Minutes of Regular Meeting
# 650 Held in the
Lake Elmo City Council Chambers
Thursday, September 13, 2001.
| MANAGERS PRESENT:
MANAGER ABSENT:
|
Dave Bucheck, President; Dale Borash, Vice President; Don Scheel, Secretary; and Lincoln Fetcher, Treasurer
|
| STAFF PRESENT: |
John Hanson, Barr Engineering; Ray Marshall, Attorney, Ray
Roemmich, Inspector, and
Karen Schultz, Recording Secretary |
| OTHERS PRESENT: |
Jeff Berg, Washington SWCD; Jim Almendinger and Leigh Harrod, WOMP Program |
CALL TO ORDER
Meeting called to order by President Bucheck at 7:03 p.m.ANNOUNCEMENTS There were no announcements.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES After discussion of the minutes of the August 23, 2001 meeting, motion was made by Fetcher, seconded by Borash, to approve the minutes as corrected. Motion carried unanimously.
ADDITIONAL AGENDA ITEMS Under MANAGERS, was added: Report to the Washington County Commissioners; and under ATTORNEY was added: District Enlargement Petition.
PUBLIC FORUM No discussion in Public Forum.
SECRETARY'S REPORT Secretary Scheel was not present at this part of the meeting.
INSPECTOR
=S REPORT Inspector Roemmich reported on inspections he has made since the last meeting.ATTORNEY
=S REPORT Attorney Marshall commented on the recent decision made by the Appeals Court to REVERSE the decision by the Board of Water and Soil Resources that would enlarge the Brown=s Creek and the Valley Branch Watershed Districts, to include territory already within Water Management Organizations. He said the Washington County Commissioners could decide to appeal the decision.Engineer Hanson said he has talked with Jane Harper, with Washington County, and there is a workshop scheduled with the Washington County Commissioners in the near future to discuss the reversal decision.
TREASURER
=S REPORT Treasurer Fetcher distributed copies of the Treasurer=s Report for the period ending September 13, 2001. The managers discussed the report and motion was made by Fetcher and seconded by Borash to approve the Treasurer=s Report. Motion carried unanimously.CHANGE IN ORDER OF AGENDA ITEMS At this time President Bucheck authorized a change in the order of agenda items.
Metropolitan Council Watershed Outlet Monitoring Program (WOMP) Jim Almendinger, with the St. Croix Watershed Research Station, introduced Leigh Harrod, with the Metropolitan Council, to explain the WOMP program. Each watershed district in the metropolitan area deals directly with the Metropolitan Council when contracting for the water monitoring in a watershed district, instead of individual watershed districts asking for money from the Legislature, as it was in the beginning. Valley Branch Watershed District
=s contract is for the monitoring of Valley Creek.Motion was made by Borash and seconded by Scheel to support the Valley Branch Creek WOMP program. Motion carried unanimously.
ENGINEER
=S REPORT Sunnybrook Lake - Update Engineer Hanson reported that most of the surveys of the wetlands are completed, and almost all of the upstream culvert data has been completed.Downs Lake - Update Engineer Hanson said he has contacted all the utility companies to exactly locate the utility lines. He said it is complicated in some areas, because sometimes the gas, electric and telephone lines are all in close proximity. He also said he will provide the managers at the next meeting with a draft idea, or at least he will know if it will be a major problem with the utilities if they have to be moved.
Silver Lake Update The Work Plan for the bio-retention project on Silver Lake in North St. Paul was sent to the Metropolitan Council. Engineer Hanson said that the City of North St. Paul staff agreed with it. Treasurer Fetcher will appear before the North St. Paul City Council next week to discuss the project, and to ask for additional money from the City of North St. Paul.
Treasurer Fetcher reported that the shoreline project looks very good. It will take about two years before the vegetation comes to fruition.
Valley Creek Update Engineer Hanson said he attended a meeting of the residents of the City of Afton last week. A document compiling all the strategies to protect the creek will be sent to the appropriate agencies. He expects to have the document ready for the managers by the end of October.
Washington County Water Consortium Summary Engineer Hanson said he recently attended a meeting of the Washington County Water Consortium. One of the topics discussed was legal boundaries of the districts. Another topic was the BWSR Challenge Grant in which the managers agreed to participate. Jon Michels, Washington County, would like the managers to pass a Resolution stating their involvement with the BWSR Challenge Grant. Jon Michels had faxed a sample copy of a Resolution, to Engineer Hanson. After modification of the Resolution to conform to the Valley Branch Watershed District by Engineer Hanson, the managers agreed to the Resolution. Secretary Scheel signed Resolution No. 2001-0001 (copy attached to minutes) regarding the BWSR Challenge Grant. Motion was made by Scheel and seconded by Fetcher to approve Resolution # 2001-0001. Motion carried unanimously.
Engineer Hanson said he also learned at the meeting that Washington County intends to update all the FEMA maps in Washington County by September 2003.
MANAGERS
= REPORT Next Meeting - September 27, 2001 The managers said they do expect to have a quorum at the next meeting.2002 Budget and Report to the Washington County Commissioners President Bucheck briefly explained to the managers, the report he had made to the Washington County Commissioners on the District=s budget for 2002 on September 4th. He said the County Commissioners appreciated his report and had very few questions.
Treasurer Fetcher had electronically sent a revised 2002 budget to the managers since the last meeting. The managers discussed it and agreed that it is ready for the hearing, which will be held October 11th.
2000 Annual Report and Audit Treasurer Fetcher distributed copies of the auditor=s report for 2000. A financial page from that audit will be inserted into the 2000 annual report. The managers asked the Recording Secretary to complete the final draft of the 2000 annual report and send it to them electronically. They will approve the report for printing at the next meeting.
ADJOURNMENT Motion made by Borash and seconded by Scheel at 8:48 p.m. to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried unanimously.
Respectfully Submitted,
Donald Scheel,
Secretary
Minutes Approved by Managers 09/27/01