MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF

THE MINNEHAHA CREEK WATERSHED DISTRICT

BOARD OF MANAGERS

November 19, 2009

CALL TO ORDER

The regular meeting of the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District Board of Managers was called to order by President James Calkins at 6:58 p.m. at the District offices, 18202 Minnetonka Boulevard, Deephaven, Minnesota. 

MANAGERS PRESENT

James Calkins, Lee Keeley, Richard Miller, Brian Shekleton and Mike Klingelhutz.

MANAGERS ABSENT

Pamela Blixt and Jeffery Casale.

OTHERS PRESENT

Eric Evenson, District Administrator; Dr. Udai Singh, Water Quality Program Manager; Mark Ten Eyck, Land Conservation Program Manager; Michael Panzer, District Consulting Engineer; Michael Welch, Assistant District Counsel.

MATTERS FROM THE FLOOR

None.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Mr. Evenson requested the addition, in the Committee Reports, of an update on his recent meeting with the City of Hopkins on the Minnehaha Creek Corridor Project.  Manager Miller moved, seconded by Manager Keeley, to approve the agenda as amended.  Upon vote, the motion carried.

CONSENT AGENDA

Manager Calkins noted that counsel wished to remove the minutes of the November 12 meeting and Manager Klingelhutz requested the removal of the check register from the Consent Agenda.  Manager Miller moved, seconded by Manager Keeley, to approve the Consent Agenda, consisting of the petty cash and surety check registers.  Upon vote, the motion carried.

REGULAR AGENDA

Committee and Task Force Reports

 

Manager Miller reported on the meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee, stating that he was impressed with the committee’s level of engagement and the intensity of its review of the Cynthia Krieg applications.  He recommends approval of the recommendations on the Krieg grants when sent forward by the committee. 

Mr. Evenson reported that he, Mr. Larry Blackstad and Manager Casale met with the administrator of the City of Hopkins to discuss creek corridor improvement options in Hopkins.  Mr. Evenson expects that the city will ask to form a formal partnership with the District on corridor planning for the important Reach 19-21 area.  The managers discussed the redevelopment opportunities such as the Atlas Cold Storage property on Blake Road along the creek in Hopkins. 

Manager Calkins reviewed the upcoming committee meeting schedule included in the agenda and noted that the next Citizens Advisory Committee meeting is December 16 and that Manager Casale is scheduled to attend on behalf of the Board.

November 12, 2009, Meeting Minutes

Mr. Welch stated that the motions in the minutes as distributed did not include the resolution numbers.  He said he added the resolution numbers and could review them if the Board wished.  Manager Klingelhutz moved, seconded by Manager Miller, to approve the minutes of the November 12, 2009 meeting as amended.

Check Register

Manager Klingelhutz noted check number 29452 to Lightly Epicurean, a catering company owned by Manager Keeley.  Manager Klingelhutz stated that state law requires that the Board unanimously approve any business contract with a manager.  Mr. Evenson observed that the contract with Manager Keeley’s company was approved by unanimous vote at the time Manager Keeley joined the Board.  He added that the contract with Lightly Epicurean will be addressed on the December 17 agenda along with other vendor contracts.  After further discussion, the managers requested that counsel review the minutes of the approval of the Lightly Epicurean contract to confirm a unanimous vote. Manager Klingelhutz moved, seconded by Manager Miller, to approve the check register, consisting of checks 29408 to 29490 for a total of $289,635.22.  Upon vote, the motion carried.

Board Priority Setting

Mr. Jim Brimeyer appeared before the Board to continue work on setting priorities.  Mr. Brimeyer stated that he had little to add to the work on the list of priorities that had been refined by Manager Calkins.  Manager Calkins reviewed his revisions to the list and explained how he narrowed the list of 12 priorities to eight, with implementing projects and programs associated with the each.  Mr. Brimeyer added that the next step would be to take a short time at each of several upcoming sessions to look at the priorities and the top three or four implementation items under each and discuss how to advance these issues.  The managers discussed possible additional revisions, then elected to retain the list as prepared by Manager Calkins.  Mr. Brimeyer stated that he is glad to return to work with the Board to develop strategies to address the priorities at a convenient meeting after January 1.  The managers thanked Manager Calkins for his efforts on the project.  Manager Calkins stated that the priorities list also will be useful at the Board’s annual retreat.  He asked the managers to provide any further comments by December 1.

