City Manager Blog

Administrative Staff: Christine Evans-  15 years, Lois Knutson- 15 years.   Fire: Steve Lukin 20 years Information Technology: Nick Franzen- 15 years

Parks and Recreation: Audra Robbins- 20 years Public Works: Don Jones-20 years Doug Edge-25 years John Ducharme- 30 years

Police: Brian Touzell- 10 years Tony Gabriel- 15 years Glen McCarty- 15 years Michael Nye- 15 years Dan Busack- 20 years Julie Olson- 20 years Jay Wenzel-20 years Kevin Johnson- 25 years

Below are the links to the completed Employee Recognition 2019 video named ‘Looking Back & Moving Forward’.

 

YouTube Link (v1, 4m22s):  https://youtu.be/ir-edCswIig

Vimeo Link (v1, 4m22s):  https://vimeo.com/338994683

 

 

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

 

Comcast Internet Essentials

At the last City Council meeting Comcast’s Internet Essentials program was discussed and staff was asked to look into promoting the program within our community.  Since that discussion we’ve registered as a partner on the programs website, www.internetessentials.com.  As a partner we now have access to professionally created flyers, postcards and brochures all explaining the program and how to learn more/sign up for the service.  Many of the marketing materials are available in multiple languages as well (Spanish, Hmong, Somali and many more).  Now that we have access to these materials we are now discussing how and where to utilize them.  Stay tuned for a future FYI on how we plan on using these materials.

 

Update on Sharepoint Council Calendar

Staff presented to City Council that online access to the Council calendar will be coming soon, and it will be.  However, as we continued discussions on the logistics of managing the various calendars, we need to change the configuration of a few calendars so that the items are presented accurately.  Those changes are taking place now and will be done by June 7th.  Once they are completed and testing confirms that the new configuration operates the way we need it to, instructions will be sent to Council on how to access the new calendar.  Until then, please continue to view upcoming events via the FYI and Council packets.

 

FINANCE

Notice of the new LGA distribution under the new Omnibus Tax Bill (SS HF 5), which is expected to become law this year.  The bill was approved during the May 24 special session and is waiting for the Governor’s signature.  The bill restores LGA to 2002 levels.  Maplewood is expected to receive $1,102,768 in 2020, which is an increase of $227,086 over the amount of $875,682 received in 2019. This is really great news for the City.

 

 

COMMUNICATIONS

Maplewood wins Silver in statewide media competition

 Congratulations Kevin Schmitz (Communications) on winning a Silver prize from the Minnesota Association of Government Communicators (MAGC) for his video on the Fire Department’s Emergency Vehicle Operations Training. The City entered the video in the Public Health and Safety Video category. This is the second straight year MAGC has recognized the communications team for its video work. Firefighter/Paramedics Rochelle Hawthorne and Charlie Smith and Battalion Chief Shawn Conway added insightful commentary to help explain the importance of the training. 

Please take a minute to watch the video: Youtube.com/watch?v=QOkAiq9Wcsk

 

  

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Rental Housing Licensing

Staff is planning on setting the public hearing for the new rental housing licensing ordinance at the council meeting on July 8. We will send notices again to all property owners and include an article in the July Maplewood Living.  Council can then adopt on July 8 or bring it back to the July 22 meeting if they wish to make changes.  We did hold an open house for the rental community. Over 800 notices were sent out and 3 people attended the open house. Renters were also given an opportunity to send in their comments to staff or do an on-line survey. Staff tells me that they received no additional input from the renters.

 

Elk Ridge Alzheimer's Special Care Center

Tuesday, June 4th at 4:30pm
1700 Beam Ave., Maplewood

 Join us for a Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting Celebration for Elk Ridge Alzheimer's Special Care Center! This is going to be a GRAND celebration with live music, great food and special tours of the new facility. We will meet the leadership of JEA Senior Living, the team members from Elk Ridge and learn more about their philosophy of care.

 

Hillcrest Golf Course Update

Attached is a Mpls/St Paul Business Journal article about the Saint Paul Port Authority looking to purchase this site and master plan it for development.  

The 112-acre golf course is located at the southwest corner of McKnight and Larpenteur – in Saint Paul. Many Maplewood residents are obviously interested in the future of this land and redevelopment will have impacts on the viability of other projects in Maplewood. Saint Paul guides the north third of the course as Mixed Use and the remaining area is Urban Neighborhood.

