AIS Monitoring

Aquatic Invasive Species is threatening lakes within our region.  It seems one by one a new lake shows the threat has become a reality.  Heading off that threat was a goal of the Pelican Lakes Association.  They had started lake monitoring about 4 years ago, prior to the realization that Pelican Lake had been infected with Zebra Muscles.  Now with this realization that the lake holds these invasive species the goal has been to diminish its reach to other bodies of water. 

The State of Minnesota came onboard and is providing funds to help curtail the spread of aquatic invasive species.  This funding is made available to local units of government to fund monitors at lake access points.  These monitors inform boaters of their responsibilities and assist them with inspection and procedures with the intent on thwarting the spread. 

Crow Wing County has been very diligent in applying for these funds and supporting a program that includes 55 landings at 50 lakes.  They have employed 60-75 inspectors throughout the season to accomplish these goals.  With the extent of lakes to cover being very broad, available staffing is used as needed.  Any inspector can be sent to any landing for work on any given day.  Pelican Lake Association has had a core group of individuals serve as landing inspectors in the past and they wanted to continue with that approach.  These individuals have a vested interest in the lake and were recruited, scheduled, and managed by the Pelican Lakes Association.  They wanted to focus on the 4 landings on Pelican Lake and the one on Little Pelican Lake.  Accomplishing inspections on other bodies of water didn’t make a lot of sense to these people.  They know the lake, see its ebbs and flows of users and felt they could do a better job of managing the inspection program.  They approached the city of Breezy Point to ask if we would host them as the Local Unit of Government rather than Crow Wing County. 

Accomplishing this goal is a mutual arrangement.  Breezy Point will be the Local Unit of Government for the grant, taking on that responsibility, but the Pelican Lake Association will be managing the program.  They will be working with a temporary employment agency for hiring, insurance and payroll services.  The Association will be in charge of scheduling and managing inspectors.  They will review payroll requests from the employment agency and approve them for payment.  The city will make payment to the employment agency for these services.  When the grant funds are exhausted the obligation of the city is done.  The arrangement provides for a more focused program for Pelican and Little Pelican lakes.

Property Values

Each year a meeting is held at city hall to allow property owners to question the market value assigned to their property.  The meeting is called the Board of Appeal and Equalization.  This meeting is conducted by the County Assessor allowing the City Council to hear the appeals of property owners concerning the value assigned their property.  The meeting is designed to address property owner’s issues with value in an efficient, fair and objective manner.

The city council, with consultation with the County Assessor, discusses the methodology of assigning a value and the merits of the property owner’s appeal.  In preparation for this meeting at least one council member must complete training done by the Department of Revenue.  This training involves the basics of how properties are valued; the process is for considering any changes to value, and laws surrounding the Board’s ability to make a decision on value.  Currently three council members in Breezy Point have taken this training. 

Property owners whom have concerns with the value of their property can first address questions with the County Assessor.  This meeting provides the next avenue to address the concerns of value with the city council.  Decisions can then be appealed to the County Board for final disposition on values.  This meeting does not address taxes; rather it is to address the value of the properties as assigned by the county assessor. 

A notice will be sent to all property owners giving them information on this meeting.  The meeting has been established to be held on April 19^th at 10:00 am in the Breezy Point City Hall.

County Road 11 North Will See Some Improvements

This summer Crow Wing County will be making some improvements to County Road 11 in Breezy Point.  The improvements will be made between the intersection with Co. Rd. 4 and the junction with County Road 3.  The improvements will be bid on March 8 and construction will start sometime after the 1^st of June. 

The improvements that will be made involve a mill and overlay in the areas with curbing.  In other areas the roadway will see an overlay. Other improvements that are of note include a right turn lane southbound at Ski Chalet Drive and northbound at Weavers Point Road.  Two bypass lanes will also be installed; one at Buschmann Road and another at County Road 39.  There are a few problem areas of the roadway that will be reconstructed.  These areas have seen multiple asphalt patching and are likely soft spots in the base of the road. These will be dug up and suitable aggregate will be replaced to firm up the roadway base before repaving.  

During construction, at times when portions of the roadway are unpassable, there will be flagmen and if needed a pilot car to keep the traffic moving as much as possible.  They anticipate a concerted 2 week construction schedule but with the right turn lanes some of this work will be completed in pieces prior to the heavy schedule towards completion. 

