S unfish L ake Q uarterly

1. Volume 10 Issue 3 WINTER 2012 Sunfish Lake Quarterly www.sunfishlake.org Did you know? • Lake Ice Safety Tips • Chief Shaver, W. St. Paul Police Chief • cold facts and ICE TIPS about ice • that could save your life! • NO ICE IS 100% SAFE • 2” or less STAY OFF! • 4” OK for ice fishing or other activities on foot • New ice is usually stronger than old ice. • Have a plan of what to do if you do break through.Carry rope, ice picks and a flotation device. • Refer to the City’s website for more information. • SFL non-residents ice fishing on Sunfish Lake • must possess a permission slip signed by the • landowner/resident that allows the non-resident to access the lake via their property.  Those not in possession of this permission slip while on the lake may be cited with trespassing.  Permission slips are located on the City’s website. Upcoming Community Events SUNFISH LAKE HOLIDAY PARTY The Sunfish Lake annual holiday party is scheduled for the evening of Sat. Jan. 28, 2012 at the Pool and Yacht Club in Lilydale. Save the date and watch your mail for more details! 2012 ARBOR DAY GREEN FAIR Watch for information for the 2012 Arbor Day Green Fair. The event is held annually at Harmon Park on the first Saturday in May. This year the date is Sat., May 5th. At the 2011 Arbor Day event (Harmon Park), the citizen participation in the planting of trees, is another example of individual efforts that continue to improve the quality of our City. According to the United States Census Bureau, the City has a total area of 1.7 square miles (4.4 km²), of which 1.6 square miles (4.1 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km²) of it (7.06%) is water. City Council Richard Williams, Mayor Paul Burke Roger R. Conant Mike Hovey Judy MacManus Sunfish Lake hosted a Tree Trust Green Futures tree planting event on October 15, 2011 at Musser Park. Forty-three (43) trees were planted by a party of more than forty (40) people including four (4) Tree Trust staffers and thirty (30) non-resident volunteers. White spruce, hackberry, disease resistant “Princeton” American elm, bur oak, Kentucky coffee tree, and serviceberry were planted and mulched. All are native species and were specially chosen to do well in the Musser Park location. The trees were planted near the southern edge of the meadow along the woodland edge visible from Salem Church Road. The tree line originally grew along a barbed-wire fence dividing two fields. These new trees are designed to naturalize and soften the woodland edge and will eventually enclose the walking trail that winds along through this portion of Musser Park. Even though the weather was a little brisk that day, a great time was had by all participants. Several residents commented that it would be fun to have a community potluck picnic or get-together type event next Spring at Musser Park. This would provide an opportunity for citizens to meet one another, enjoy the park and inspect the trees. If anyone is interested in volunteering to organize a picnic event, please contact Forester Jim Nayes. Tree Trust Planting at Musser Park Update Planning Commission Joanne Wahlstrom, Chair Andrea McCue Thomas Schlehuber ArnulfSvendsen Gordon Peters Editor, Design and Production Holly Divine hhammett2002@yahoo.com Correspondent Cathy Iago, Clerk cjiago@comcast.net Photos courtesy of Michael Speake Publication of the SFL Quarterly is made possible through funding from the Dakota County Board of Commissioners and the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance (OEA)

2. A Special Thank You • Tree Trust - organizing the tree planting event, recruiting volunteers, and for supplying the trees and mulch. • Kristy and Mike Kampmeyer– for allowing access across their property during the event. • Jim Nayes, City Forester, and Living Sculpture Tree Care - pre-digging 43 planting holes and delivering mulch • Plantra, Inc. - supplying tree protection tubes to keep the deer away • David Neameyer, City Building Official, - donated a 325-gallon watering tank to help water the new plants. • Cathy DeCourcy– generousdonation of three plum trees that were planted in memory of former City Council Member Joel Bennett and Building Inspector Russ Wahl at the 2011 Arbor Day Festival in Harmon Park. Green Living Recycling Tips Free Disposal of Expired and Unwanted Medicine Dakota County and City law enforcement are making it easier to properly dispose unwanted, unused or expired over-the-counter and prescription medications. Proper disposal of medication helps prevent crime, accidental poisoning and drug abuse. It also protects the environment. Drop-off is anonymous, and open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. West St. Paul Police Department (lobby)1616 Humboldt Avenue, West St. Paul (651) 552-4200 For information on types of medicines collected, preparation guidelines and other drop-off locations, visit www.dakotacounty.us and search medication disposal. Tips/Announcements for the Spring 2012 Quarterly can be sent to Mayor Williams at rwilliams@williamsiversen.com Deer Reduction Information The deer hunt was held during four 3-day weekend periods. Hunting was conducted by the Metro Bow Hunters Resource Base during two of these periods. The remaining two periods were reserved for citizens who desired to bow hunt. The hunt was coordinated by a member of the West St. Paul Police Department who ensured that all hunting was conducted by hunters with appropriate skills and in accordance with the protocol for the hunt established by the City. The City will participate with West St. Paul in a deer herd survey to determine the current size of the herd. This will hopefully be conducted in January and in order to obtain an accurate aerial count, there must be snow cover on the ground. Dear Friends and Neighbors, Winter is here and although so far we have been relatively snow free. It is unlikely that we will be able to get through the entire winter without major snowfall. Road maintenance and improvement is the biggest variable in the Sunfish Lake budget. The balance of the services, including fire and police protection, tend to be consistent from year-to-year and it is relatively easy to keep costs within the amount budgeted in these categories. Road repair and maintenance, which includes snow removal, is subject to variables beyond the control of the City. In an effort to contain snow removal expense, the City is working closely with its engineering consultant and the plowing contractor to establish protocols that will help reduce total snow removal cost. For example, we are closely looking at the number of inches of snowfall that should accumulate between each plowing event. In the past, there have been some situations where during major storms the snow has been plowed each time the accumulation reached 2 to 3 inches. If there is a major snowfall event which is predicted to deposit over 6 inches of snow, the City engineers are now working with the plowing contractor to wait for a greater accumulation before starting the plowing process. This increases the intervals between plowing runs and reduces the total plowing costs for the snow event. Citizens can help in this regard by ensuring that there are no vehicles parked on any public roads when snowplowing is performed. Snow removal is not the only road maintenance variable that the City is attempting to address. As I have previously indicated, the infrastructure of Sunfish Lake is aging. It is faced with the necessity of repairing and rebuilding ditches and culverts for the public streets. The worst enemy of roads is water. As a result, the life of the streets are greatly lengthened with proper maintenance of the ditches and culverts. Because of the unique history of Sunfish Lake, the City does not have maintenance easements with respect to some of this infrastructure. The cost associated with the purchase of or condemnation proceedings to obtain easements significantly increases the cost of the projects and correspondingly, the long-term maintenance costs for the roads and culverts. If Citizens, whose properties benefit from the roads and culverts, grant these maintenance easements without cost, it not only reduces the overall expense of road maintenance but also contributes to an extended life of the improvements. These savings, in turn, are reflected in the City's budget which has a direct impact on the City's annual property tax levy. Sincerely, Mayor Richard Williams