order of Tuesday, June 23rd. Um, please join me. Oh, please do a roll call. City clerk. >> Council member Walsh >> here. >> Council member Gerola >> here. >> Council member West >> here. >> Council member Edberg here. >> Council member Angstrand. And Mayor Nikkowski >> here. >> Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. >> One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Item two, approval of the minutes. I would entertain a motion um to approve the minutes of the regular city council meeting on June 9th, 2026. >> Second. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Okay, the minutes pass. Um, approval of the minutes of the city council work session on June 9th, 2026. I'd entertain a motion. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed? Okay. The city council work session passes. Um, for the minutes of the city council work session on June 16th, um, uh, before we approve those minutes, I'd like to propose an amendment as follows. Um, I would like to change the reading to say when sort the last paragraph, uh, when sorted per capita, White Bear Lakes annual levy is far lower than most of the cities at 665.65, 65 ranked number 39 of 46 cities. When sorted amongst cities that have a combination fire department staffing model, White Bear Lakes annual levy ranks the lowest price per capita when compared against other cities with the same staffing model. >> Mayor, >> yes. >> I would move um adoption of the minutes of the work session June 23rd with the amendment as uh you just offered. >> Okay. Is there a second? >> Second. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay, that passes. All right. Item three, uh, adopt the agenda. Does anyone have any changes to the agenda? Okay. I'd propose a motion to adopt the agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any All in favor? >> Any opposed? All right. We have an agenda. Item four, the consent agenda. Does anyone have any changes to the consent agenda? >> Approval. >> Okay. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed? All right. The consent agenda is adopted. Item five, visitors and presentation. Um, today we have the White Bear Lake Conservation District annual report and 2027 budget. Um, Mr. Panto will be presenting to us. Thank you for coming here and being here today. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Mike Ponttol and I am your representative on the White Valley Conservation District. Uh in your information packet, uh there should you should have gotten our annual report and our financial statements and our budget. And I read somewhere in the Whitebear press, I think, that you got an award for the preparation of your budget. >> Yes. >> Wonderful. Congratulations. I'm the treasurer for the conservation district and I did the budget but I didn't get any awards but I did reduce the budget reduced it by $6,000 >> uh and that caused a reduction to all the communities along with uh increase in interest on our CDs and that uh reduction to all the communities of $8,488 and that represents uh a discount or a reduction for next year's um assessment from the conservation district to the city of White Bear by $4,160. So, it's a happy budget, but no awards. So, also, uh our annual report is in there and we finished with all the dock permits. It takes till now to get them all in order and make everybody happy and get all the changes done on the docks and everything. And so the next thing up is our summer work and that starts Thursday, this Thursday, the 25th. And I'll be going with Bluewater Science to do a lake survey for year Asian water mil foil. Now we'll hit about 400 GPS sites on that survey and we'll go to every place we've ever found mil foil before. Uh and then I I've been out scouting on my own to see if there's any new areas. I haven't found any, which is good. But I think that uh you know it only goes grows in certain conditions and I think it we've covered all those conditions on the lake and we visit them when we do the survey. Last year we treated 30.8 acres which is about average. Um we'll go when we go out uh Thursday we'll after that we'll find out how many acres need to be treated. Uh I will get a DNR permit. I've already had the uh applicator approved. We will schedule a treatment. Uh it will happen probably it well it will be after the 4th of July. Uh by the time that we get the survey done, the book work done, run the permit through, all that other stuff. Uh it gets really close to the 4th of July. And to go out earlier than that um kind of uh diminishes the effect of the of the treatment. It goes into a water column. So they mean they treat you know big water columns like this where it is you know they just don't it's it's a pipe that goes down and spreads out and then the chemical comes out in that area and uh prior to the fourth the lake is really busy on the fourth the lake is super busy so that disturbs the water column so we wait till after the fourth and then we get a better treatment that way. So, uh, shortly after the fourth. Um, so that, uh, and then after 2 to 3 weeks, we go back and take a look and see how effective it is, if anything needs to be retreated. And we've been pretty fortunate where we haven't had to treat retreat anything just once or twice. Uh, all during the summer, we're doing surveys for starry stone ward, an invasive weed that we don't want to have anything to do with. It's terrible. It grows fast. It blocks things out, and we don't want anything. We don't have any. uh 90 over 95% of the lakes that have it, it was initially found at the boat launches. So our surveys we survey every month the boat launches and go and go out from there and if we don't find anything there then you know we're we'll stay away. We won't have to do anything. Also during the uh Eurasian water mil foil survey when we go all over the lake we also look for starry stonewart and we have another uh I don't know if it's an invasive or now we have curly pondweed which ball legal treats for. or they just have a terrible in. We have curly pine weed, but it's not a problem. There's not enough of it by after the 4th of July, it starts to die down anyhow. So, uh, not an issue. Uh, in the fall, then once that's the summer, most of the summer is gone. In the fall, August, September, we do another survey. I go out with University of Minnesota. Uh, we partner with them. Uh, they have, uh, the technical expertise to identify