2008-02-15 Friday NewsFire Department Relief Association Awards Dinner
The Fire Department held their Annual Fire Relief Association Dinner last Saturday
evening (on the coldest night of the year). This year the Fire Department had to hold the
event at Southview Country Club because Mendakota Country Club is under remodeling
construction. I had a little fun with the Chief and his recent bad luck at a fire call.
At the event Dale Stein was honored with this year’s George Lowe Firefighter of the Year
Award. Dale has been a Firefighter for only two years but has accomplished a lot in his
short term. Congratulations to Dale for a job well done.
Dave Paton was also honored for his twelve years of service. Dave is retiring to spend
more time with his family and tend to other commitments. Dave served on the Relief
Association, the Captain Selection Committee, the Dare Committee, and he secured
funding for a thermal imaging camera for the City .
St. Paul Water Update
This Thursday Sue, Ryan and I were invited to attend St. Paul Regional Water’s annual
dog and pony show put on for their customer cities. The presentation is always very in-
formative. This year we learned such things as:
2008 Rates have gone up 9% because water usage is down significantly which causes
revenues to also be down. (Due to the loss of Gillette, Ford, 3M reduction, Waldor
and, just more conservation by everybody). Saint Paul Regional Water still has one of
the lowest water rates for any large City.
GAC - A granulated activated carbon filter was put into operation in late 2007. GAC
is a taste and order improvement device. SPWRS showed us that complaints have
now almost disappeared. What do you think? They told us that algae in the water
causes taste and odor problems, and that 1 part per several trillion can be smelled by
humans.
Park and Recreation Commission Update
This month’s Park and Recreation. Commission was filled with change.
Three new commissioners were in attendance—thanks Liz O’Brien,
Maureen Brackey and Michael Toth for joining us! Also, with Dick
Spicer “terming out” after twenty years, the commission has a new Chair.
Congratulations to Paul Portz who was elected as Chair, and to Ray
Morris who was elected to Vice Chair of the Parks and Recreation
Commission.
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February 15, 2008
Page 2 FRIDAY NEWS : FEBRUARY 8, 2008
Attachments
Just the Facts, Pipeline, City Council Meeting Agenda, Twincities.com Article “Mendota
Heights strip mall renovation planned”. StarTribune.com Article “In Lilydale, a small plot
of land is causing a big fuss”.MNSUN Article “Mendota Heights man shares experience in
Iraq as part of the Army Corps of Engineers”.Article from Great River Greening, “Greening
has a Great Year”.
Other dates to Remember:
2/18/08 - Presidents’ Day (City Offices Closed)
2/22/08 - Washington’s Birthday
2/29/08 - Leap Day
Presidents Day
City Hall will be closed Monday, February 18th in observance of Presidents Day. Have a great long week-
end.
MPLS Interconnect 911 caused increased interest in interconnecting the MPLS and St. Paul Water Sys-
tems. They told us that they are the only large City that does not do interconnect. The endeavor is an
expensive one, and the State would need to help. Governor Pawlenty is interested, but keeps delaying
funding the project because other projects keep taking precedent.
Zebra mussels are here; and have been here for some time. St. Paul inspected for them after St. Cloud
found Zebra mussels and warned Cities down stream in the Mississippi that they would be coming.
However when St. Paul inspected their system for them, they found that Zebra mussels are already here
and by their size have been here a long time.