Here is the transcribed townhall meeting with speaker identifications based on the context provided. **Speakers:** * **Mayor:** Presiding officer of the City Council. * **Mike Piranto:** Representative for the White Bear Lake Conservation District. * **Council Member Edberg:** Referred to in the transcript as "Edber" and "Edward." * **Council Member:** Unnamed members of the council providing seconds or brief questions. * **Lindsey Crawford:** City Manager (referred to as "Miss Crawford"). *** [0:54] **Mayor:** The clerk, please note those in attendance. All will be noted. We pre Please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [1:16] **Mayor:** All right, we'll jump into the agenda. I'd entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the regular city council meeting on June 10th, 2025. **Council Member:** Second. **Mayor:** A motion second. All those in favor say I. **Council Members:** I. **Mayor:** Any opposed? Motion carries. Item three, adoption of the agenda. Any corrections or changes to the agenda? Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting the agenda say I. **Council Members:** I. **Mayor:** Any opposed? Motion carries. We have an agenda. Item four, consent agenda. I'd entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. **Council Member:** Second. **Mayor:** A motion second. [1:43] **Mayor:** All those in favor say I. **Council Members:** I. **Mayor:** Any opposed? Motion carries. Item five, visitors and presentations. The Wiper Lake Conservation District annual report and 2026 budget. Mr. Panto. The floor is yours. [1:59] **Mike Piranto:** Good evening. I'm Mike Piranto, your representative on the conservation district. And uh I hate to keep you tonight because that's the only thing on the agenda that I saw. So I brought my own listening gallery because I didn't draw anyone else. So but anyhow we've had a busy year in the district and as treasure uh I just finished the budget and you have copies of it I believe. And so uh from the budget we uh produce income from permits and fees of $77,322. [2:32] **Mike Piranto:** So, our community assessments to the five communities is $48,481. Um, it used to be 100% funded by the community assessments and over the years it's changed and then last year I initiated raising the fees uh which helped last year and again this year and it's reduced uh the percentage of that the communities have to uh contribute because our budget is growing. However, our budget for 2026 only grew by $3,300. [3:00] **Mike Piranto:** So the budget is $125,83 and the city's uh portion increased only by $1,399 which is $23,76. So uh aside from that, I've made some other financial changes uh financial changes that were suggestions from Councilman Edber and uh talking with the city's uh financial director. Uh I changed banks and now we have interest-bearing checking on our uh checking account. Uh I converted a low interest money market account into a higher interest CD. Uh through the League of Cities I opened a PM4M money market account if that sounds familiar because the city has one also [3:46] **Mike Piranto:** and it gets very good rates. So every dollar we have is earning interest. Thanks because it was your suggestions. So this time of year it's time for Eurasian water mil foil check and I do the early screening to find any new areas. I haven't found any. We haven't had very good growing conditions with the rain and the cloudy and all of that but now we're getting some nice sunny days. So, we will do a uh complete lake survey the 1st or 2nd of July uh with bluewater science and if found and needed to be treated, I'll get a permit from the DNR and treat the infested areas. I'll hire a treatment company to take to uh make that happen. It'll be lake management. [4:30] **Mike Piranto:** They've already bid on it. And then I'll do follow-up treatment to make sure that the treatment was effective and they don't have to come back and retreat anything. The big thing uh these days is starry stone wart which we do not have in the lake at all. And we have a program to try to prevent it from coming into the lake. We have signs at the launches. Uh we will have signs at the launches. I think they're being put up right now. And uh we have four professional surveys at all three launch sites throughout the summer. One each month at Ramsey, Mataska, and the VFW. [5:03] **Mike Piranto:** Out of the 31 lakes in Minnesota that have star stonewart, 29 of those lakes, it was initially found at the bolt launches. So that's why we're attacking that to make sure that if we can get it, if we can stop it there, we're way ahead of ourselves. Uh we also have an online presence and we request uh lakeshore owners to check around their dock, take pictures of anything that looks suspicious to them and send it to us for identification. We'll send it to the DNR for positive identification. [5:31] **Mike Piranto:** Uh, also there are launch inspectors at Rampy County Beach which inspect boats coming and going to make sure that there's no weeds or anything on them or in the