter. Um, I think we we can we tried to modify this letter when it first went out and the state only let us modify it so much and I think we'll we'll maybe
get that on maybe on the first line lessons learned so people can see read that right away but um even though the letter will have to go out to everyone um if you do read it if you have already done this you know you can disregard so it that letter does say that um
uh like I said we do our normal well maintenance Um I think our wells normally once every about 7 to 8 years uh the well gets pulled uh the whole the pump and everything gets uh they can
retool it re regrind it um and then they get uh reinstalled back in uh motors get the electric motors can get rewound um that's something that like I said we have those off I mean off years from each other to replace those or to
rebuild those. Um, we've upgraded uh with the electric department uh new VFDs motors for the or VFD startups for the motors in there. And what the these VFDs do, I'm not an expert on this. Brian can
probably sprink more of it, but basically it you can run your motors at a lower speed and use a less electricity. That's kind of the adjust of it, right Brian? You don't have the >> you don't have the big inrush with those big motors when they start up and they
ramp up to 100%. It controls the the speed of them so you it saves energy. Yes. >> And it's soft start. It's supposed to be easier on your motor. So um we were able to install those and get some uh I don't know if it's uh grant dollars or
>> part of the rebate >> part of the rebate program from the electric department. >> Money that has to be spent from the electric department is paying for it. So, it works out great for both parties. >> Yep. Uh and then like I said, uh rebuilding manholes. Um we could rebuild
uh uh hundreds and hundreds of manholes every year. There's lots of brick ones out there. Um we do some uh there's some companies that can come out and do some port and place concrete for some of the the brick ones that are falling in. Um, we do minimal work on some of these when
we do these our our our maintenance overlays or our pavement management, but we can't get I if there's something that's really bad, we're going to replace it in that pavement management, but we try to keep that, you know, in in tune or in the scope of work and not
doing a full reconstruct. Um, said gate valve turning uh is another thing that go to operate all of our gate valves. It's a it's it's good and it's bad. It's good that we can get out there and turn these and make sure they work. But when we get out there, there's lots of really
really old ones and sometimes you touch them and they start leaking and then you have to do something with them. But um and then water mane brakes, uh yearly average, you know, we have about four to six water mane brakes a year. Um that's down a little bit. I don't want to jinx ourselves on that, but um yeah, they
seem to come in spurts. >> We that done. >> Yeah, we would. Yeah. So, yeah, that's water. Um, chlorine. I'll just give you a quick update on chlorine. Um, like I said, we're still we're still chlorinating right now. Um, it's something we'll have to, you know, we're
going to talk with Brian and kind of come up with what we we think, you know, the the Minnesota Department of Health really wants us to stay on it permanently. Um, we are getting numbers together. here. We're working with Morgan to just get an idea of what it
would cost to permanently do what we're doing right now. The temporary stuff we have have set up, it's just a it's just a tank of chlorine, a pump. It's the chlorine's in the same room as the fluoride. Technically, you you can't have that. You can in our situation, but
you need a separate room. There's gas chlorine. There's all these different options. So, we're going to get all this information together and then I think we'll said talking with Brian, we'll figure out how we want to approach this, what we want to do. We'll get all the facts together and then kind of come up
with a plan. But for right now, we're just, you know, temporarily doing it where we have it in three wells that we're we're putting it in. So, um that's kind of where we're at right now. you know, the calls that we're getting right now, people, I smell chlorine or uh
brown water or dirty water. And like I I mentioned earlier, that kind of comes from uh the the chlorine mixing or the chlorine attaching to the iron, it discolors the water and just the sediment that's on the pipe that can cause some dirty water. We've gone into
people's houses, uh flush their main. I think a lot of it comes from their service line coming in. Um, and we've we've offered, you know, gone in for the people and we flush their main line for them. We just basically pull out their meter, hook a hose up, run that water for a while, and we can usually get it
to to clear up. Um, that's not to say that it might not come back because, you know, some can be coming out of our lines, but um, the water is perfectly safe. It meets I mean, all of our testing is good. We work very closely with the Minnesota Department of Health, so everything is everything is good
right now. So, uh, more to come on that. So, any questions on that? Okay. >> How long? >> What is it? When do we start again? Um, >> January.
