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NRC Packet 02082023NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION AGENDA MENDOTA HEIGHTS CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS Wednesday, February 8, 2023 6:00 p.m. 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Adopt Agenda 4. Approval of Minutes a. Approve meeting minutes from the January 11, 2023 Natural Resources Commission Meeting 5. Citizen Comment Period (for items not on the agenda) 6. New Business a. 2023 Commission Position Appointments b. Tree Sale Update c. Earth Day and Arbor Day Planning d. Staff Update: Recycling Coordinator 7. Old Business a. Committee Appointments b. Committee Reports • Ordinance and Policy Development • Education and Outreach • Urban Forestry • Green Steps • Sustainability 8. Staff Announcements 9. Commission Comments 10. Adjourn Guidelines for Public Comment Period: The Public Comment Period of the agenda provides an opportunity to address the Council on items which are not on the agenda. All are welcome to speak. Comments should be directed to the Council. Comments will be limited to 3 minutes per person; presentations which are longer will need to be scheduled with the City Clerk to appear on a future City Council agenda. Public comments may not be used to air personal attacks, to make political endorsements, or for political campaign purposes. Council members will not enter into a dialogue, nor will any decisions be made at that presentation. Questions from the Council will be for clarification only. If appropriate, the Mayor may assign staff for follow up to the issues raised or occasionally called on to respond. Page 2 of 2 CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION Wednesday, January 11, 2023- 6:00 P.M. Mendota Heights City Hall-Council Chambers The regular meeting of the Mendota Heights Natural Resources Commission was held on Wednesday, January 11, 2023, at Mendota Heights City Hall; 1101 Victoria Curve. 1. Call to Order Chair Swank called the meeting to order at 6:00pm. 2. Roll Call Coordinator Spreiter called the roll. Commissioners present: Fahnhorst, McCaslin, Husbands, Swank, Stein and Student Commissioner Byrnes. Commissioners Absent: Commissioners Husbands and Quick. Staff present: Natural Resources Coordinator Krista Spreiter and Assistant City Administrator Kelly Torkelson. 3. Approval of the Agenda Motion to approve the agenda by Stein, second by Fahnhorst. Motion passed 5-0. 4. Approval of the Minutes a. Approve meeting minutes from the January 11, 2023 Natural Resources Commission Meeting. Motion to approved the minutes by Tupper, seconded by McCaslin Motion passed 5-0 5. New Business a. 2023 Natural Resources Commission Meeting Schedule Assistant City Administrator Torkelson introduced a proposed meeting schedule for the Natural Resources Commission. Motion to approved the the 2023 Natural Resources Commission Meeting Schedule by McCaslin, seconded by Fahnhorst Motion passed 5-0 b. Frozen Fun Fest Update Natural Resources Coordinator Spreiter provided an update on the Frozen Fun Fest and opportunities for volunteering during the event. Commissioner McCaslin offered that there could be some interested material to introduce ecology education. Commissioner Stein stated that the commission would not need to attend each event that the city held and that the commission should prioritize which events they wanted to attend. Commissioner Fahnhorst volunteered to attend the Frozen Fun Fest event. Chair Swank shared additional events that there may be interest in for the commission. The Commission agreed that all the commissioners would not need to attend all the events. Commissioner Tupper shared that she thought that the tie to water ecology was a unique angel and asked staff about logistics at the event for sharing materials. Coordinator Spreiter shared that there would likely be an opportunity to put up a table for materials. Chair Swank asked if there were other groups that would be present at the event. Assistant City Administrator clarified that the fire department would be on scene at the event as well. Commissioners McCaslin and Fahnhorst would plan to attend the event. c. Staffing Update d. Assistant City Administrator Torkelson updated the Commission that the City has hired Courtney Selstad as the city’s new recycling coordinator. 6. Old Business a. 2023 Workplan Draft Review Coordinator Spreiter introduced a draft work plan for the Natural Resources Commission based off of the work from the December Natural Resources Work Session. Commissioner Tupper asked about timing for the tree planting event. Coordinator Spreiter explained that a tree planting event would be separate from the city’s tree sale. The Commission expressed interest in developing committees for each of the goals. Commissioners Stein, Fahnhorst and McCaslin expressed interest in being on the committee for goal 1. Commissioners Burns, Tupper and Swank expressed interest in goal 2. Commissioners McCaslin expressed interest in goal 3. Goal 4 commissioners Tupper and Swank, goal 5 Stein and Burns. Coordinator Spreiter clarified that staff would be involved in all of the subcommittees to provide support and resources. Staff would follow up with missing commission members in order to identify which committees they would be interested in. Motion to approve the 2023 workplan by Commissioner stein, second by McCaslin Motion passed 5-0 7. Commission Comments Chair Swank shared that she is very excited about the 2023 workplan and the committees dig into the work of the commission. Commissioner Tupper thanked staff for their work. 8. Adjourn Motion to adjourn the meeting by Tupper, second by Fahnhorst. Motion passes 5-0. Chair Swank adjourned the meeting at 6:35pm. Auxiliary aids for persons with disabilities are available at least 120 hours in advance. If a notice of less than 120 hours is received, the City of Mendota Heights will make every attempt to provide the aids. This may not, however, be possible on short notice. Please contact City Administration at 651-452-1850. DATE: February 8, 2023 TO: Natural Resources Commission FROM: Kelly Torkelson, Assistant City