a plant called fragmitees. It's a bamboo type plant that grows in the bull rushes and the reeds and outgrows it and grows much taller and it's an invasive. We don't have much of it but we partner with the university and their fragmitey department and team. The partnership is they send the experts out and we use my pontoon. So that's you know it seems fair to me. I we get a we get a free survey. Uh then what we find and generally it's been all there there's just little sites here and there. I mean, you know, three or four plants here, half a dozen plants over there. Nothing big, but you you hit it. And we've been able to eradicate them, but those darn things find a way to come up somewhere else. So, we just keep at them. But it's the whole the whole group together is well under two acres. So, it's not much at all. Um, but again, we get the DNR permit, we get the approved applicator, we treat for it, and then, uh, go back next year and see how much how good the treatment was and eradicate it. Uh, hopefully one of these days we'll get it all. Uh, also in your information, there was talk about the water patrol and what they do. uh 2025, last summer, they spent 388 hours on the lake patrolling, which is a lot. And this year, they're they're booked to do the same, and they have the ability to do a few more if they want. During that time, they um they did 108 boat safety checks. They did 22 assisting Boers. They did seven written citations and uh no BWIS fortunately. Uh they did 10 written warnings. They did a 100 verbal warnings. They did six towing in boats. Um so the water patrol now is all set for the 4th of July to be out there uh during the fireworks. Uh fireworks committee has their permit from the conservation district. So everything's in place. So, I encourage you to find a nice warm spot to watch a really good show on the 4th of July. So, any questions on anything? He said he wasn't going to ask a question, but >> like, mayor, I'm not going to ask a question. I will offer you a verbal commendation. I really appreciate your report. I appreciate the uh work that went into the budget. Um I certainly appreciate the growth in interest payments or interest earnings that have come during your uh term as uh treasurer and um uh just plain appreciate the work that you are doing in the presentation that uh that you've given us tonight. Thank you. >> Well, thank you very much. Almost makes it worthwhile. >> No, thank you sincerely. Anything else, >> Mary? I do have a question. Um, so I was just looking at um the different amounts that the cities pay >> to be on um the commission and um so I was just wondering how the how that is figured out and I I I see it in here but the formula for that on how we're you know charged versus how Manita is charged or Bertra is charged right >> and along with that you know it seems like we have the highest one. Um, so I'm assuming that's some type of lake frontage. And if if there's a reason why we >> you you pay the most because you have the highest tax capacity. >> Okay. >> But per person, you pay the least because you have more citizens. >> Okay. >> So you >> So that's how that's figured out. >> Basically 79, excuse me, 79 cents a resident. all residents and Delwood pays $248 per resident. >> Okay. >> Neither of which is very much, but you know, in comparison. >> So, >> and do you feel like you're happy with our representation on the commission as far as like I know there's two per each. So, like Dwood would have two, we have two virtually >> we have a new representative and I'm very happy with that. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Mhm. Yeah, I served with his excuse me, I served with his dad on the conservation district at one time, too. So, >> right. >> But he's he's learning. He's coming along. He really wants to learn. He's he's interested in the lake, and that's the p that's the most important thing, >> right? >> Y. So, >> and you don't feel that Wiper Lake would need three representatives because of the size. You don't feel like White Beer Lake would maybe need three representatives because of the size. >> If you want to go to the legislature and get that through, I'd be for it. Okay. at good luck. >> Yeah. So, I was just wondering about your opinion on that. So, it's a legislative thing. >> I mean, you know, you could argue that very easily, >> but it would they would have to change our uh legislation that in that created us. >> Okay. >> So, >> I understand. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Council member Ed, >> I do have a question on a different topic. Um I monitor your minutes and I notice there's my perception is that there's been a shift in attention on individual um dock permitting that that system has become more organized, more structured timelines seem to be in somewhat more organized fashion than it was years ago. I could be wrong on that, but what's your perception on how we're doing with resolving all of those thorny little neighbor to neighbor, neighborhood to neighborhood conversations about docks and uh access and all that kind of stuff. Well, you have to realize when people talk about Lakeshore, they get a little crazy. M >> so when we have somebody on our doc committee who can handle that and understand it and uh does a really good job in settling things down and and kind of laying out the law um things go a lot smoother and that's what you're seeing. >> Okay. Aside from our environmental issues, water quality, invasive species, etc. What's the biggest single issue that you see in our future or in our kind of near future for the Lake Conservation District? What are the things that operationally, functionally, whatever that uh that you think about? Well, you should think to the future. We um we are escrowing money for a lake management plan. We just finished the lake use study. Uh hopefully you made the presentation in January when we rolled it all out. Uh and um so in the late management would look forward look into the future for those types of things. Uh it's so many things we have to react on. We're reactionary. You know, it's hard to plan ahead for how many docks you're going to have or how many boats people are going to have on a dock or how much mil foil we're going to have other than setting aside money to treat it and take care of it. And we're able to do that. We have a reserve that keeps us, you know, we're not afraid of it. Star Stonewart