live well or on the trailers or the anchors. And they also go out in the water and check around the docks too during the season. Uh, Mataska Park, uh, Washington County is doing checking at Mataska Park. I'm sure you're aware of that. Um, and so they have a a schedule throughout the summer to be there to do boat checks. Um, and that is kind of the program for trying to find it. So once we find it, we've already approve approved money for it for treatment. The board's given me permission to go ahead and attack it so that we don't have to have a special board meeting, but just go ahead. There's money approved and uh the right to go ahead and do it. And and [6:17] **Mike Piranto:** I've already got a bid from Lake Management again, the applicator and the Bluewater Science uh which is Steve Mccomomas. um he's ready to come out and identify anything and put it on a map just like we do our mil foil. So, we have a program in place. Let's hope we don't have to use it. Now, the big thing over last summer and into this summer is the Lake study and uh it's all the information has been gathered. It's been put together and we're trying to make sense of it and and moving some things around and asking more questions about it. So, by midsummer, late summer for sure it'll be out and it'll be interesting. a lot of information, a lot of facts. A few of the highlights are that uh White Bear Lake always has gotten an A in their water quality and uh with the LJ testing, phosphorus [7:03] **Mike Piranto:** testing, and water clarity, it's actually improved over our A rating. So, we're really happy about that. And a lot of it is because it's a spring-fed lake with not that much runoff. So, it stays clean. Uh, another fact is that fishing boats with small motors and sailboats have decreased quite a bit on the lake, which is kind of unusual, but you know, that's the way it goes. Their bigger, faster boats have taken their place. The use of kayaks and paddle boards has increased dramatically. A lot of kayak, a lot of kayaks. Uh, the largest group of boats on the lake now are pontoons by far. [7:39] **Mike Piranto:** Uh the ratio of all kinds of boats per dock is 3.1 per watercraft per dock. So um three boats, a little over three. By DNR DNR standards, the boat density is crowded in the afternoon on peak days. So it's more than what they expect it should be. [7:58] **Mike Piranto:** And it can see it. I mean it is it gets really busy. Uh engine horsepower has increased. Uh there are 476 docks on the lake. On those docks, there are 653 boat lifts. [8:16] **Mike Piranto:** On all of that, plus boats tied up to docks, there are 1,479 watercraft, not counting the commercial bays. In the marinas, in the commercial bay and Mataska Park and the yacht club who rent spaces also, they have a commercial marina. There's over 600 watercraft. [8:37] **Mike Piranto:** So, I'll leave you with I told said it would be short. I'll leave you with the total watercraft on the lake. 2,115 on a 2400 acre lake. So, any questions? [8:57] **Mayor:** Those are Sorry, Mr. Proctor. Those are just the boats that are on the lake all the time, right? Do we have any idea how many are—that's not counting boats brought in on a Saturday? **Mike Piranto:** No, but this and this survey uh has uh statistics of hours when boats were trailered in on days and all of that kind of stuff. And it's on I've seen it's on a big page and a little too much to give you tonight, but it it'll be an interesting survey. [9:21] **Mike Piranto:** It's about 60 pages long. We're trying to shorten it. **Mayor:** When is that finalized? When is it done? **Mike Piranto:** When it'll be done. Yeah. Uh well, we have the the final draft that we're revising uh because there we had more questions to ask of it and uh we had a pretty complete um request proposal and there's we've added to it, but the information is there. We just want to have it presented more in the things we did. The last survey we did was in 2005. So, we're kind of mirroring the two to see what the in what the differences are. And that's we've done a little bit more of that and that's really been helpful in areas that have grown like um well I'll go off the [10:07] **Mike Piranto:** record here off my topic. Uh there are there have not been any increase in parking spaces at all the launches. Um and so therefore the a lot of the numbers on boat launching have not increased that much. Um but on peak times you know they have I mean they have increased but not that much. It's not like you'd think. Uh, and I it's a parking issue. Maybe they go other places. A lot of the people, they pulled them when they came off of the lake. Why were you out there? And I think the number one reason was your fishing. [10:38] **Mike Piranto:** Um, they uh some of the other facts um that why do you come to White Bear Lake? Because they feel safe on the lake because we have water patrol. Then they ask some other people, you know, do you think we have enough water patrol? And of course it's a mixed, you know, too much, not enough, that kind of