>> Third week in January. >> I say I thought it was about a month. So, yeah. And you know when we failed our test that when we went off of it last time um it was I think four days he tested they failed. We turned it on the chlorine back on it was on for three 4
days and then we got good tests again. So I said well I said more to come we can probably have another discussion with all you guys to kind of come up with a plan for the future here. So, >> um, sanitary sewer. Um, we currently
maintain 46.84 miles. Uh, I don't know if that's 84. That's getting down to I should have changed that to around 47. Um, uh, yeah. So, 47 miles of sanitary sewer with four lift stations. Um, lift
stations are just lower areas in town that a bunch of, you know, houses pump into an area and then we pump it up from there and pump it into our our main line. So, our whole system is gravity fed. Uh, there's a meter that's on the the uh west side of town heading out of
town that goes down to Met Council and that meter um, you know, meters all the sewage that goes out of town and that's how we get charged for the sewage in town. Um the the past couple years we upgraded our our SCADA system to help monitor lift station wells and newer
technologies can make things run more efficiently, cut down electric costs and monitor the system better. Um the SCADA people that we have working for us are really great and they've really helped us. Um we can see a lot of stuff on our SCADA system. Um
Randy monitors that really closely too the what tower levels but we at lower tower levels, lift station alarms. I mean, there's a pretty much alarm for anything, temp in a well, all these different things. So, it really helps us in our daily um just monitoring our
system. We can see trends. We can see if a lift station ran longer on one pump than the other. So, we can do a lot of troubleshooting with that. Um we the last uh couple years we were so there's an INI grant that we get from
Met Council. We've received it the last few years in 2020. Um, five, it was a $36,000 uh $36,000 grant. And then in 2026, we have a
$42,000 design >> that that's basically infiltration into your sewer line. So, your main sewer line going into your house uh can you can replace it and you you can get paid
up to half up to $5,000 uh through this grant. So, Met Council is puts these grants out there because any water that gets into the sewer system, you know, any rain water or any ground water, anything like that, we get charged for basically getting rid of it
because it goes through that outgoing meter. Um, so working with uh contractors um and the homeowners on this, this usually gets used up uh fairly quick. I know that there people have been inquiring about this for um you know
already for this year. I think there's some people on the hook already for it. So it's a it's a good it's a good uh a really good program. So people have some broken down sewers can, you know, help get uh payment through that. Um yeah,
during the summer, uh we basically have two two employees that are out cleaning our sewers, um for most of the summer um most of the summer months. Um what we do is we clean onethird of the city each year. So every year or every three
years, we have gone through our whole um sewer cleaning system. We had to keep track of each day where they are, what they cleaned. Um because if there's any sewer backups that somebody have has Minnesota cities asks us for all that information, what we use, was it sunny,
was it I mean all these different questions that they have. But it just helps um protect the city by us going through and doing that. The hard part about it is you can go through an area, clean it, it can be perfectly clean, and it's amazing what people flush down the toilet and what we find in the sewers.
So, um there's lots of things that we find down there that we're like, man, we just clean that. There's some areas in town that, you know, that we call them hot spots that are we've had problems before, so we clean those uh you know, in the spring, in the middle summer, and
then usually in the fall. Um just to make sure that we keep them clean. So, like high grease areas from certain areas that uh we've noticed over the years. Um over the past 3 years, uh we've had Hydro Clean in, they've been cleaning and uh televising our system.
And what's really good with this is they come in, they clean, and they they televise everything they clean. And I think this year will be the final year. This is the fourth year they'll be and they'll have everything televised in the whole town. And what's nice with that with our our datify maps with all of our
sewers and everything on it, um, WSB works with us and they they connect all the they can connect all the videos to the sewer lines. So, we can click on them, look at a video. Now, the video is only as good as for that day. Like I said, anything put down there, but we
also get a a nice PDF and it shows like service lines that are connected, uh, abandoned ones, uh, year service lines. So we have footages so it helps us with locating you know stuff like that which is really really good. Um you know like
over the past five years our mapping has improved greatly. You know it it takes some money but it it's it's been great and using this datafy from WSB for this mapping. It's uh it really makes it for us out in the field. It gives us a ton
of information at our fingertips. Asbuilts from when stuff was put in any asbuilts that we have are all connected to these things. So in an iPad out in the field, we can find out a lot of information. Um now there's a lot of stuff that we don't have information on.
