08-23-2023 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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STAFF REPORT TO: Mayor Fischer and Members of City Council FROM: Chris Heineman, City Administrator DATE: August 23, 2023 RE: Resolution of Support for Renaming Savage Lake REQUESTED ACTION: The City Council is asked to consider a Resolution of Support for Renaming Savage Lake BACKGROUND: In 2022, Little Canada resident Rocky Waite made a request to rename Savage Lake to Lake Metis. At that time, I researched the process for renaming a lake and it was determined that the City of Little Canada does not have a defined role in the process. According to the naming or changing a lake name is guided by Minnesota Statue 83A.04 - 83A.07. Minnesota law requires a tiered public process for the renaming of lakes and bodies of water. The process begins at the county where the lake is located where fifteen (15) or more voters registered in that county must petition the county board of commissioners for a public hearing. If the county board approves the petition and agrees on the proposed name, the county board adopts a resolution in support of the name and the resolution is forwarded to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for approval. Once approved, lake names are then submitted to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names for federal approval and use. The Statutes provides details on how to submit a petition and organize a public hearing to change the name of a water body, lake, river, stream, or other water body. However, an exception is listed for names which have existed for 40 years which may not be changed under the provisions of 83A.05 to 83A.07. Savage Lake in the City of Little Canada would fall in this category, as it is listed as the official name of this lake prior to at least the 1950’s. I asked an attorney at the Minnesota Revisor’s Office about this exception, and was informed that while the statute prohibits counties from changing lake names that are more than 40 years in existence, the Minnesota Supreme Court held in that the 40-year limit does not apply to the DNR Commissioner. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that the commissioner of the state’s Department of Natural Resources had authority to change the name after the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution urging the commissioner to rename Lake Calhoun as Bde Maka Ska. Based on this information, I met with Curt Loschy from the Little Canada Historic Society and he drafted a petition in early 2023. When the required number of signatures were obtained, the petition was forwarded to Ramsey County for consideration. After several months of review by