I'm afraid of because that takes a lot more money to get rid of. Um, and so, uh, you know, we're not in bad shape. We're we're we're handling everything that's coming along. Everybody has their opinion, but uh uh one of our former board members who's now gone um used to always say, "Keep the peace. Just keep the peace. You'll be doing a good job if everyone's happy." >> And so, naturally, not everyone's always happy, but we do pretty good job on keeping the peace recently. We have a good board. Um, immediately for the future, >> just keep our head down and keep going. >> Okay. Thank you. >> We just want people to enjoy the lake and keep it clean and fresh and safe. >> Yeah. Miss Crawford. >> Oh, did you have something? >> Okay. >> Thank you, uh, Mayor. I have a couple things for Mr. Pronto. Um the first one is city staff get regular complaints about you know jet ski rentals on White Bear Lake and we try to combat that when we can uh when it's you know operating out of city property but if it's off of Ramsey County property we don't have much the city doesn't have much you know weight there. Is there anything are there any approvals needed from those private rental companies from the conservation district? >> Well, uh, if they were renting them on land, and I know Ramsey County does not allow that on their beach at all, and hopefully you don't allow it at Mataska. >> We don't. >> Oh, good. Um, then if they're renting it at a sporting goods store in St. call or something. There's really nothing you can do about it, but they should have a sheriff's sticker on it. Um, and anybody who is in the rental business needs to have that for any watercraft they rent, whether it's a pontoon or anything. And if they have that, that means that they've passed all the tests and all the requirements to be safe. >> Um, >> I think that's more equipment, >> not the I think that's more for the equipment from the sheriff's office, not >> the usage. And the complaints that we receive are there are people out here on on watercrafts that don't know how to drive them or they're dangerous or they're zooming everywhere and they're not following lake rules. Right. >> But we don't have any authority whether it's law enforcement or you know you know governing these things. So I was wondering if you do. >> We have an ordinance against uh not safe behavior or erratic driving. We have an ordinance against that. Um, okay. And I forget the ordinance number now and I don't have my book with me. >> That's okay. >> But it's there. And uh, people under >> 21, I think this year have to have a boat driver's license. And next year, anybody born after 1987 has to have a boat driver's license. So, it's getting cracked down on. And, uh, anybody driving erratically should be turned in. And we have, like I say, we have an ordinance against it, but the sheriff would be glad to, >> you know, confiscate things if they're old enough to and give them a ticket. >> Um, >> okay. >> So, there are things in place. Uh, enforcement can always be better. Uh, but we have we have if if you're driving erratically and and you know, that type of thing, we have an ordinance against doing that. And again, the boat driver license and then the sticker from the sheriff that the that the boat is qualified to be on the water and then the operator have to control the operator somehow. >> Is that kind of what you're thinking or you're >> Yeah, it is. Yeah, it's it's really the operation piece. >> So, because we have people ask and I'm glad that you say you don't allow it. You don't allow rentals out of your parking lot, >> right? because uh you know people will come down and uh I know in the past they've had trailers full of kayaks and uh now there's jet skis and that type of thing. And the other thing we have are people on the lake are renting their boats out and so when we hear of that then we they have to also go through all the procedures of have a sticker, make sure the the driver's licensed, all that kind of stuff. And so it's it's something new that's being uh information is the best weapon and we're talking about it. We get a we buy a couple of pages in the Laker newspaper that goes to lake residents um and others that are interested and uh we're putting that type of information in it also. >> Okay. Excellent. >> And then uh one other thing uh your administrator Sher How is retiring uh soon and I know you've hired someone else. I met them today. Um Sherry walked them around, but Sherry, I just wanted to say, has done a great job um for you guys and she's been lovely to work with, so I'm going to miss her. >> Thank you. I like the lake. >> Yeah, Council Member Ed. >> Thank you, Madam Mayor. Mr. Pronto, you caused me to think of you mentioned uh citizens on the lake are renting out their boats now, which is strikes me as a a relatively new uh recent phenomenon. Um, we had a conversation at this table some months ago about uh short-term rental housing rentals and having concerns about folks um partying a little too hardy. Um, and is your observation about folks renting out boats, is that connected in any real meaningful way to um short-term rentals or is it citizens who live on the lake and just saying, "Hey, I've got a I've got a dock and a boat. Uh, here it is. You can use it for X, whatever." Or is it mostly contained to this rental aspect or something else? Um, I think it's a rental aspect and it's not necessarily somebody living on the lake, uh, but they keep their boat on the lake, whether they're renting a space or they keep it at a friend's dock and they, you know, and they'll rent it out. I know of a a pontoon that's kept at a somebody's dock and he puts the dock in for the person and puts his boat lift in and everything and then he keeps his pontoon there and he rents it out. >> We're not in favor of that. But >> he's going to he he will learn that he needs to to get the sticker from the sheriff if he's going to do it. And there's a number of other things and he has to, you know, again have a driver's license type thing or anybody he rents to has to. And we're kind of we'd like to get a handle on it, but it's all it's hard to to detect and it's not a big problem, but it's happening. Um it's kind of like your people renting lake homes out. >> Mhm. And you were looking at that too and they said it's we're on the same page on that but what do you do? Um maybe you've already have passed some some rules and