stuff. [10:58] **Mike Piranto:** So, uh, there's a lot more to the report than just a few things I pulled out. **Council Member:** So, when you said watercraft, does that include kayaks, paddle boards, canoes? **Mike Piranto:** Yeah. I say watercraft, uh, it's anything that basically floats and has a license. Okay. Kayaks under 10 feet don't need a license, but they were counted. Um, paddle boards, I don't think they need a license. I'm not sure. [11:22] **Mike Piranto:** If they're over 10 feet though, they do. Okay. And anything motorized obviously has to have a license. So when you look around at uh like in Birchwood and the city like Lions Park and that you've got canoe racks and you've got that at Mataska. All that was counted. **Council Member:** So will the report break down type of watercraft? Pardon? Will the report break down type of watercraft? **Mike Piranto:** Oh, types of watercraft. Yes. Yes, we do have uh that's in there too. Um again, pontoons are the largest number. But then runabouts come next and sailboats are are down the list quite a ways. **Council Member:** So will that report when it's finished be on your website or will that be presented to the— **Mike Piranto:** The study will be on the website when complete? Yes. Thanks. Yes, [12:08] **Mike Piranto:** it'll be available pro probably predominantly on the website but if you guys want copies you can have copies too. So any further questions on that? **Mayor:** Were I didn't know if you were done or if we're just talking about the stats that you just gave us. Pardon me. Were you done with your presentation or were you just pausing for the stats that you just presented? Okay. [12:31] **Mike Piranto:** Oh, you're done. Okay. All right. **Mayor:** Um I had a question on the on the budget. What's the meth methodology used for the breakdown of each municipality and what their contribution is to the the conservation district? The city of Wiper Lake obviously pays the largest amount. How do we come to that number versus what Mameida pays, Delwood pays the other cities? **Mike Piranto:** Um, I'm having trouble hearing you. I'm sorry. **Mayor:** No, no, that's okay. I'll I'll speak up. Can you hear me now? **Mike Piranto:** A little better. All right. **Mayor:** Yeah. H how do how do we arrive at what each municipality contributes to the conservation district? **Mike Piranto:** That's uh Okay. So, it's done on uh um tax value tax value of everything in the in the city and uh they're all added up each community. [13:23] **Mike Piranto:** Whitebear having the highest tax value obviously um they're added up and then it's a percentage of that tax value and then it's population and Whitebear obviously has the largest population and so we divide that out and it actually shows how much per person but it's it's the tax value and it's published every year. There's uh uh Washington and Ramsey County publish it and so and that's tax value of the whole city, not just Lakeshore properties. Taxable value for 2026 of the entire city. Yeah. Okay. [13:56] **Mike Piranto:** Thank you. Okay. **Mayor:** Any other questions? Council member Edward. **Council Member Edberg:** Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Pronto, first of all, I want to thank the commission for all of the work that you do. Um I think the uh of a special note the environ environmental care that you provide whether it's mil foil star stone wart etc all of those things that you are on guard for and are protectors for. Thank you. Uh I think our our lake is under um good guardianship and stewardship. So appreciate that. I appreciate the thought and energy that goes into the management and and the planning for that management study, trying to understand use patterns, uh where our needs are, where they might be coming from, all of that kind of good stuff. That also is [14:43] **Council Member Edberg:** forward thinking. I appreciate that you didn't mention it. I also appreciate the fact that the commission takes on a whole bunch of mucky yucky um uh neighbor citizen resident issues and contentions about who gets to put whose dock where and how close to somebody else's and dot dot dot and you take care of that so that we don't have to and that is a source of pain removal that I appreciate. So for all of those things, I also personally appreciate the statistics that you gather about lake level temperature. I note them in the uh uh in your monthly minutes and it's like [15:29] **Council Member Edberg:** I appreciate the time and energy that you put into that. So thank you. **Mike Piranto:** Thank you. We have a committee that deals with docks and I'm not on that committee fortunately, but uh we do have to vote on them and we do have ordinances and the ordinances are really um almost specific to some of these cases that you know it's not arbitrary. Somebody doesn't get something over anyone else. [15:49] **Mike Piranto:** Everybody has a right to the lake and then you as long as you keep your boat so far from each other and if you can't then you go to your neighbor and you say, "Well, do