It's just, you know, we just don't didn't have the info. Um storm sewer, uh aging infrastructure and damage from road salt requires rebuilding more catch basins. uh than we can get to in the summer. Uh new new construction, you
know, always um also creates uh maintenance uh storm water ponds that are required to be put in place and capture a storm water. Each time we do a project like the one we're doing now, we have to upsize the pond. We had to upsize the pipes. Um and then a lot of like the rain gardens or the ponds that
you put in require a bunch of maintenance afterwards for the plants that get put in. So, it just kind of keeps adding to the work, you know, each year that we have to upgrade one of these one of these things. So, >> and correct me if I'm wrong, but some of this stuff with the storm sewer and
having to, like you said, increase the size of the ponds and things like that, that's directed by the Minnesota Wershed District, right? >> Yes. Yep. >> I mean, it's it's not our necessarily our call. It's n these are requirements that come down. >> Morgan, you don't have to come up. Well,
if you want to um and I and know each year we talk about our road projects, the storm sewer part of it keeps increasing higher and higher because they require more and Morgan can speak way more intelligently about it than I can. >> It all goes back to Clean Water Act
1974. Another federal law. No. So, uh the you're exactly right. um the Ramsey Washington Metro Wershed District, which is most of our town except for Silver Lake. That little corner of town is the Valley Branch Watershed District. But uh
those regulatory agencies do have rules um that cities need to abide by. Most mostly that uh the impact for cities is when we do a street project or if we do a you know I guess a rehab project within a park, if we're adding
impervious surfaces. um we may trip triggers in these rules that the watershed districts hold that require us to do um storm water management. So that could be retention, that could be treatment of runoff before it goes, you know, beyond our streets once it goes
into wetlands and streams and rivers. Um you know, we want it to be as clean as it can be. It's never perfectly clean necessarily coming off of the roads. Um, but that's why we have these uh underground BMPPS or you know these
treatment devices that might be a a a chamber or a a very fancy manhole underground. There's one underneath the parking lot uh in the yard of the public works building. We've got other ones in different areas. Sometimes they're above ground like a rain garden or a small
pond or that sort of thing. Um but those are uh call it mandated reg by a reg outside regulatory agency in the watershed district. Um but it is kind of all coming down from a cascade of environmental regulations that did start
at the federal level in the 70s and you know the watershed district's job is to enforce that and not just for cities but also if like you're a developer or a builder. Usually single family homes are exempt, but if you do a multif family project or a commercial site like Taco Bell for example, you might have to do
some storm water management and that is all required by the wershed district. So we do have uh adjacent rules in our in our codes in our zoning code and our in our city rules, but uh they align with the watershed district. So it's fair to say that it's required by them.
>> Okay. So when it comes 17th in Delaware, that project they had to have a holding pond for water in the back. Correct. Because >> correct to get their permit with the wershed district. Yeah. They have a little bit of a depression in the back uh that provides some treatment before it overflows into some storm sewer and gets out into the street network. So
that's pretty typical. Taco Bell is another one. They have a small pond in the on the east side of the building there before it flows into the county ditch on Mcnite. Um so not uncommon. Everybody's kind of in the same boat. Different watershed districts have slightly different rules, but they're all kind of pointing in the same
direction. So, >> and when you say Silver Lake Valley, it goes all the way So, Silver Silver Lake goes all the way down to the St. Croy River then. >> Yeah, I believe so. Yeah. So, Silver Lake is like at the very one of the very headends of that watershed. Um, and I think it does get to to St. Croy through
like Grant and those communities >> goes to those other lakes. It was kind of I didn't realize that was the start of the St. Croy Valley one, but I heard that too before. Goes to Deontraville, works its way through the lakes down to the St. Croy. >> Correct. And then Ramsay comes up through North St. Paul from the southeast
uh to the northwest and kind of exits in the vicinity of Casey uh and then eventually winds up in Coleman Creek and then Coleman Lake. >> If you could get us maps of that when you have a chance, that would actually be interesting. >> Yeah. Yeah. We I can we can get lots of
maps that show uh all of the different or the different wersheds and subwaterersheds. Yeah. So that's something we can >> a lot of rivers below the city that you don't even know they're there. >> Yeah. And I think we have some information on our website just educ general public educational information. So I can look into that and forward that.
>> It's quite interesting. I didn't realize how much action there was underneath the city when it comes to waterways and rivers and you know flowing to different areas. >> It's uh definitely uh there was a lot of fill brought into the community of North St. Paul when I think there was a lot of development going on post World War II
and uh that was before some of these rules and regulations existed. Um but yeah, so there's not only uh do we have to deal deal with runoff, but also some high groundwater and there's always flooding issues. So these are all things that the wershed districts help with as well too.