regul. Yeah. So we're thinking the same you know like you are about it. What are you going to do? Is it is it fair? Is it a problem? Is it really a problem? Um uh so far it's just been something that we don't think is right but it hasn't been a problem. But it could be very quickly, >> right? >> And and a lot of people are switching over to what's called your boat club where they buy a membership and then they just sign up for a time to take a boat out. That seems to be working very well because those pe the owners of the boat club or the the people that work there really check the people out and they give them a map where they can go and where the rocks are and they you know they just kind of run them through stuff and so that's good. So maybe that'll help uh deter people from trying to be in the rental business. >> Okay. Any other questions? Well, I I just want to thank you for volunteering your time and all the work you do to keep our lake. It's our most precious resource and thank you for being on it and I feel like you put in so much time and energy and we just want to thank you. We all appreciate it. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Good night. >> Thanks for being here. All right. Item six, uh, public hearings. There's nothing scheduled. Item seven, unfinished business. Nothing scheduled. Item eight, new business. Item 8A, awarding contracts for tree removal and replacement for the Emerald Ashbbor project. Mr. CPY. >> Thank you, Mayor, and members of the council. I'll go over a little bit of background on the project just to kind of refresh everybody and those listening on TV. So, Emerald Ashbbor was first discovered in the city of White Bear Lake in 2017 down by Berkeley Roads kind of on the south side. Um the city had been monitoring it since it was uh um showed up in St. Paul and some of the uh communities to the south. So, they've been monitoring it showed up in 2017. uh the council react council and staff reacted 2018 a inventory of park so active park areas not the kind of the open kind of the uh uh nature preserve type areas but the active park areas and boulevards were inventoried. Um so we ended up with seven just over 1,700 uh boulevard trees and almost 300 uh park trees. Um, I will note that since that was uh done, we've obviously that was kind of a um big picture inventory. Um, I'll go over a little bit of that when we get to the uh map on the next slide. But um after that inventory was done uh the city decided to treat um roughly 300 uh boulevard trees and all most all of the park trees um to help uh buffer that impact of emerald ashbor. So trying to treat them in order to hopefully save a few or at least um prolong their life in order to um get caught up in the management of it. Um so since then we've been kind of dabbling in it mostly staff um some contractual removals in our parks or staff removals in parks and boulevards were needed. Um then uh we had the opportunity to apply for a uh shade tree grant uh through the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. We were granted a just shy of a half a million dollar grant uh to do removal and replacement. That's key in this. it is for every tree that we remove we need to replace it in the vicinity of so they obviously uh understand there's utilities there's the the old root ball from the you know some of these trees are 2 feet in diameter bigger so a large root ball so you within the vicinity of where that tree um was removed um so going up and this is big picture don't try to count all the dots but this is big picture um so these are each dot represents an asht tree either in a park or boulevard. Um areas three and four are what we focused on kind of the gray shaded areas what we focused on or that area of the city for the grant. Um the grant had a number of uh criteria that you know scoring criteria that we felt those areas best met. Uh density so the overall impact uh there were other demographic requirements um or scoring criteria. So we tried to meet those as best we could. based on that data that we had for the community. So, uh um roughly uh again when we started this inventory, these are the original numbers, we had you know about 700 trees that were in that area and many of them uh as we did a revised inventory last year to get ready for uh putting this project out for bid. Uh found out a number of them had been removed either by homeowners, you know, storm damage. Um some of them uh so the DNR is very specific that the uh trees that were removed are within the public right away. Um that being said, this is a this was this big picture um um inventory that was completed in 2018. A number of these as we go out and find property irons and things as we did the inventory found a number of them that are actually on private property so can't qualify. They're generally a boulevard tree, but they can't qualify under the DNR grant. So, we narrowed it down to about 350 to 375 trees uh to apply for the grant. Um so, um we took bids on the project a few weeks ago. Um the uh tree removal came in at just shy of 300,000 and the tree planting was about uh 125,000. So, we're under that grant amount. Um, in addition, we have about $20,000 of ineligible restoration cost going into it knowing that we have that budgeted in our parks fund uh to do some of that work. So, that being said, we uh got great bids. Uh we estimated for the uh actual um planting uh came in about where we expected um just uh $3 to $325 per tree. Um the tree removal bids uh came in significantly less than. Uh we were estimating about $1,000 per tree to for removal. Uh they came in at um about 750 on average. So quite a bit less. Um so that being said, we are short um of meeting that full grant spending. So we've been working with the DNR over the last several weeks since we uh took bids and uh they gave us the okay to go outside of those two areas. uh they want the money spent, they want the the uh dollar spent in the community for that uh removal and replacement. So, uh we started actually today um scouting out um areas. We're trying to keep it generally in that area because the contractor, you know, that bid it uh we want it in that general uh vicinity so that we're not sending them all over town, which theoretically could increase bid costs or the price to remove the tree. So, uh, we started that, uh, steps to, uh, look at additional areas. Uh, we have been doing, um, communications