you mind?" You know, if they don't mind, then they work it out. Sometimes they don't. they get mad and they want to go to court or something and we just tell them, "Well, you're wasting your money because, you know, you're going to lose. You're not you're gonna end up with a result you're not going to like. So, we'll just settle it. [16:12] **Mike Piranto:** We'll figure it out." And there's a committee that does that. So, well, um I'll tell I'll tell them that you're very appreciative of it. Thank you. That that's welcome. **Council Member Edberg:** So, let me also acknowledge the changes that in your finance. Um, I have a question, a philosophical question and an observation or an encouragement. [16:33] **Council Member Edberg:** So, the fund balance as of on your book's balance sheet as of April 31 was 204,000 for an annual budget of 125,000. You could go for 19 months at your current rate of expenditure and still have enough money to to make your your payments, right? With that in mind, why would we even need to increase? Now, the increase in our portion 1,400 bucks is minimal. Okay. And and I am not going to complain about the total budget expenditure budget at all. Yeah. Um with a fund balance of 204,000, why are you even needing or feeling a need to tax the cities for an additional total of about 3,000? [17:20] **Council Member Edberg:** um in city-based fees when you have a a balance of that size. What's the philosophical purpose in back of that? **Mike Piranto:** Well, uh it goes back a ways when we discovered Fragmitees on the lake, which is a fall issue as far as weeds and that and there were a lot of um organizations that all of a sudden fragmites was showing up. [17:41] **Mike Piranto:** Turtle Lake was one of them. They had a huge stand of it and it cost them um it cost them I think 10 or $15,000 to treat it but then they had it was such a big biomass that they had to get rid of it and it cost them $45,000 to get rid of it. Um we don't that's why we're really trying to prevent star stonewart is a big problem I mil foil we can handle we can manage it we just keep beating it down beating it down but star stonewart is an algae it's forms like a brillow pad it's just huge and uh the blue water science Steve Mccomus was telling us about a lake uh in northern Minnesota that has it that cost over 200,000 it was a small lake over $200,000 to get that biomass out so that the lake would not be totally clogged um I guess it's things like that things that we don't know coming that we try to prevent um [18:30] **Mike Piranto:** you know that that we don't have to like pass on it and not do anything or try to get the five communities together to act all at once which doesn't always happen. Um I guess it's for our best defense. It's gives us the uh opportunity to to act and and to take care of the lake. [18:49] **Mike Piranto:** White bear is one of White Bear's greatest assets. **Council Member Edberg:** Okay, we could pick nits on the relative value of a $200,000 fund balance and its ability to carry in addition to your assessment that you're already the current revenues. Fine, I'll let that go. We'll make a note. Come back next year. [19:08] **Council Member Edberg:** Second encouragement would be, and this might just be a how it's being recorded, but the financial statements that were provided to us show a total annual budget for interest earned of $880. again on a $200,000 investable balance. [19:25] **Council Member Edberg:** Now, it may in fact be that that um budget estimate for interest is way low because that would be like 0.4% interest. That's that's savings rate. It's not CD rate. It's not other financial tools. So maybe that um budget estimate has not been updated, but the year-to-date interest earnings are only 220 bucks report on the on the income statement. [19:51] **Council Member Edberg:** And it's like that's aligned with the 880. So even if all of our balances are invested in interest-bearing accounts, the interest seems way low. My encouragement would be to keep looking at how do we take more of our invest—of our fund balance and put it into higher interest rate or adjust the numbers and maybe we just need to let this year play out. But that interest earned um we've been able to earn four to five percent on CDs and on 200 grand that's more than what we're—the increase for city. So it's like playing that off would be one other additional piece of right. **Mike Piranto:** Well I was I was with the 4M account um in by the end of summer I was going to invest more of our balance into [20:38] **Mike Piranto:** that. I'm kind of talking with your finance director was very informative. you guys do $50 million. I mean, we got pennies, but uh I would put more into the 4M fund. Okay. And there's the entry fund, the and then the the second fund is the fund that we'll put it in because that gets a little bit higher interest rate. Okay. [20:58] **Mike Piranto:** But it is still accessible. Uh the big thing with that with the with the other fund, I said, "Well, you know, I have two almost the