Annual Fund Transfer Outcomes

The city manages finances in a way to hedge for the future with some of its expenditures by placing funds in a separate fund for designated purposes called the Revolving Capital Fund.  This fund is part of the General Fund of the city with funds being kept in earmarked categories.  These earmarks include funds set aside for roads, police, public works, and other designations.  The largest amounts are for higher cost things such as road and future improvements. 

Funds being transferred to these earmarks come from budgeting and unspent capital allocations.  Funds are also spent out of these earmarks to balance out budgeted expenditures.  Using this fund requires in addition to budgeting, a transfer resolution, accomplished after the year-end financial statements are completed.  So as an example as to how this works; $30,000 was budgeted for a piece of equipment to be purchased.  The actual expenditure was $24,560.  The difference of $5,440 is available to be placed in the appropriate earmark. 

With the financial statement and budgeted amounts to be transferred the financial statement is reviewed to see where these amounts exist.  They are listed in a transfer resolution which is reviewed by the Finance Committee and considered by the city council.  The annual transfer resolution was adopted by the council at the February meeting. 

This past budget year we ran very close to budget resulting in some questions about what should be transferred.  We stuck to past practices which results in overall expenditures being over budget but we also received move revenues than what was budgeted. The outcomes that exist:

The General Fund - revenues over budget     $ 87,852 

                          expenses under budget        $ 27,355

                                                                   $115,207

Financial Statement expense margin                $ 27,355     

          Transfer expense                                 -$63,586

Resulting expenses over budget                      -$36,231

         

Cash Flow for the General Fund                    $115,207

          Transfer expense                               -$63,586

Cash Improvement overall                             $ 51,621

With the Sewer Fund, the budgeted transfer was $69,297.  The budget had also provided for an $8,400 transfer to the general fund for a capital expenditure for equipment.  Combined this amounts to $77,697.  The difference in expenditures versus revenues in this fund, based on the year-end financial statement, is $81,607.  This results in a positive difference of $3,910 keeping us slightly under budget. 

Whats happening with the Fishing Boardwalk?

There have been some good comments and some not so good ones when it comes to the fishing boardwalk.  This dock type platform was conceived to provide fishing opportunities to people along the channel adjacent to Breezy Point Drive.  The good news is that the dock structure is of adequate size and construction.  The not so good news is that the location doesn’t allow for fishing over the edge of the structure.  Two problems were encountered with its installation.  The water off the edge of the platform was at best 6 inches deep and with lower water levels there was land next to it.  The second problem encountered was that of soil types.  The “bottom” of the channel consists of muck/peat type materials.  A firm bottom that would support any significant weight was found about 23 feet down.

These lead to an exploration about what options were available to solve the problem of getting the structure over water deep enough to provide for fishing.  Navigation in the channel was felt to be important and a desire to not impede on this was seen as a priority.  Options looked at included longer poles, a cantilever design and flotation.  The first two options were not workable or considered safe.  The floating option came with another set of problems.  Given the depth of the water at the location we didn’t feel that floats would work without moving the structure out into the channel, which would affect navigation.  The option of choice became minor excavation of the shore area under the ordinary high water mark to be assured the floats placed on the structure would actually float.  

An application was made to the DNR to see if this could be accomplished.  Ordinarily the DNR is reluctant to allow excavations but with the channel being man made this helped the cause.  The excavation is considered minimal and it also provided for recreation which also helped the cause.  A permit was granted.  This allows for a trench to be excavated along the shore where the boardwalk will be re-positioned.  

The process of improvement takes a number of steps.  The structure has to be removed from its present location.  This involves the removal of the railings and platforms to start with.  The 4 by 8 foot sections that are bolted together need to be disassembled and taken off site.  Once the entire structure is removed excavation can be accomplished.  Floats need to be acquired and fastened to the structures that will be reassembled.  These will then be returned to the site for reconstruction.  Changes in lowering the height of the railings will be made in some areas to better allow for youth and handicap fishing.  Other areas of the railing maybe strengthened and or changed.   Given the change in design this will be something of a design build project. 

With any luck we hope to get this done by spring.  It is a priority for the Public Works crew.  We would like to have the boardwalk available for the spring Crappie Bite.