Administrator SUBJECT: 2023 Commission elections Background The Natural Resource Commission’s bylaws set election of the roles of chair and vice chair at the annual meeting for the commission which takes place in February of each year. If a commissioner is interested in the position of either chair or vice chair, they are welcome to express their interest to the group as a whole during discussion of this item. The chair and the vice chair elections will be separate items. The election of a chair will be the first order of business. After a chair has been selected from the commission, the new chair will take over the meeting proceedings. The chair will then ask the commission for nominations for vice chair. Following nominations, the chair will then call the vote for the vice chair. Requested Action Approve the appointment of _______________ to be chair of the Natural Resources Commission. Approve the appointment of _______________to be vice chair of the Natural Resources Commission. DATE: February 8, 2023 TO: Natural Resources Commission FROM: Krista Spreiter, Natural Resources Coordinator SUBJECT: Tree Sale Update Background The City began an annual tree sale in 2019, providing high-quality trees to residents at a reduced cost for planting on their private property. The City will again partner with Tree Trust to provide a selection of trees for sale at a reduced cost of $60 per tree. Residents may purchase up to two trees. This year the City was able to provide twice the number of trees available for residents to purchase, providing 100 trees. Online ordering begins March 6th at 8am, and trees will be available for pick up on May 13th at the Public Works facility. Trees come in a 10-gallon potted container, have a trunk width of approximately 1” in diameter, and range in height from approximately 4-10 feet. Available species currently include: Blue Beech Crabapple ‘Prairiefire’ Dakota Pinnacle Birch Hackberry Kentucky Coffeetree Norway Spruce Swamp White Oak Techny Arborvitae Requested Action None. Information only. DATE: February 8, 2023 TO: Natural Resources Commission FROM: Krista Spreiter, Natural Resources Coordinator SUBJECT: Earth and Arbor Day Planning Background The City has hosted an annual Earth and Arbor Day Celebration for residents since 2019. In previous years the celebration has included events such as a volunteer park clean-up, volunteer buckthorn removal event, educational opportunities, and giveaways. This year the Earth and Arbor Day Celebration will take place on Friday, April 28th and Saturday, April 29th. A city-wide clean-up event, educational opportunity, and giveaways will again be offered. Staff would also like direction from the Commission on additional events and ideas to be included in the celebration. Requested Action The Commission should discuss potential additions to the Earth and Arbor Day Celebration to propose to Staff. DATE: February 8, 2023 TO: Natural Resources Commission FROM: Kelly Torkelson, Assistant City Administrator SUBJECT: Staff Planning Update- Recycling Coordinator Background Staff would like to introduce Courtney Selstad, the city’s new recycling coordinator. The Mendota Heights recycling coordinator is a full-time position is shared between Mendota Heights, West St. Paul, Lilydale, Mendota and South St. Paul. This position is partially funded through a grant from Dakota County. To support Mendota Heights in advancing sustainability initiatives, the city has increased the allocation of hours for Mendota Heights from 10 hours a week to 14 hours a week in order to add duties focusing on sustainability initiatives and the city’s green steps program. Courtney Selstad will be starting as the city’s new recycling coordinator on January 17. She brings over 10 years of experience working in advocacy events and communications with three years of experience specifically in the recycling industry. She brings a passion for volunteering and reuse which will be a great benefit to the City of Mendota Heights. We are excited to welcome her to the city. Requested Action Informational Only. DATE: February 8, 2023 TO: Natural Resources Commission FROM: Krista Spreiter, Natural Resources Coordinator SUBJECT: Committee Appointments Background The Natural Resources Commission established committees at its regular meeting on January 11th to address each of the goals in the Commission’s 2023 Workplan. The 2023 Work Plan consists of five goals: Goal 1: Ordinance and Policy Development Goal 2: Education and Outreach Goal 3: Urban Forestry Awareness and Opportunities Goal 4: Green Steps Goal 5: Sustainability The following committees have been established: Goal 1 – Commissioners: Fahnhorst, McCaslin, Stein Goal 2 – Commissioners: Byrnes, Swank, Tupper Goal 3 – Commissioners: Husbands, McCaslin, Quick Goal 4 – Commissioners: Swank, Tupper Goal 5 – Commissioners: Byrnes, Husbands, Quick, Stein Committees will meet as deemed necessary. For each goal, committees will focus on potential next steps to be brought to the Commission for discussion, as well as proposed action items. The Commission can then accept or deny proposed action items brought by committees. Committee reports will also be given to the Commission by each committee at all regular commission meetings. If a committee has nothing to report, that can simply be stated by the committee. Requested Action None. Information Only. DATE: February 8, 2023 TO: Natural Resources Commission FROM: Kelly Torkelson, Assistant City Administrator SUBJECT: Committee Reports Background This will become a standing item for the commission to receive updates from each of the commission’s committees at the monthly meeting. With the formal adoption of assignments to committees, they can now begin to meeting. In preparation for those meetings, this is an opportunity for the commission to provide any additional commentary to the committee members before they begin meeting to inform their conversations moving forward. Goal 1: Ordinance and Policy Development Goal 2: Education and Outreach Goal 3: Urban Forestry Awareness and Opportunities Goal 4: Green Steps Goal 5: Sustainability Requested Action None. Information Only.