same." And they said, "Well, one, you you can't touch it for 14 days after you deposit it." Well, that's not a problem for us, but it might be for you. So, I don't know, but yeah, we're kind of following your footsteps and yeah, we're going to get more invested. Right now, we got every dollar. At least we're getting some interest on every dollar. Now, we're going to try to get better interest on it. And uh you know, I think but I do think we need reserves. [21:28] **Mike Piranto:** If we went budget to budget and something happens, we're out of luck. **Council Member Edberg:** I'd be more inclined with 100% rather than 160%, but that's just me. So, if the rest of the council wants to weigh in, I'll stop and just note progress. I appreciate you taking to heart the conversation last year. Thank you. Okay. [21:47] **Mayor:** Thank you very much. I just I I think it's good to point it out because we, you know, measure our reserves against percentages and what the state recommends. I'll just say I'm not troubled by it. I don't think I'd be troubled by 200% just because it is a relatively small budget overall and the things that could possibly pop up can get to six figures or multiple six figures really quick. So point well taken in terms of a percentage in context um the cost can be so significant and I tend to agree with Mr. Pronto. If you just needed to do a cash call from all the communities you have to coordinate five different councils, five different meeting schedules. Yeah. And if it needs to happen like this week, that's a problem. So, White Bear Lake is an asset [22:32] **Mayor:** for everyone and a couple hundred thousand dollars sitting in the bank for all of White Bear Lake and you guys being the first line of defense to to to manage it and keep it healthy. I I'm not troubled by that at all and I think you're managing the money very well. I thank you for that and all that you do um day in and day out to keep the lake healthy. We appreciate it. Thank you. [22:53] **Mayor:** Any other questions? All right. Thank you again. **Mike Piranto:** Thank you. Thanks for your time. [23:07] **Mayor:** Right. Item six, public hearing. Nothing scheduled. Item seven, unfinished business. Nothing scheduled. Item eight, new business. Nothing scheduled. Item nine, discussion. Nothing scheduled. Item 10, communications from the city manager. Miss Crawford, do you have anything for us? **Lindsey Crawford:** I do. Thank you, uh, mayor and members of the council. you can go to. Um, so again, it's summer here in White Beer Lake and so for the next couple of weeks, we have Market Fest again um both Thursdays coming up July or excuse me, June 26th and July 3rd from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. downtown. [23:35] **Lindsey Crawford:** Manito days is still happening um throughout White Bear Lake and encourage anyone to go visit the website to find all of those events. The farmers market starts this Friday and then runs through the last um Friday in October, which is October 31st. That's 8 am to 12 pm along Clark Avenue. Um to kick off the farmers market, we the police department has donuts and coffee with the cops um at Farmers Market this Friday from 8:30 to 10:00. And then of course the fireworks on July 4th. Um so down in West Park and Memorial Beach. Um I'm I believe it's from starting at 6:00 there'll be food vendors. Um but then the the band starts in the um pavilion at 8:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m. fly over and 10 p.m. fireworks. And I know that the fireworks committee has [24:21] **Lindsey Crawford:** been working really hard this year to make um even some additional improvements to the show. So I encourage everybody to to watch it. It should be even bigger and better this year and um really excited. So that is I think I have another slide just a reminder of the um election. So, um, in-person absentee voting starts this Friday, um, June 27th, um, at the Ramsey County Elections Office, which is, um, on Plato Boulevard. So, just a reminder that that, um, in-person absentee voting starts this week, um, and there's information along the other for everything else. [24:59] **Mayor:** Thank you. Thank you. All right. Item 11, close session. It is with much regret that I must dismiss everyone from the audience. Please leave now. For those watching at home that can't see the gallery, there's no one here. All right. With that, I must state this. We now need to go into close session pursuant to Minnesota statute section 13.05, subdivision 3C3, which authorizes the council to developer consider offers or counter offers for the purchase or sale of real property, real or personal property. The address of the property to consider an offer for purchase is 2230 Coney Road E. Therefore, I request a motion to go into close session pursuant to Minnesota statute section 13D.05 subdivision 3C3 to discuss the above described matters. [25:44] **Mayor:** I have I have a motion, a second. All those in favor say I. **Council Members:** I. **Mayor:** Any opposed? We are now in close session.