>> So they're kind of bringing them back because in the 70s they paved over everything because there was no water. Now they're trying to bring back so we can have the natural running to the grounds underneath it. >> Sometime sometimes that's the best solution. Yeah. >> Thank you. Thanks, Morgan. No, don't. Uh
so moving on unless is there any more questions on storm stuff? Uh student build house. Um you know last year we finished up uh student build house with 916 in that program. Uh this year we started with uh the St. Paul College uh with that house that's up on the corner
of third or it's a twin home up on the corner of uh Third and 7th Avenue. um that right now they still have uh probably a week or so of setting trusses and getting the the house, you know,
getting the roof sheetated. Um we got an update kind of from the the this teacher today. He he was hoping by the end of the March that they'll have it be ready for sheetrock. Um, with that, we're thawing out the basement right now so they can get the plumbing in underground
and then get that paved so they can get walls framed down there so they can get uh utilities in. The most of the subcontractors are lined up right now to go inside, but um we'll see here uh weather dependent that hopefully, you
know, by the end of March um they'll be sheetrocking in there and uh ready to go. But um yeah, with that it's there's a lot of coordinating with with that uh you know, building that house and um you know, so far uh so so far so good with
uh St. Paul College, you know, and working with them. So >> um they haven't had the greatest weather to work in, but >> And it's really two houses, too. We haven't done that before. So >> No, we haven't. This is the first time >> a big a big project. >> Yep. First time doing a twin home like that. So,
uh, forestry, uh, last year 2025, there was 200 ash trees removed, uh, which was a really good year. Uh, 125 new trees planted, uh, with the grant money and then another 75 trees that were planted, um, just with our regular budget. Um,
this is our last full year of that grant that we received, that relief grant, that was $400,000. uh $300,000 was for our public asht tree removal and $100,000 for uh the low-income private uh ash removal. The
$100,000 was used up in the first year that we offered that. Um and that removed there was 38 applicants and 81 private ash trees were removed with that grant. Um, we found out later uh that they said we didn't have to replace
those trees that removed in the those yards and we actually ended up having to replace them, but it wasn't in their yards. Most of the people didn't want them, so we had to replace the trees actually throughout town. Um, we we found that out like kind of after the fact, which was fine. Um, there's
$72,000 remaining uh left in the grant. Uh we have roughly we have about 150 ash trees left to remove. So we're in pretty good shape. 80 of those uh trees are being treated right now. U most of those are downtown and then in the parks. And
what the the goal is not to keep treating these for the rest of their lives. It's to kind of just systematically remove them as budgets allow for it. So, um, the plan is is to, um, I I Josh is working right now on
getting using the rest of this, uh, grant money up. He's got, uh, 35 trees plant or marked out right now for contractors to bid on. And then with the removal of 35 trees and planting 75 new trees, that'll be close to using up the
rest of that grant money. Um, everything goes, you know, good with that. Um, with all these new trees being planted, there's maintenance that comes along with those, keeping them watered. Um, Josh was talking to me last week about this. Uh, they come out and do
inspections there for this grant. He's they're very very thorough on the their inspections. Um, deer eat some of the trees or rub against the trees and they they will say that they they're not going to pay for that tree now or we have to replace it on our own money or
if something was damaged. But all kinds of little, you know, nuances with it where he's like, man, they're they're pretty, you know, particular about what they do. They really do follow up with with this grant. And Josh has done a great job, you know, with that. So, um,
yeah, we're going to be in pretty good shape, I think, you know, by the end of this year, next year with having all the ash trees removed in town. So, hopefully some other diseases and come up with another tree. Um, when all the ash trees uh get removed and new trees planted,
we'll have more trees in town than when we started with the whole program. So again, Josh has done a really great job with the inventory of this and um yeah, working with this. So >> Oh, um yeah. So, right now we we uh got
our new bucket truck last year. Uh we kept our old bucket truck. We're going to put that out on auction. We got a I think we got a tradein price for it. Most of the time we get a tradein price and then we we'll keep that price and then we'll put it out on auction, see what we get. and whichever is higher.