with residents that are affected by this, uh, mailings, um, uh,formational. We got all the trees marked over the last two weeks. We've had tons of staff hours out there. Um, we are going to get a letter out this week yet to say, "This is your chance to review the trees marked in your yard, in your area. Um, just make sure that we didn't mismark something." um uh somebody have sentimental value to a tree. Um so we're uh we've talked to uh being out there uh staff was able to talk to uh quite a number of the homeowners that had trees, explain them the process. So uh very appreciative of the efforts that we have gone through. So um so that's kind of the funding. So we're looking for about another hundred trees or so to um go out and tackle under this project. Um, so more to come on that. Um, once we get those areas, uh, refined. Um, I'm going to go back to the map quick. So, we're going to go into kind of areas two and five south of the lake. Um, and, uh, kind of focus our efforts to get the additional trees in those areas. That being said, uh the project schedule, we're anticipating after award tonight that we would uh the contractor uh many of them are we got tons of bids. Um so we're uh pretty excited that tree contractors were that excited about a project. Uh they um most contractors that we talked to do onesie twoosies for homeowners and things like that. So, they really appreciated a the ability to do a bigger project and and uh focus their efforts and time in one area. So, um that was exciting to hear. Um and then uh we'll kind of overlap the tree removal planting. So, as soon as we start getting uh the uh removals done, we can start doing the plantings, but want to do those later in the season, that September, October to increase survival rate. Trees do have a three-year warranty, so um they will maintain them. and they'll water them and stuff frequently enough to uh maintain them for that time frame. Um so we'll do that later in the season when the temperatures are down and uh easier to to maintain the watering. Uh so that being said, uh staff would recommend that council adopt a resolution awarding a contract to precision landscape and tree uh for tree removals in the amount of 299,941. um and adopt a second resolution awarding a contract to Hoffman McNamera Nursery and Landscape for Tree planting in the amount of 126,468. I'd be happy to entertain any questions. >> Council member West. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um so I'm wondering if uh Mr. CPP if you could uh maybe give a little more explanation for what kind of communication people got and when they got it. um regarding um trees that would be kind of in their boulevards and also if there are people who think that they have trees in their boulevard that would qualify but they weren't marked if you could um talk a little bit about what they should do about that. uh mayor, members of the council. So, the communications that we had, the the first communication was last fall in the uh or this uh this spring in the uh city's newsletter kind of warning folks that the uh project is coming. Uh we sent out a letter before we started marking um uh about six weeks ago, I guess, now. Um so, we got out and got those that information to anybody that had an asht tree on that inventory. So, um, uh, we sent letters to everybody who could be impacted if they had maple, other trees. We did not send those letters out to those folks, only those that had an ashtree um, that was identified in the boulevard or at least near the boulevard that we would be out marking and we gave them the time frame. Uh, we we got those marked this week. Um, we put information in that mailer uh, what the program was that they would be that we would be removing and replacing the trees. uh kind of the the uh the requirements of the DNR grant contact information for the engine engineering department to um uh contact to um provide uh information whether they had any concerns with the trees that were marked or unmarked. Um some folks that uh we didn't focus our efforts on uh so the city had done some treatments on some boulevard trees but the homeowners did as well. So, uh, we did mark some trees based on health. Um, uh, we did go knock on a lot of doors, talk to residents that, uh, hey, you've been treating your tree, but it's not in very good condition. A number of them said, yeah, I'm done treating, um, now is the time to take it down as part of the grant. So, a lot of, uh, door knocking, uh, talking to residents as we were in the neighborhood. Um, we've taken a lot of calls and emails based on that uh, mailer to all of those homes. Uh in that mailer, we uh said that once we are done um doing the marking uh late June that we'd be sending out a a notice uh saying that we are complete and uh to do a final review before we actually let the contractor out uh to do the project. So, if somebody thought that their tree should be included in it, but it wasn't or a tree in the boulevard or near the boulevard should have been included, do they contact the engineering department then? >> Yeah, that is correct. That is what the And again, each one of those homeowners received that mailer um that would indicate or provide that direction to them to contact us. Uh we've had been out on a number of them where we've reviewed them both ways. folks that thought that, hey, this is a tree or my my neighbor's tree got marked. Why didn't mine? And we we would go and re-review it and say, "Nope, it was it actually once we found property irons, we found out it was a private tree." Or we said, "No, it's it's it had been treated, but if you're interested in taking it down or we can take it down as part of the project." Some have added them. Some have said, "No, I I've been treating it. Maybe I'm going to try to save it for a little bit yet." And we've taken some of that marking off as well. Thank you for the clarification. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you, >> Borola. >> Thank you for sharing. I'm really excited about this project and I think a lot of people in our city are too and I know it's a competitive grant to get. Um about your estimate, how many trees in general in the city? You showed us all the dots, but would you say number-wise are in the right of ways? um mayor, members of the council, it is um I would say the majority of them. I don't have an exact percentage because we only so we did the uh the the broad brush inventory over the whole community back in 2018. Um the more detailed survey that we did uh last summer, last fall, um got into the more specific specifics of it where we started reviewing condition. and we reviewed. Uh so each of those we went out and we uh surveyed them, measured diameter, height, um noted condition on each one of them, took a GPS shot. Then we came back in and we analyzed where those landed again. Some fell in, some fell out. Um even as we started marking them now, um we started um finding property errands. We did not do that last summer with um all of them with the uh um the inventory. We just GPS the locations. But as we went out there, we and we found property earns. There's a few that were not on the inventory that we found. So, we contacted those property owners to notify them that they they also had a boulevard tree that uh that we would like to remove or it was treated and in very good condition. So, um, not as it's a very complex process. It it seems easy, but it's very complex to to figure out exactly where and how many. Um, but there are, you know, I'd say plus or minus 10%. If I had to take a, um, the one thing that we have noticed is that, uh, people, you know, whether they're not reading the newsletters or things like that, they're, you know, quite a number of them got taken down from last fall till uh, the spring. So over the last kind of nine months, uh quite a few have been taken down as well by homeowners. Some looks like they look like they have taken them down themselves, some contractor, but um that answer your question. >> And can can you tell me, you maybe already said this, what kind of trees you're replanting with? >> Oh, you're going to quiz me on that. So there I'm gonna not remember all 12 of them, but a whole number of and I'm gonna I'll do my best. A number of different oak trees. There's actually an American elm that's in the list. Hackberry, Kentucky coffee tree, um skyline honeyloust, um >> a variety. So it's not one kind of tree. That's excellent. >> Um great question. I can kind of elaborate a little bit on it, but um so we've got this variety of trees that's approved through the DNR that is supposed to be pest resistant. So both biological as well as you know different bugs um that these trees have been kind of proven to be uh resistant uh to u infestations. So uh the plan is to uh do a wide variety of those trees planted kind of randomly. It's not like we're going to let 10 people in a row say we all want skyline honey locust. We're going to No, because if we run into the next skyline honeyloust bug, >> right, >> 20 years from now, now those are all gone. So, we're trying to uh kind of move the different species around so that we have a variety in an area so that we don't have any one tree that's, you know, susceptible. You know, the other besides ash, the one that we cannot plant is maple trees because following um the uh Dutch elm disease and whatnot, a lot maple was the other one besides ash that was planted. Um so we have such a high concentration of you know when the when the DNR does uh canopy inventories. So, their canopy canopy inventory of White Ber Lake, we had a it's like 30% or higher of uh maple trees in town. So, again, if we got hit by a maple tree bug, that's the next one that's going to go. So, uh we want to we want to have a variety of trees to help sustain our tree canopy. >> Excellent. Thank you. Yeah, I don't know if any of you remember Dutch Elm, but I remember half of St. Paul got taken out and yeah, it was terrible. Council member Edber. >> Thank you, Mayor. Mr. Copy, are you able to accommodate um uh resident requests for certain species that are on the list? In other words, do they get to have some expression of interest or expression of preference for a honeyloust versus something else? uh mayor, members of the council, um we are trying not to go that route because to manage that to try to plant 300 to 400 trees and um we have, you know, when you look at the dozen or so varieties of trees that we have and there's, you know, 25 to 50 each tree and everybody wants an oak tree and I assume you're running that risk of, you know, uh having a bunch together. Um what we are trying to do is uh as we work with the uh Hoffman McNamera uh we'll be looking having their staff look at as well as our staff look at where that you know if there's a bunch of oak in an area we're probably not going to plant another oak we might plant something else to help diversify that area. Um they're they're landscapers they're good at it and that's what they do. So we're going to li rely somewhat on what their expertise is where to plant different species. Okay. Uh, mayor, just one statement. I last summer I went out with our intern and our GIS uh, coordinator and did some of the measurements and the heights and the walking and I think I only did a block or two at that time and it took several hours. So, I appreciate all of staff's work on this last year, the years before and even this year and I'm really excited to get this going and unfortunately it's going to have a big impact on our neighbors. um the neighborhoods and and the tree canopy and that's exactly why it's a good thing to diversify and not have a bunch of the same species going forward. So, thanks for your work. >> Exactly. Thank you so much for all this and I'm so happy that we get to do more than we thought we were going to get to do. So, that's really great news and um does anyone else have any other questions? All right. Um, I would, um, accept a motion to adopt the attached resolution receiving bids awarding the contract to Precision Landscape and Tree. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. So, that motion passes. And then I would also accept a motion to the attached resolution receiving bids and awarding contracts to Hoffman and McNamera Nursery. >> So >> second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. Motion passes. Thank you so much, Mr. Coffee. All right. Item item 8B, strategic plan update. Miss Crawford. >> Thank you, uh, mayor, members of the city council. Um, so on April 15th and this of this year, a few months ago, city council and staff leadership team met in a work session for the purpose of updating our 2024 strategic plan um to our 26 strategic plan. So, I'm going to go over I do have several slides to go over the report um in in depth. Um so, bear with me, but the report's also in the council packet, but I do want to just spend some time going over it tonight. So, um at the work session, we you know refreshed and revised our long-term direction. Um we this time we worked on establishing a vision and a mission um two statements and then we discussed and evaluated our current conditions, opportunities and threats and then developed um two-year goals. So you know each uh member of the council as well as uh leadership team voted on um specific you know priorities and so our consultant took that and has created um bote um those the new goals. So the there are six uh core strategies and objectives. So these are each category um that we've come up with um that the the group came up with and then that Phil Kern put into the packet. So the first one um is a safe and welcoming community and then the objectives underneath that um are on the screen. So there's uh what five under that is facilitate and encourage community connections, maintain appropriate staffing levels in public safety. public safety engaging with the community. Ensure public safety staff are equipped with adequate uh technology and equipment. Maintain a welcoming presence, a feel of welcome. Uh all feel welcome and have opportunities to participate in a wide range of community functions. The second one is to be a historic destination and have that small town feel and within that u maintain the downtown area without losing its historic character. Preserve and improve the lake life identity of the city. Engage future stakeholders and and next generation of volunteer community leaders. Maintain the historic historic character and charm and strategically approach change with community input. Um and then engaged community responsive leadership forwardinking approaches to issues, challenges and opportunities. Create engagement opportunities for all members of the community. Utilize revalent communication tools to support 2-way communication. Identify and encourage future leaders. That's both public and private. encourage development uh services or excuse me, ensure development services are responsive to the wants and needs of public at all stages of life level of need and background. Foster relationships, maintain civility, and expect professionalism. Complete community support opportunities to offer a full range of life cycle housing. High quality services and amenities. Retain and expand upon the resilient natural environment. Partner and support uh thriving educational systems. Create community connectivity and and identity through arts and events. Work to attract a diverse mix of retail and commercial attractive walkable accessible districts. attract and retain employment opportunities and employers. Um then responsive services and fiscal responsibility, resilient and affordable services that meet community needs. Intentional focus across departments towards customer service. Proactive budgeting versus reactive budgeting. Maintain resources in a sustainable manner. Plan for future needs and improvements. maintain per capita value do taxes collected and communicate that to residents and I think this is our last one. Uh dedication and supported I think that should say dedicated and supported city staff. Uh desirable workplace environment with competitive pay and benefits. Staffing levels are appropriate for the expected level of services. Forward thinking. Encourage a collaborative environment. retention through pro professional development policies and strategic actions and accountability to community and to each other. Um so those were our kind of six objectives and then there are goals I'll get into later but I'm first going to go into the proposed mission and vision statements that we came up with. Um Mr. Kern our facilitator um landed on these based on all of our discussion. So this is the proposed vision um where lakes connection and small town feel create a safe welcoming community that honors our past and is supported by exceptional services. And then for the mission we deliver highquality services with professionalism, fiscal responsibility, engagement and forwardinking leadership that values and supports our community. Um then we further we went into high priority goals and then opportunity goals. And so I think I have just one slide I think for each and some of these are present in our 2024 um uh strategic plan that we have carried over. But the first high priority goal is complete housing needs assessment and develop appropriate strategies for actions including a feasibility study for a potential pioneer manner too. Generate new nonpropy tax revenue sources with a target of at least $250,000 annually. Um within that are some ideas um that we that we came up with that night. Complete EAB, tree removal and reforestation, preferably with external funding sources. Uh add communications staff, continue prioritization of redevelopment opportunities, complete downtown street reconstruction project on time, and find and implement meaningful methods to involve youth in council and commission activities. So those would be the high priority goals um that the group uh together identified. So those those would be kind of the work plan for the next couple of years. Um and then if uh if time or as time allows opportunity goals on this next slide are continue implementation of new software and technology including data analytics systems across all departments to increase responsiveness and efficiency. Um update city emergency operations center. I can tell you that's probably not going to be completed in the next two years. Um create and hire a third mechanic position. develop and implement strategies to incur uh encourage fire uh EMTs to attend paramedic school. Update classification and compensation plan and boost resources for employee wellness and engagement. So again, those were um opportunity goals. So um I'm just I think I have just two more slides and then we'll get to discussion. But next our next step would be implementing this. So, um staff, uh if if the council adopts this as is, you know, we need to we need to link long-term direction to short-term action plans, um which is what we did last time in 24 when council adopted uh the strategic plan. Then I took that and I kind of dissected it into action plans. And then then on a quarterly basis um department heads and I did a check-in um to measure that progress and how are we progressing