North St. Paul City Council — Transcript
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Century College & St. Paul College Student Build Home Project Update
Lead Water Service Line Inventory Program Update
Votes (2)
Century College Presentation of Student Build Home Interior Design and St. Paul College Construction Update
Century College design students presented their interior and exterior design selections for a new twin home, detailing unique color palettes, materials, and floor plans for two distinct units (transitional and contemporary). The St. Paul College carpentry instructor provided a construction update, noting progress on siding, sheetrock, and garage work, and emphasized the significant learning experience for students, despite some project delays. Both institutions expressed gratitude for the program and community support.
Lead Water Service Line Inventory Program Update
Morgan and Justin Babcock from WSB presented an update on the city's Lead Service Line (LSL) inventory program, mandated by the EPA. They detailed public engagement efforts, including over 2,000 in-home inspections, and the successful application of statistical analysis for categorizing unknown lines, as recently approved by the MDH. The future plan involves a three-phased replacement program for known lead and galvanized lines, prioritizing based on MDH criteria (e.g., areas with children under five or families below 200% of poverty), and utilizing a potholing pilot program to investigate remaining unknowns. The integration of LSL replacement into future road reconstruction projects was also confirmed.
Notable Quotes (7)
This year, we worked with a new Tom and on a double home, which we haven't done before. So, it's been a little bit of a challenge and kind of a fun change for me. The students have been great. We have a really good batch this year.
Our goal for this project was to design a twin home with two unique spaces that feel cohesive as a unit and fit the site location. Our approach was to define a spaces uniquely by assigning different design styles to each unit.
It's difficult for me as a contractor, you know, the the contractor side of me to say, 'Oh, we just spent three hours and we got four pieces of siding on.' You know, that's tough. But it's a learning process for these students and I think they're doing really well.
The overall program goal, as Morgan mentioned, is to build that inventory and use that inventory to further um our replacement um efforts. Um with that being linked to the EPA lead and copper rule that was established in 2021, which requires all cities throughout the US to complete this inventory.
North St. Paul by far had the most amount of inspections of the cities that I worked for. So that was super cool to see that um played out there.
Phase one is really going to have those lead service lines par lead service lines paramount replacing those first. Um, so the service lines that are led that are known in the city are going to be the ones we tackle first and then we are going to continue with the galvanized service lines as part of the program in accordance to the Minnesota Department of Health prioritization um steps and prioritization prioritization criteria that the Department of Health has laid out.
We're replacing not only the water main but also the services to the shut off valves which are generally at the property line. So that street side, you know, the two halves of the equation like Justin was explaining, the street side is taken care of. If in fact we do identify or see something... we'll update our inventory and there might even potentially be an opportunity to address it right then and there.
Ordinances & Resolutions (4)
Federal regulation established in 2021 requiring all cities to complete a lead service line inventory.
State/federal funding program for LSL replacement projects.
Documents used by the Minnesota Department of Health to fund LSL projects.
Grant program received by North St. Paul to investigate unknown service line materials.