Normally we get do a lot better on uh the auction, but we kept the we kept the other truck. So we have two crews out now uh working on trees, which makes it really nice. We can do some roadside trimming and then asht tree removals uh at this time of the year when you know
we have some extra people around. So um yeah, that's a good thing. Thanks for reminding me. um building maintenance. Uh just talking, you know, our buildings, overseeing maintenance that is performed on the city buildings, working with contractors to make sure they have what they need to complete the job. Uh you
know, troubleshooting problems uh to determine if they can be completed in house. Um you know, with the stuff going on with the new key fobs and stuff in town, new door frames, you know, there's lots of work going on with that. Um working with the contractor for the HVAC
system. We're looking at replacing HVAC on city hall this year. Um there's a lot of uh work that goes into that, working with the the contractors on that. Um see I want to do on time here. Uh
mechanic shop. There's one mechanic. Uh we have 205 pieces of equipment that require routine maintenance. Uh mechanic comes in during uh snow events in case we have breakdowns. uh that he you know he's ready to go and help the guys get their truck back up and running. Um
upgraded uh fleet maintenance software uh with the OB, you know, object to be able to track many different categories, fuel costs, maintenance costs of of these vehicles. Um you know, our mechanic, he's he's does a great job. you know, he has um some days that are
good and some days that there's stuff piled up, but um he he he does a good job and um yeah, there's there's a lot of equipment out there, especially in the summertime that goes out. Uh you know, especially with some kids that
haven't run some of the stuff, uh it gets some challenging some days, but we do a good job. Um so just some things that are on the radar uh you know new water tower that we talked about that's out out of ways
um upgrading mapping um for you know future records uh ensure you know correct city building maintenance is being done in timely manner uh I brought up the water meter replacement uh lead service line identification identification and replacement
um and yeah that's kind of all I have this just kind of a list that we have of all the different things that that we that we do. Um, but you know, one thing I I just, you know, want to put a shout out to our our guys that work in public works. Uh, you know, in the winter time,
we kind of uh, you know, them guys all have to pay attention to the weather. They all do a really nice job if they have a family vacation coming up or they they come and, you know, kind of bring it to our attention like, "Hey, I got this going. It looks like the weather's going to be okay." Um but um between
water mane breaks and snow uh we you know try to make a plan Randy and I try to make a plan with the guys before we leave for the day so them guys can go home and kind of know what the deal is. Um sometimes that might have to change depending on what happens. Um but we
send a a group text out to our guys and it's in a one minute all of them respond back. Hey, you know, yep, I'll be in. I'll you know. So, it's it's it's really good for us to have these guys that pay attention to this, you know, because we
we kind of, you know, they're kind of on a short leash in the winter time and we do what we can to give guys days off, for sure, but everyone is very we have never had a problem getting someone in for an emergency. Guys are always willing to come in and work extra and
do, you know, whatever. These water main breaks seem to happen on the coldest days. Of course, this year it was the case. But, um, like I said, without those guys, uh, you know, and us doing what, you know, it it really, you know, means a lot to us that they pay
attention the way they do. We we, you know, we we try to be very flexible with them in the summertime and getting giving them time off because, you know, in the winter time we kind of we can get by without a guy or two, but we kind of need all hands on deck. But um yeah, so
I'll leave it open to any questions you have for me or >> how many concerns or >> how many people are in public works? >> There's 10 total. >> Okay. >> Um >> including yourself and Randy. And then Josh is a consultant. >> No. Right. >> Josh Josh is our city forester, but he's
he's a public works guy. So he does >> he he does a lot of tree work. um a good amount of it, but he also when he goes on call, he's not out doing tree work. >> We have so we have a guy that's on the guys rotate on call. So there's a guy on
call um you know seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Um and they rotate. There's 10 guys. So one once every 10 weeks they rotate, but for that week any after hours calls, anything that goes on, them guys are, you know, on the hook on it.
