During the April 19, 2023 Cottage Grove City Hall Meeting, Council approved an April 28th, 2023 Arbor Day Proclamation. Public Works Director Ryan Burfeind announced events leading up Arbor Day will include a ceremonial tree planting at Strawberry Fields Park, a tree give- away, and a Buckthorn curbside pick-up. Time stamp: 2:30.
Major Bailey announced that a planned public hearing for Holcim’s Annexation into Cottage Grove was canceled because Holcim withdrew their petition. Time stamp: 8:01.
Council adopted resolution 2023- 058 accepting the proposal on the sale of the $7,815,000. General Obligation Improvement and Tax Abatement Bonds, awarding the bond sale to Piper Sandler. Finance Director Brenda Malinowski and an Ehlers Public Finance Advisors representative presented the request for consideration of an issuance for bonds sold earlier in the day. Due to favorable bids, they were able to reduce the bond issuance by hundreds of thousands of dollars. The bonds are expected to pay for the 2023 Pavement Management Project and the Glacial Valley Park building. It was announced that the City of Cottage Grove credit rating was increased by Standard and Poors (S&P) from AA+ to AAA. Time Stamp: 8:26.
Link for agenda and meeting packets is here.
During the Grey Cloud Township Board meeting on May 10, 2023, the following points of interests were discussed:
1. The Planning Commission report by Jake Jones reported that the commission is seeking volunteers for four vacancies. This is a great way to give back to the community.
2. Report out on property clean up. Most are going well, one property will be cleaned up by the city. The property owner has been given three years to clean the property. They submitted a request for additional time which was rejected. A resolution was passed for the city to proceed with directing the clean up of the property.
3.Road repair funding was approved up to $15,100. Supervisors Dan Ohmann and Richard Polta will walk the roads to see where cost savings might be had.
4. Supervisor Richard (Dick) Polta stated that the Township Officials and community members received a letter from the Washington County Planning and Advisory Commission about a Public Hearing. The letter stated "Notice is hereby given that the Washington County Planning Advisory Commission will meet May 23, 2023 at 4:00 p.m. in the Washington County Board Room (5th Floor) at 14949 62nd Street North, Stillwater, MN 55083 to consider the conditional permit application submitted by Holcim- MWR, Inc., for renewal of the five-year mining permit for Larson Mine, located in Grey Cloud island Township. The property address is 10120 Grey Cloud Island Drive South, St. Paul park, MN 55071." This is followed by a description of the property and an invitation for the public to attend and testify. Both oral and written statements will be accepted at the hearing. Members of the public may share their comments or concerns in writing prior to the meeting by email at Publicworks@co.washington.mn.us. The deadline for written comments will be May 19th. Comments and concerns will be provided to each commissioner. (Read the full notice of public meeting here.)
Supervisor Polta asked the County Clerk Pam Dupre to write to the Washington County Planning and Advisory committee and copy Karla Bigham, their Commissioner, to ask for a change in location for the meeting. He suggested the Grey Cloud Island Township office or South Washington Service Center. In addition, he would like to move the meeting to 6:30 pm so residents can attend the meeting. A meeting in Stillwater at 4:00 pm creates a hardship for residents who work and/or do not have transportation to the Stillwater location.
Readers will remember that the Holcim Annexation was on the agenda for the April 19, Cottage Grove City Council meeting. The item regarding the annexation of Grey Cloud Township was withdrawn from the agenda, as discussed in the above report.
The link to the video is here. Timestamp information is in the description under the video. The link for the page where the agenda can be found is here.