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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAug-Sept 2017The Offi cial City Newsletter for Arden Hills Residents August/September 2017 Going to the Fair? Arden Hills has two Park and Ride sites where Minnesota State Fair (August 24-September 4) goers can park their cars and catch the bus to the fairgrounds. One is on Harriet Avenue west of Lexington; the other is on New Brighton Road just west and south of Beckman Avenue. These sites are popular; often the parking lots fi ll and drivers look for parking on the street. Before you park, be sure to look for “no parking” signs on streets surrounding the Park and Ride sites. Ramsey County’s Arden Hills Yard Waste site will soon join the other six county sites as an organics recycling collection point beginning in early October. Keeping kitchen scraps and other organic waste in compostable bags and dropping them off at the Yard Waste collection site is a way to be good stewards of our environment. Recently, the other six county sites have all implemented organics recycling, and Arden Hills staff have received many phone calls requesting the addition of this service to our collection site as well. Ramsey County provided information about the program to the City Council at its May 15 work session. The Planning Commission considered the request at its July 7 meeting and recommended implementation. On July 24, the City Council approved the implementation of organic waste recycling in Arden Hills. The yard waste sites have a designated area for organics collection with one or more covered containers where materials are placed. The County sites are always staffed by a site monitor to provide quality control. Collection containers are kept closed when yard waste sites are not in use and are serviced once a week by Ramsey County’s contractor, Waste Management. Acceptable materials include food waste/ scraps and various types of soiled or non-recyclable paper. To reduce odor and wildlife problems, residents are required to put organics in compostable bags, provided free of charge by the County, before plac- ing them into the containers. Dry paper products, such as pizza boxes and used paper towels and tissues, can be placed directly into the collec- tion container. Cups, plates, utensils, and bags are allowed if they have the “Compostable” logo from the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) or Cedar Grove on the item or packaging to ensure it is compostable. Go to RamseyRecycles.com for a list of unac- cepted items. During the winter months, the yard waste sites are only open on weekends. However, data collected by Ramsey County shows that the number of visits for organics drop-off at other sites in the winter remains similar to the regular season. Residents are encouraged to drop off organic mate- rial on a schedule of at least once per week since the compostable bags can begin to decompose after a week or so under certain conditions. This helps prevent issues in the household and at the receiving end. Many homeowners now compost food scraps and yard trimmings at home as a way to convert waste to usable compost. For those who cannot or do not choose this option, the Ramsey County Yard Waste sites offer an excellent alternative. Organics recycling comes to Arden Hills Household textile recycling coming this fall, tooAnother recycling opportunity is com- ing to Arden Hills residents later this fall. Worn clothing and household textiles can be recycled curbside after the contract has been worked out with a for-profi t com- pany called Simple Recycling. This organization provides the bags to residents and picks them up on trash/recy- cling day at no cost to the homeowners or the City. Much of this material will be reused or repurposed. If this is not possible, it will be recycled, keeping millions of pounds of textiles out of the landfi lls. Watch for additional information about this important program as it becomes available. Arden Hills Service Directory 1245 West Highway 96 Arden Hills, MN 55112-5734 www.cityofardenhills.org 651-792-7800 Summer Offi ce Hours Monday through Thursday 7:30 am-5 pm Friday 7:30-11:30 am Sheriff and Fire 911 Water and Sewer Problems (During non-business hours) 651-767-0640 Mayor: David Grant 651-538-0747 dgrant@cityofardenhills.org Councilmembers: Brenda Holden 651-636-2987 bholden@cityofardenhills.org Fran Holmes 651-631-1866 fholmes@cityofardenhills.org Dave McClung 651-332-0352 davemcclung@comcast.net Steve Scott 651-604-0919 sscott@cityofardenhills.org City Administrator: Bill Joynes 651-792-7810 wjoynes@cityofardenhills.org Communications Coordinator Alexandria Olson, 651-792-7817 aolson@cityofardenhills.org Communications Committee Editor/writer/photographer: Susan Cathey Council Liaison: Steve Scott Staff Liaison: Julie Hanson Desktop Publisher: Mary Nosek Council meetings are held at City Hall on the second and fourth Mondays of the month at 7 p.m. Meetings are televised live on Cable Channel 16. Meetings of the Planning Commission are televised as well. Visit www.cityo- fardenhills.org for information about archived meeting playbacks. Arden Hills Notes is the offi cial news- letter of the City of Arden Hills, an equal-opportunity employer.2 On the horizon City Hall will return to its regular schedule on Tuesday, September 5. The offi ce will be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. State of the City meetings: Thursday, September 28, at 7:30-9 a.m. at the Tavern Grill, and Tuesday, October 3, at 6:30-8 p.m. at City Hall. The annual Fall Clean-up Day is scheduled for Saturday, October 7. Watch for a fl yer in your mailbox. Mayor David Grant and City Council members Steve Scott, Brenda Holden and Fran Holmes toured the construction at the Land O’ Lakes expansion site in July along with Land O’ Lakes executives and team members from McGough construction. Council members tour Land O’ Lakes construction site The Master Water Stewards program provides training and support for community leaders to help build projects that collect and fi lter stormwater runoff before it reaches nearby lakes and streams. The program was started by the Freshwater Society and piloted in the western suburbs. In 2016, the program expanded to include most watershed districts and management organizations in the Twin Cities. This is not your average volunteer program! Stewards participate in more than a dozen classes and develop and implement an education campaign and hands-on project to reduce water pollution in their communities. The goal of the program is simple: to design projects that help water soak into the ground instead of allowing it to run off, carrying pollutants from hard surfaces to nearby waterbodies. Contact the Watershed District at 763-358-3070 if you are interested in becoming a Master Water Steward. Visit masterwaterstewards.org to learn more about the program and recent projects. Rice Creek Watershed District offers Water Stewards