Randy and I pay attention to all that stuff. Um, we work very closely with those guys. Um, you know, we're we're a team. I always say it's not your problem, it's our problem, whatever that is. And, you know, it takes all of us to make this this whole thing work. And
like I said, we have a decent decent group of guys that are very responsible, you know, with all the different things. You know, I told Randy when we start making the schedules out, use a pencil and here's a big eraser because what we write down in the morning or what gets written down in
the morning uh gets changed uh a lot um before we head out the door just with a weather thing, uh someone hitting a fire hydrant, whatever it might be. But >> then we get and then there's also during the summer we get uh not and we get temporary help, right? Too. >> We do. We have summer help and that
varies. Last year was probably the most we had for a while. I think we had about I think we had about eight people last year. We had two uh retired gentlemen last year that was really nice. Uh they were the mowing guys. So they kind of took care of the mowing and you know uh it it was nice they could just come in
do their thing. Um you know and then we had we the last couple years we've actually had a good group of of summer help. Uh there's you know handful of them that are returning which is always really nice um for that. But normally I'd say between uh five and and seven
people is what we hire for summer help. You know black topping crew is that's a minimum of five people like we have out for that. So a full-time person and then you know the for summer help or you know depending what it is. So >> okay >> for clarity you had asked how many
people it's it's 10 public works worker not including Ryan >> Randy. Yes. I'm sorry. Yes. Okay. 10 10 10 workers and then Randy and myself. >> Okay. >> Um sorry >> we talked about the the city hall. Um I
know with uh the community center we had a roof leak where you had to cover bookshelves and things like that the last warm. How do we do this time when we had the thaw? Any any news? >> I I did not I did not get a call this last thaw. I thought for sure I would,
but I think it's it it depends if there's a certain rain coming from a certain way or I I I I'm not really sure. Um but that is a it is an ongoing problem in the library and there's really nothing that can be done at the
at this point. um you know we can offer to move books for them or cover they cover usually cover them up with plastic but you know it's at the point now where it's the roofer and the I basically general contractor need to come in come in there tear it apart and figure out
what's going on. We've patched it multiple times. Uh we've gone and brought gone and tried to do our own repair up there. Um, but >> I just wanted to see if that this last one we did. And I appreciate the staff, you know, helping them and covering the
shelves when they, you know, if there is an issue getting up there when you call. So, >> they they have our number and we always always respond and, you know, and do what we can, but like I said, yeah, it's >> Yep. >> Anybody else? Anybody?
>> I'd like to add to that. Um, hats off to public works. I mean, those guys do such a great job. Um they don't have they're on top of the things that come in whether or not it's the water break or the plowing and uh Ron Randy do a wonderful job staying on top of all
that. I mean anything odd job that comes in. Congratulations. You guys get it. I mean they just pulled in the cannon from the historical center because it needs to be refurbished. So >> that goes on to public works. They you just can't uh compliment them enough for
the work and job that they do. They wear lots of hats. Well, just like you know, bringing that stuff tomorrow. I mean, it'd be easy button is to just go down to Burnsville, but you understand, you know, the budgeting and where we are and you're willing to say, "Hey, it's a rainy day. We got time. Let's take care of it." So, yep. And
>> greatly appreciate it. >> I Randy puts a lot of effort into, like I said, the the uh um selling our vehicles. Like I said, the easiest thing to do is just go here, give us a trade price, bring us a new one, pick up the old one. Um, like I
said, we've done very well with uh putting them out on auction. We've auctioned them, taken them off the site, reposted them, figured we might be able to get a little more. And we've always got a a lot more money for that, you know, for those those pieces of
equipment. You know, the stuff is so expensive to purchase. uh you know so those type of things if you know we can do something like that we definitely put an effort in and >> you know for it. So >> well with the officers and cleaning the
streets has it been easier to plow this year. >> You know what it has it it's >> but the truck's not on there and all that >> it it has been uh uh the the guys have commented on it and when there has been some areas um the the police have done a
a a good job this year with that. Great. Yeah. >> And I'll just say, you know, on behalf of, you know, I know specifically the Arts and Culture Commission, we've got the art cart that you guys haul around for us and place out in places. So, on top of everything else you do, you help
take care of everybody else. So, appreciate it. >> You're welcome. >> Keep up the good work and thanks for everything you guys do. >> On behalf of Parks and Recck, we'd like to see the grass a little bit greener, though. Can you get on that, Randy? >> Well, so we we got a kind of
double-edged sword. The watered doesn't want us to put any fertilizer on the ground. >> Exactly. >> That's why he's out there at night with a little bag going like that, huh? >> You think you could watch the deer stand by the young trees then? >> Yeah. >> All right. Well, thank you. Y Thanks. >> Thank you.
>> Appreciate it. >> All right. Looks like we can call for adjournment. >> So moved. >> So moved. Council member Woods. >> Second. >> Second. Council member Mackenzie. All those in favor say I. >> I. We are at 6:22. We'll be back at
6:30. Thank you everyone. >> Question.