through through the goals that that we identified as a group. And then on the off years um we met with council to do a check-in. Um so again uh next step would be to develop those action plans. Um, you know, a good reason to have a strategic plan is just to keep our direction, keep levelheaded and be consistent. Um, communication with uh within our organization and our community, we can look to our plan to identify, you know, if something comes forward, does this fit our strategic plan? And we've started to do that over the last couple of years, and I think we can strengthen that uh going forward. Um, again, and then just monitoring our progress. So the idea is that uh we go through uh or council accepts this um puts it into action um we staff executes that and then in 2027 um we would have a work session the department heads and I would have a work session with the city council to check in on our progress. Um and then in 28 probably spring of 28 we would conduct this plan or update the plan again. So it's on an every other year um basis to keep us going and hold us accountable. So um I expect uh council to discuss uh the strategic plan tonight and then I am asking that you adopt the attached resolution adopting the strategic plan and then directing um me develop to develop action plans and establish ben benchmarks uh to implement that plan. So mayor with that I will stand for questions. Thank you. >> All right. Does anyone have any questions, comments? >> Okay. Yeah. Any questions? More comments. >> Okay. >> Um I think it's really good. I'm I'm a I thought the process was good. I'm actually It looks better here than than I mean I remember. I was like, was this was this us? Did we do this work? It was pretty good. Um um the vision and mission are good. We we we we we weren't quite we didn't quite give him a finished product, but he he he polished it and and I think he he got it where we wanted. I like it. Um um the the only thing I'd say is just just it's like a caveat, you know, a gentle caveat as we adopt this and I support it is just is that just a there were there were elected officials in that room, board members, members of the council and the mayor and then staff and you know probably equal amount or maybe more staff because there's only five or six of us, right? Um and so it's good to have a strategic plan. It's good to have a direction. Um, I guess my my gentle caveat is and I and I appreciate throughout the year, you know, seeing this back in, you know, back to us in a memo saying, "Hey, this proposal today that we're dealing with uh fits, you know, our strategic plan." Um, I just gently say, you know, I reserve the right to to be against it uh on a on a project by project basis uh as an elected official. So, I think the planning is important. Um, just don't hold me to everything in here. I didn't vote for everything in here. some of these things on here that I it was a good we were putting sticky notes up there like we do and and and I think it was a good process and I was interested to see the results. Um there's a few in here that I'm not thrilled about. Um but I think overall uh this it's the it's the um it reflects the what happened in the room that day and the staff input is really valuable. So that's just my little gentle uh caveat as we as we begin this process. Uh um but I do appreciate seeing that in the memos throughout the year. It's like, okay, we're going to do this. By the way, we met and planned with a clear head with no stress and said this was a goal and this matches that goal today. So, I think that's good. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else comments or thoughts or >> If you need a move to approve, I'll do that, too. >> Okay. I'd consider a resolution adopting the city council of wiper league strategic plan and directing the city manager to develop the action plans and establish benchmarks for implementation. >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Any further discussion? All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Excellent. Motion passes. >> All right, moving on. Uh item nine, discussion, nothing scheduled. Item 10, communications from the city manager, Miss Crawford. >> Thank you, uh, mayor. I do, uh, we are in event season every day here in White Bear Lake right now. So, uh, a whole slew of events coming up. Market Fest again, uh, this Thursday. Um, the farmers market starts on Friday, um, of this week and runs through October. It's 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Clark Avenue. Um and this Friday, uh the police department will have an event of donuts with co coffee and co donuts and coffee with cops at the farmers market. Um it's also Manito day is still happening. So again, follow that link, but the 4th of July fireworks uh will happen um before our meeting, our next council meeting. So wanted to be sure we talk about that. So, um that's at approximately 10 p.m. at Memorial Beach, but come early because we do have a band and a flyover and all these wonderful things. Um and then, uh lastly, Fridays with firefighters. The next one is July 10th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the South Fire Station. Again, that's the second one, um of three, um this summer. And then offic city hall um license bureau and our non-emergency offices are closed on Friday July 3rd to observe um the holiday. And then just a reminder to uh to council um the mayor and council member um uh West and Edberg will be and I will be at the League of Minnesota Cities conference starting tomorrow and back uh late Friday afternoon. So we'll miss a few of these events, but that's what I have. Thank you. All right. Anyone else have anything they'd like to share? I enjoyed uh the parade and being on the truck with all of you and getting to ring the bell. That was great. >> Um I also uh judged the sand castle contest this weekend, which was so much fun, but uh a little more stressful than we thought. Uh Council Member Gorilla helped me. Um and it was really fun to see all the kids, but you know, sometimes it's hard to pick because they were all really good. Um I also uh did a little talk at the boat show um which was great as well. So thanks everybody for um participating in the stuff this past weekend and and please keep supporting us. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Item 11, adjournment. Um I' he moved to >> All in favor. >> Any opposed?