Biomanipulation in Lake Nokomis

Dr. Singh presented a proposed work plan for biomanipulation of fish populations in Lake Nokomis to be conducted in 2010.  He said that after speaking with counsel regarding Department of Natural Resources permitting requirements and the need to seek and obtain Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board approval, he added these items to the budget and is requesting an increase in the budget to cover these added expenses, increasing the cost of the project to $61,000.  Mr. Steve McComas, Blue Water Science, appeared before the Board and presented the biomanipulation project.  Mr. McComas explained that the project will build on past efforts by the District and its partners in the Lake Nokomis watershed.  He said the project is designed to address carp in the lake, as well as black bullheads and bluegill sunfish, which feed in a manner that increases phosphorus loading. 

Mr. McComas said that carp density is actually fairly low in the lake and has been for some time, but bullhead numbers are moderate to high and bluegill numbers are extremely high.  The proposed biomanipulation project will involve the introduction of channel catfish to the lake to control small bullheads and bluegills.  He said that larger bottom-feeding fish will be removed by hoop netting.  Mr. McComas said Lake Nokomis is a good candidate for biomanipulation because it is less than 300 hundred acres, the reintroduction rate is low because of the weir installed by the District, the plant density is low and the fish community is relatively simple, among other factors.  Mr. McComas stated that the expectations of the project are removal of 50 pounds of fish per acre and a reduction of 125 kilograms of phosphorus loading per year, which will help the lake attain the phosphorus concentration goal of 40 parts per billion.  After further discussion of fish species found in the lake and the possibility for introduction of northern pike and muskie or tiger muskies with Daryl Ellison of the Fisheries Department of the Department of Natural Resources, the managers indicated their approval of the introduction of the channel catfish, which are native to other waterbodies in the watershed.  Manager Shekleton moved, seconded by Manager Keeley, to approve Resolution 09-117, authorizing an expenditure not to exceed $61,000 for the Lake Nokomis biomanipulation project.  Upon vote, the motion carried.

In response to a question from Manager Calkins, Mr. McComas stated that a survey of plants will be part of the work done under the project and that it is his belief that the lake still has a good seed bank, which will allow native plants to come back.  Dr. Singh added that the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board will be conducting monitoring of the lake.

Board Liaisons to Cities and Agencies

Manager Calkins presented the agenda item, noting that it is a continuation of a discussion the Board had at the November 12 meeting and that the Board liaison policy and procedures documents was updated in keeping with that discussion.  Manager Miller stated that it is particularly important that the managers adhere to the protocol in the document that requires Board members acting as liaisons to represent only official positions of the Board set by resolution.  He also noted the importance of liaisons conducting themselves in accordance with the District’s governance policies.  The managers agreed that in some instances two liaisons should be appointed in each case to ensure that the burden of representing Board positions does not fall on only one representative, and to provide for alternates as needed for any particular meeting that comes up.  Manager Shekleton moved, seconded by Manager Klingelhutz, to approve the Board Liaison Policy and Procedures.  Upon vote, the motion carried.

DISCUSSION ITEMS

Invasive Species Control

Dr. Singh stated that at the September 17 meeting the Board requested that he return with an estimate of the cost of a District boat launch inspection program for discussion purposes.  Dr. Singh said that the cost of a public boat launch inspection program on the public access points around Lake Minnetonka and Upper Watershed lakes, along with inspections at the 16 marinas on Lake Minnetonka would be roughly $2 million per year.  He said to cover these costs the District would have to charge a fee of $24.41 per boat.  He said the costs, and fee needed to cover them, would be $1.7 million and $17.32, respectively, if the public boat ramps were staffed 16 hours per day instead of 24.

Dr. Singh reviewed the invasives-control programs at a number of other waterbodies around the country, including Lake Tahoe, where a boat launch inspection program has been established.  He stated that the Tahoe program charges a fee according to the size of the vessel to be launched. The Tahoe program started with grant funding but now is entirely funded by fees, at a total cost of roughly $654,000 per year.  He stated that in the last year 24,000 inspections were conducted.  Dr. Singh also reviewed costs and structures of programs in Maine, New York, Oregon, Colorado and California.  Dr. Singh noted that several of the programs use a sticker system to identify boats that have been inspected and cleared for invasive species.  He also explained the option of inspecting a boat once when it is brought into a lake and allowing it to bypass further inspections as long as it is not launched on a different lake.

