06-25-08 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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is not willing to allow further eradication then staff will work with local legislators to try and obtain special legislation for lily removal. The City Engineer will put together a report on rain gardens and the feasibility of retrofitting them in areas that will catch much of the runoff before it gets to Savage Lake. Staff will also explore the option of putting inserts in catch basins in the area to collect trash and other debris that currently gets to the lake. The inserts would have to be maintained and would need to be proven to not cause flooding during heavy rain events. The wetland area at the corner of Demont Avenue and Jackson Street has about 500 yards of deposited material in it that the City will work on removing this winter in collaboration with the Watershed District. Two other issues that were discussed were de -icing operations and street sweeping. Both of these issues affect water quality citywide. Now that the City has switched to 100% salt there should be a sizable decrease in the amount of sediment that is deposited into ponds and lakes. However, salt is still a factor in water quality. Staff has been very vigilant in their use of salt over the past two winters and another way to potentially reduce salt usage and increase effectiveness is to pre -wet the salt with a brine solution prior to applying it to the road. This can be accomplished by putting tanks on our two single -axle dump trucks and filling them with the brine solution prior to leaving the shop. A mixing tank would also be necessary at the shop as well. A rough cost for the entire operation is probably around $20,000, but more research will be done to get more accurate cost information. Street sweeping is becoming more and more crucial to keeping water bodies clean and also keeping streets looking good. The City currently sweeps the entire city just once a year and has been asked by the PCA to consider sweeping at least once more per year. Staff believes it is time to look into purchasing our own sweeper so that we can sweep when necessary and keep important areas clean. One idea is to hire a retiree who has worked in the field to be on call to sweep starting in the spring and working through fall. The sweepers themselves range from $130,000 to $250,000 depending on the type desired. Both of these equipment purchases could be good one -time expenditures funded by the Local Government Aid money the City will be receiving next year. The council can discuss the issues presented and direct staff as it sees fit. 2