 

Maplewood Organics Collection Site
Ramsey County offers residential organics drop off at their yard waste sites.  They are expanding the organics program by partnering with cities to install satellite organics recycling collection sites throughout the County.  Maplewood has been chosen to host one of the sites.  

 

The organics recycling collection site will be constructed on the MCC/YMCA parking lot adjacent White Bear Avenue within three existing parking stalls.  The enclosure design includes a concrete pad, six foot high composite fencing (brown in color), with a service gate and entry door.  Organics collection recycling signage will be installed on the outside of the enclosure.

The City will enter into an agreement with the County for the construction and maintenance of the site.  The County will pay for and construct the enclosure, ongoing maintenance, hauling costs, compostable bags for residents, and promote the site to Ramsey County residents.  The City will monitor the site capacity and hauling, promote the site locally, and be responsible for snow removal.  The City Council will review the agreement on June 10.  The design of the enclosure will be reviewed by staff, Community Design Review Board, and the City Council through a minor project review which will be released once the agreement is approved.

Maplewood Trash Cart Yearly Purchase
The City purchased 10,330 trash carts in 2012 for the City’s organized trash hauling system.  The trash carts have a ten-year warranty, and could be used for 20 years.  The total cost was $404,876, which was financed through a seven-year utility bond.  The City charges residents $.75 per household per month on their trash bill to cover the cost of the trash cart utility bond.  The final payment for the trash cart utility bond will be made later this year. 

Beginning in 2016, the City has also used the collected trash cart funds to purchase new carts in addition to paying for the utility bond to pay for the original carts.  While the carts are under warranty, new carts are needed from time to time to replenish the trash cart supply due to new trash services and cart attrition due to loss of carts.  The 2019 trash cart purchase will be brought to the City Council for review in the coming month. 

 

PARKS AND RECREATION

 

Pollinator Planting at the Edgerton Community Garden

Edgerton Elementary School 6^th grade students planted pollinator strips at the community gardens last Wednesday, May 29.  These pollinator strips are part of the plan for the garden and will provide a colorful entryway as well as habitat for bees and butterflies.

This was a coordinated effort between our Naturalists and Edgerton teachers Rick Wallin, Susanne Collin, Alicia Bjork.

Many of these students had never planted anything before and we were excited to introduce them to bees and to the community aspect of the garden as well. 

 

PUBLIC WORKS

 

Gladstone Phase 3 Improvements

The first phase of the Gladstone Phase 3 Improvement project, between Prosperity Road and White Bear Avenue began this week.  The pavement has been reclaimed and work on water main replacement and sanitary sewer services is taking place.  During the first phase a detour route of White Bear Avenue to Larpenteur Avenue to English Street is available and signed.

 

Xcel Gas Main Replacement Project

Xcel Energy and their contractor Q3 started the process of crossing White Bear Avenue this week with their gas main replacement project.  This crossing is being done in three phases.  The first phase is taking place right now and requires a lane closure and a lane shift to the south bound White Bear Avenue traffic.  It is anticipated that phase 1 will be completed on Monday of next week.

On Tuesday morning Q3 will be adjusting the traffic control on White Bear Avenue early in the morning to begin phase 2 work.  Phase 2 includes working in between the northbound and south bound lanes on White Bear Avenue.  Therefore, there will be no east/west traffic allowed through the intersection, southbound White Bear Avenue traffic will not be allowed to turn east, and north bound White Bear Avenue traffic will not be allowed to turn west on White (see attached Phase 2 traffic control plan). Phase 2 is anticipated to take 3 to 4 days.

Phase 3 will include a lane closure and lane shift of the north bound lanes on White Bear Avenue.  Phase 3 work is anticipated to take 8 to 10 days.  It should be noted that this schedule is dependent of field and weather conditions.

 

Rush Line – Tuesday on the Trails

The following is a list of dates, times, and locations of upcoming Tuesday on Trails public engagement events for the Rush Line project: 

·         Tuesday, June 4: Intersection of Bruce Vento Trail and Atlantic Street, 4-6 p.m.

·         Tuesday, June 11: Intersection of Bruce Vento Trail and Larpenteur Avenue, 4-6 p.m.

·         Tuesday, June 18: Intersection of Bruce Vento Trail and Frost Avenue, 4-6 p.m.

·         Tuesday, June 25: Intersection of Bruce Vento Trail and Gervais Avenue, 4-6 p.m.

 Have an enjoyable weekend. 

Thank you, Melinda