The managers discussed why the District would undertake such a project, as opposed to another of the other authorities involved in regulation of boats and boating in the watershed.  Manager Calkins emphasized the importance of keeping zebra mussels out of Lake Minnetonka.  Manager Miller asked counsel whether the District has authority to implement such a program.  Mr. Welch stated that watershed districts have explicit and implied powers to carry out the purposes for which they are created.  He stated that invasive species are certainly a water quality issue and that the District has clear authority to regulate to protect water resources.  He said, though, that the District has no new or different authorities in the realm of invasive species than it does in any other regard, and that in conducting a boat inspection program the District would have to rely on the standard rulemaking and permitting structures with which the managers are very familiar.  Mr. Welch added that the District does not have policing capacity or penalty authority that could be used to enforce such a program, and he noted that coordination with agencies involved in regulation of boating and surface uses would be important.  In response to a followup question from Manager Miller, Mr. Welch said that the District watershed plan has a number of citations to invasive species as a water resource problem, but it is likely that a plan amendment would be necessary before the District could implement a boat inspection program. 

Dr. Singh said that he is representing the District on a Lake Minnetonka invasive species task force that includes members of the Lake Minnetonka Association (LMA), staff from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and representatives from the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District (LMCD).  The group is working on an analysis of the invasive species issues facing Lake Minnetonka and will release its report on the matter soon.  The managers expressed keen interest in seeing the plan. 

The managers discussed the viability of a District-run or District-led invasive species-inspection program, and agreed that the point of a program would not be to keep boats off the lake but rather to keep invasive species, especially zebra mussels, out.  Manager Klingelhutz underscored that the District will need to work with the other interested and capable agencies on this issue, especially the DNR. 

In response to an inquiry from Manager Keeley, Mr. McComas again appeared before the Board and discussed work he has been involved in at White Bear Lake and the three-level plans the government entities there are developing: the first issue they are addressing is prevention, then rapid response to any incursion, then long-term management of invasive species.  Mr. McComas stated that he is not aware of any other entity that is considering  as extensive a prevention program as is being considered by the District.  Mr. McComas also discussed the conditions necessary to sustain zebra mussel growth in a lake.  In response, the managers asked staff to analyze the bathymetry and chemistry of Lake Minnetonka and report on whether the lake is likely to support to the proliferation of zebra mussels. 

Mr. Evenson noted the need for additional analysis of the legal issues raised and suggested that counsel be directed to complete such analysis.  Mr. Evenson also suggested that the District share the information gathered by Dr. Singh on the potential costs of a boat-launch program with the LMA and the LMCD.  The managers directed counsel and staff to take the followup steps discussed.  Dr. Singh added that the District does not now have all the data it would need to analyze whether zebra mussels would thrive in Lake Minnetonka but he will analyze the parameters he does have. 

The managers discussed the need for a letter to local government officials around the watershed, explaining the District’s perspective on the problem.  Manager Calkins underscored that the District has not committed to implementing any program, and that it is merely exploring the various alternatives and cost implications.  Manager Calkins noted, though, that the District will have to continue to explore the issue on a fast timeline.  He added that an educational letter to other entities could provide momentum and partners for the District on the issue.  The managers agreed to forestall any specific outreach action until Managers Casale and Blixt had a chance to weigh in on the issue and the District’s possible next steps.

Administrator’s Report

Mr. Evenson stated that work has started on the stormwater management projects at the Minnesota Veteran’s Home property.  He said District staff and counsel continue to work on a memorandum of agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers to allow work to continue in the Glen.  In response to a question from Manager Calkins, Mr. Panzer stated that the Glen sites subject to the Corps’ stop-work order are not as stable as he would ideally like, but the District cannot conduct any ground-disturbing activity until permitting issues with the Corps are resolved.  Mr. Evenson stated that he received word that the District permit application has been moved to the Corps regulatory arm from its hydraulics group.  Mr. Panzer said that he is working with District counsel to prepare contract documents in anticipation of the Board’s likely desire to move quickly once the Corps permit is secured.

Potential District Land Acquisitions

Mr. Mark Ten Eyck appeared before the Board and discussed the need for a closed session for the development of purchase offers for three properties:

• the Weis properties at 7200 Excelsior Boulevard in St. Louis Park;
• the Hesse property in Laketown Township, property identification number 07-02-60-3000; and
• property in the proposed Woodland Cove development on Halsted Bay in Minnetrista on Lake Minnetonka. 

The Board convened a closed session to discuss the development of the purchase offers for these properties. 

Upon reconvening in open session, Manager Miller stated that with regard to the Woodland Cove area, the managers need the cost of an appraisal of an easement on the property and staff needs to define a possible property interest or interests the District may be interested in at Woodland Cove for discussion at a future meeting.  Manager Miller moved, seconded by Manager Keeley, to direct staff to develop a proposal defining the District’s possible purchase options related to the Woodland Cove property and the cost of an easement appraisal.  Upon vote, the motion carried. 

The managers discussed and set a tentative date for the District’s annual retreat of January 28, 2010.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business, the regular meeting of the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District Board of Managers was adjourned at 10:38 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Lee Keeley, Secretary