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LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL MINUTES MAY 5, 1992 5 Councilman Mottaz explained he looked at a drainfield system as a short term solution, not a permanent solution, to an ongoing problem. He understood that we are in a sanitary sewer district that is oriented to the NE Stillwater/Bayport area and their pipe now comes within 1 1/2 miles of the City of Lake Elmo. As a permanent solution, he asked the City Engineer if he has looked into the possibility of hooking up to this for the Old Village. Tom Prew explained we have proposed to put in 8" sanitary sewer pipe for the day that might happen so we don't have to dig up the streets again. Williams asked that the City Engineer take the drainfield charge and recalculate after subtracting from the 73 properties those properties which can reasonably be expected to handle their septic need on site for the foreseeable future. He would like to see what impact that has on the overall charges. Dick Johnson voiced his concern on how this is going to be financed in such a way that the benefitted property owners will eventually pay for this improvement. If it ends up that the rest of the City has to pay a large portion out of the General Fund then he thought we should open up a public hearing for the entire city to let them know what they might have to pay for. B. Ski Trail Groomer Nancy Hansen, parks commission member, stated the Parks Commission recommended purchase of equipment to groom the cross country ski trails in Sunfish Park. We would ask the council to preapprove purchase of this equipment up to a cost of $10,000. If the Council would concur, they will seek out used equipment and purchase it as it becomes available. In the past year, the City paid Washington County $800 for four times of grooming. Although the County does an excellent job of grooming, Sunfish Lake Park is at the end of their priorities. If we had our own grooming equipment, we could set the trails shortly after a snowfall and revitalize it as necessary. We would be able to expand trail grooming to Reid Park and DeMontreville Wildlife area. The County bills us $40/hr. for grooming plus overhead, plus labor. The DNR reimbursed the city at a rate of 90 percent of the $40 hour charge, but does not reimburse overhead and labor charges. If we were to groom with our own equipment, we would be reimbursed at a rate of 90 percent of $30 per actual grooming hour. (The difference is due to the fact (, they have a larger more expensive equipment).