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MINUTES, LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 19, 1980 page two (COUNCIL REPORTS, continued) C. Fire Hall Kitchen — Pott asked the Council to authorize expenses of up to $1,950 for cabinets, as long as he stayed within the budget', for the kitchen. The original estimate for the cabinets was $1,450. Morgan moved, seconded by Mottaz, to authorize the expenditure of UP to $1950 for the cabinets as long as the total budget for the kit— chen does not exceed $4,400. Motion carried 5-0. WINTER PUMPING, VALLEY BRANCH PROJECT 1005: Managers Hedges, Rosas, Horning, Dornfeld, and Eder were present. Don Raleigh, City Attorney, explained that, although the City gave no formal easement to pump water into Sunfish Lake Park, there was an implied easement in the petition and Resolution for the project. He said that if there were insufficient reason to pump, the District might lose a court case; but, if the "emergency" that caused the City to petition for the project still existed, the City would probably lose. Al Dornfeld reviewed the Manager's authority to pump, citing the petition's clause which said they could control 'the flooding as they deemed necessary. He said there is a problem right now; that Lake Jane has very little storage capacity; and that upstream lakes do not have as much storage capacity as they did last year. He said there were 980 acre feet of storage available in 1979; and only 310 acre feet today. Dox,xryfeld went on to say that the diesel pump, used last year, could also pump water out of the lake about twice as fast as the present electrical pump. He said the managers felt there is an extreme need to pump now; and that they had a responsibility to all those assessed to proceed with the pumping. He also said the damage had already been done to the trails in the park; and that the danger to skiers was already present; so the trails should be closed for the season. Mottaz said the Managers should have asked the City before they started pumping. He asked if more water could be.stored upstream without flooding basements on those lakes; and went on to say the elevation graphs should indicate at what l ke level basements would f14)od on those lakes. Roses informed him that the wie'on Silver Lake had already been raised at the request of the Managers, some years ago. Hedges said three base— ments would be flooded at the wier level today; and that one home is flooded on Long Lake because the outlet is too small to get the water out as fast as it comes in. Morgan said the Council could have warned skiers of the dangers if the Managers had advised them of their intent to pump. Pott said he didn't think the effect of the petition was to remove the danger from one place and transfer it to another. With more notice, the City could have closed the trails before the chance of an accident. Raleigh suggested a written easement and agreement for the use of the park which would also set forth the relationship with respect to use of City men and equipment, the City's relationship to the District with