Program 3 Benchmarks-- a review of City Council Action Hot Dogs with a Deputy Perry Park playground equipment Arden Hills residents had an opportunity to talk to Ramsey County Sheriff’s deputies and examine and try out Department equipment and vehicles at the Hot Dog with a Deputy event, held at Tony Schmidt Park the evening of July 11. In addition to the human officers, neighbors could interact with a K-9 dog and three of the new mounted unit horses. The Sheriff’s Department is hosting these gatherings at various parks in the communities they serve, giving deputies and residents a chance to get to know one another. Free food and water were donated by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Foundation. The new Perry Park play- ground is ready for fun. The old equipment was worn past its safety point so some interest- ing new pieces have replaced them, including the Expression Swings which allow adults and kids to swing together. Perry Park is located at 3700 New Brighton Road. June 26, 2017 • Approved contract award to Osseo Construction to enact repair/repainting of City’s 500,000 gallon water tower for $519,800 • Approved Planning Case 17-013 PUD Amendment for Boston Scientific to add a 5,330 square-foot addition to Building 9 on their campus July 10, 2017 - Absent: McClung (excused) Significant Consent Items Approved (all by 4-0 vote): • Appointment of Alexandria Olson as part time Communications Coordina- tor • Appointment of Terry Reid as Public Works Maintenance Worker • Seasonal appointments of Sophia Van De Werken and Levi Scott as PTRC Playground Leaders • Approved $68,885 for emergency repair/replacement of 19 fire hydrants found to be defective throughout the city July 24, 2017 – Absent: Holden (excused) Significant Consent Items Approved (all by 3-1 vote (Scott)): • Approved Planning Case 17-015 Conditional Use Permit to authorize collection of Source Separated Organics at Ramsey County’s Arden Hills Yard Waste Collection Site at Tony Schmidt Park. The Arden Hills site joins the six other Ramsey County locations to accept these materials. Floral fantasia! Arden Hills’ Floral Park, 1423 Floral Drive, is looking fabulous this summer thanks to the efforts of volunteers Dan Dietz, Chris Anderson, George Kruse, Steve Rhude, Jon Van Valkenburg, and Ozzy Tschida. Their work was led by Bob Mullen. I n s i d e Arden Hills, MN . 55112-5734 ECR-WSS PRST STD U.S. Postage Paid Twin Cities, MN Permit #1962 Postal Customer Program) to encourage and assist state and local governments to prepare budget documents of the very highest quality that refl ect both the guidelines established by the National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting and the GFOA’s best practices on budgeting, and then to recognize individual governments that succeed in achieving that goal. The criteria require that they be easily understandable to the general public and other interested parties without a background in public fi nance and clearly show the issues the government entity is dealing with, its policies, the budget process, opportunities for public input, and facts about the entity itself. It serves as a policy document, a fi nancial plan, an operations guide, and a communications device. This is the eighth consecutive year the City has received this award (2009 – 2016). Ctizens and taxpayers can be proud; only a small number of other cities in Minnesota have received all three of these awards. Regards, William S. Joynes, Sr., City Administrator From the City AdministratorIt is that time of year again, summer is in full swing, the annual audit has wrapped up, budgets are being drafted, but we still have some celebrating to do for past performance. At the June 26, 2017, regular City Council meeting, a represen- tative from the Minnesota Government Finance Offi cers Association (MnGFOA) presented the City with three awards from the Government Finance Offi cers Asso- ciation (GFOA) which represents public fi nance offi cials throughout the United States and Canada. (Only eight of 864 Minnesota cities received all three awards.) The GFOA’s mission is to enhance and promote the professional management of governmental fi nancial resources by iden- tifying, developing, and advancing fi scal strategies, policies, and practices for the public benefi t. The GFOA has established several highly regarded professional recognition pro- grams to encourage and assist state and local governments to improve the quality of their fi nancial management and to rec- ognize their achievement. I am pleased to announce that the City of Arden Hills has again received all three awards. Receiving these awards is important because it demonstrates that outside agen- cies regard our budgeting and reporting functions as effective, and the publishing of the information as transparent to those who want to understand how our funds are spent. Winning these awards also helps the City to maintain its AA+ bond rating which is “one step” from the highest rating of a AAA, which is not generally given to a city of our size. The three awards that the City won are: Certifi cate of Achievement for Excel- lence in Financial Reporting (CAFR Program) The GFOA established the Certifi cate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting (CAFR Program) to encourage and assist state and local governments to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted ac- counting principles and to prepare com- prehensive annual fi nancial reports that evidence the spirit of transparency and full disclosure, and then to recognize individual governments that succeed in achieving that goal. The goal of the program is not to assess the fi nancial health of participat- ing governments, but rather to ensure that users of their fi nancial statements have the information they need to do so themselves. This is the tenth consecutive year the City has received this award (2006 – 2015). Popular Annual Financial Reporting Award (PAFR Program) The GFOA established the Popular Annual Finan- cial Reporting Award (PAFR Program) to encourage and assist state and local governments to extract information from their comprehensive annual fi nancial report to produce high quality popular annual fi nancial reports specifi cally designed to be readily accessible and easily under- standable to the general public and other interested parties without a background in public fi nance and then to recognize indi- vidual governments that are successful in achieving that goal. This is also the tenth consecutive year the City has received this award (2006 – 2015). Distinguished Budget Presentation Award (Budget Award Program) The GFOA established the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award (Budget Award Organics recycling comes to town Land O’ Lakes construction Perry Park upgrade Hot Dogs with a Deputy Sue Virnig of MnGFOA presents Dave Perrault, Interim Director of Finance and Administrative Services, with the City’s fi nancial awards.