10-24-2011 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, October 24, 2011 7:00 o'clock p.m. (9. MINNEHAHA CREEK WATERSHED DISTRICT (MCWD) PRESENTATION, Continued) to regulate it. Jabbour stated the MCWD is concentrating on zebra mussels but that in his view water fowl can transfer milfoil. Jabbour stated when zebra mussels were found in Lake Minnetonka, they held an emergency meeting and that he encouraged the MCWD to not allow budget or financial restrictions to limit what can be done. At that time it was thought that if the zebra mussel problem was isolated to a certain part of the lake, that it could be treated with copper sulfate, which was not done. Jabbour stated unfortunately a brief presentation does not give the Council a very good idea of the magnitude of the issues. There was also a discussion about closing the Narrows and Lord Fletchers and how to keep the upper lake separate from the lower lake. Jabbour reiterated that the City Council is not privileged to all of this information and that it is a very complex issue. The LMCD and White Bear Lake have very unique authority as conservation districts because the state has given them unlimited jurisdiction over surface water. What the LMCD has been doing is probably not satisfactory since we always want them to do more. The DNR also has a number of great employees and has done a great deal with educating the service providers around the lake. C] Jabbour stated this summer some legislation was introduced to increase the fines but it did not go anywhere. They also attempted to allow the local cities to retain the money raised by fines so there would be an incentive to issue tickets. The Watershed District also offered to train police officers but got very • little response from the police departments. Jabbour commented it is very difficult to get people up to speed with all the information and that his biggest concern is that the City will have a number of people asking the Council to get rid of all the milfoil in the lake and not focus on the other issues. Jabbour stated in his opinion the LMCD has not done the job they should have done and that he would like to see a hybrid between the LMCD and the DNR. The City needs to understand the type of authority an agency has before the City backs it. Jabbour stated in his opinion the MCWD will have a difficult time with the ramps. Jabbour commented there is a substantial amount of infrastructure already in place that could be utilized. Rahn commented that just focusing on the ramps will not solve the problem but that there is a substantial amount of ramps. Jabbour noted that Orono has 35 percent of the lakeshore around Lake Minnetonka and share a lake with a number of other cities. Many of those cities would like the MCWD to take over their regulatory authority of their lakeshore and the lake. There was no further public comment. McMillan noted the LMCD has had an AIS task force since the 1990s, and that they also experience financial and time constraints. McMillan stated in her view the Watershed Creek could take over some of the functions of the LMCD as it relates to AIS, which could be something they could discuss in the future. • McMillan suggested the MCWD work with the DNR and the LMCD on what could possibly be done as Page 8 of 19