Long Lake City Council — Transcript
Wednesday, August 5, 2026
Community Events and Local Safety Initiatives
Resident Concerns on Infrastructure and Development
City Engineering Services Transition
Downtown Long Lake Stormwater Study and Lake Quality
Emerald Ash Borer and Forest Management
City Cybersecurity and Operational Updates
Votes (2)
Approval of City Engineering Services Contract with Hawkinson Anderson Associates, Inc.
Dissent: None
Moved by Council Member Quali [19:07] · Seconded by Council Member Feldman [19:35]
The City Administrator recommended the approval of a contract with Hawkinson Anderson Associates, Inc., formally designating them as the new city engineer. It was clarified that WSB would continue to work on existing projects to ensure a smooth transition, and a future contract with WSB for ongoing planning and engineering for current projects would be presented later. Council discussed the importance of retaining ownership of all created documentation.
Presentation of Draft Downtown Long Lake Stormwater Study by Minnehaha Creek Watershed District
Dissent: None
Moved by None · Seconded by None
James Whisker presented the history and ongoing efforts for Long Lake's water quality improvement, including the Long Lake Creek Road Map. He detailed findings from the Downtown Long Lake Stormwater Study, recommending two priority projects: retrofitting the Highway 12 pond and the Nelson Lakeside Park ponds. The discussion covered the projects' cost-effectiveness, potential partnerships (e.g., MnDOT, Orono), funding mechanisms, and the importance of a phased implementation. Council members expressed strong support for pursuing the Highway 12 pond project due to its high performance-to-dollar ratio and visible community benefit, also advocating for Orono's financial participation in shared benefit projects.
Notable Quotes (8)
I'm proposing that council approves entering into a contract with the city engineering city engineering services Hawinson Anderson and associates effective immediately and also to authorize the mayor and myself to execute this agreement subject to final revisions by myself and our city attorney formally designating Hawinson Anderson as our engineer going forward.
Hawinson Anderson would begin engineering as I mentioned effective immediately on future projects. I have talked to WSB and we will continue working with WSB on existing projects to make sure that those are finalized smoothly.
Um, as as council member Cwley mentioned, we are going to make sure that the contract states that we have ownership of any documentation that is created on our behalf.
For tonight's briefing to council, we really got three objectives. First, I want to leave everybody with hopefully a clear understanding of the history and the background for the Long Lake creeks wershed itself and the partnership among the three cities Madina Oil and Long Lake as well as the Long Lake Waters Association and the Wershed District.
From our perspective, we need a clear, prioritized, measurable action plan to drive the lake towards meeting state standards that we can implement through coordinated efforts as partners.
Even though that downtown area... even though it's a relatively small area about 500 plus acres... it has some of the highest concentrations per unit area of anywhere in the wershed and that's just a product of land use.
I think that that would be something right now, you know, right away that we could financially start. And I also think that it'd be really good for our residents to start seeing that we do care as a community.
I just think that they should have skin in the game because we're trying to improve the lake quality, right? the water quality and and that's to their benefit as it is to ours and and I just would like to see um not that we're going to try to fund you know that you're going to fund part of it we're going to fund part of it I'd like to see or fund part of it too.
Ordinances & Resolutions (9)
Overarching strategy to restore Long Lake, presented by the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District.
Specific study identifying and recommending stormwater improvement projects within downtown Long Lake.
Federal mandate defining pollution reduction targets for impaired waters in Minnesota.
Resolution passed by Orono, Medina, and Long Lake to coordinate on TMDL progress.
Document that identified priorities, project sequence, and responsibilities among partners for lake cleanup.
Agreement for new city engineering services, effective immediately.
Future contract for continuing engineering services on existing projects and planning support.
State grants offered by the Department of Natural Resources to address Emerald Ash Borer impacts.
Specific DNR grant opportunity with applications open in August 2026.