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Recycling - The city's curbside recycling effort removed over two million pounds from the <br />waste stream. The city made this program more convenient by collecting recyclables weekly <br />and only requiring separation by fibers and containers (co-mingling). Yet, residential recycling <br />only reduced the amount of waste being disposed of by an unacceptably low 16%. A strategy <br />to raise participation needs to be devised. Each year the city also provided Christmas tree <br />recycling, a spring clean-up day, oil and anti-freeze recycling and composdng. <br /> <br />SCORE Funds - The city received $5,000 in SCORE Funds for its spring clean-up day and <br />$5,702 for residential recycling bins. The Street Department also receives SCORE funds to <br />help with their oil and antifreeze recycling efforts. <br /> <br />Garbage Franchise - The city has a five year contract for residential refuse service with BFI <br />and Randy's Sanitation, which expires in October of 2004. The average cost per customer for <br />this service went down $.50/month. Approximately 12.5 million pounds of material was <br />collected. About 10.5 million pounds of this material was delivered to NRG's Resource <br />Recovery Facility (where the majority of it is reused as fuel) and 2 million pounds were <br />recycled. The city licensed 12 haulers, including BFI and Randy's. <br /> <br />County Ditches - Three repairs were done to County Ditch #28 in 2001. Two fairly <br />significant projects were done to this ditch in the plat of M-Vale. This area of Ditch #28 has <br />been in need of repair for a while and hopefully the problems there are resolved. The total <br />cost to the city for all three repairs was $12,267. <br /> <br />Gravel Mining - The city considered three conditional use permits for mineral excavation: a <br />revision to Barton Sand & Gravels mine at Highway 169 and 221~t Avenue, a new pit for <br />Aggregate Industries' at CSAH 77 and 213th Avenue, and a revision to Barton's pit west of <br />CSAH 77 and south of CSAH 33. The land use plan in the area of Highway 169 and CSAH <br />33 should be revisited. The pits in this area will be reclaimed in the near future. The city <br />received $54,737 in gravel tax (slighdy up from $53,633 in 2000) and $13,960 in license fees. <br /> <br />Landf'fll - The city approved an expansion to the Landfill's demolition debris disposal area. <br />Staff anticipates a request to expand the mixed solid waste (MSW) disposal area. <br />Approximately 3 or 4 years of capacity is left in the current MSW area. <br /> <br />Wetlands - Fifteen wedand permits were administered and numerous other wedand inquiries <br />were fielded. A $7,600 grant was received for administering the Wedand Conservation Act. <br /> <br />Wild and Scenic River District - The DNR is proposing changes to these regulations. Staff <br />reviewed the prOposed changes and found them to be compatible with the Comprehensive <br />Plan. Staff will continue to monitor this issue and update the Council at an appropriate time. <br /> <br />Great River Energy - Great River Energy (GRE) had two issues that bare mentioning. A <br />batch tank was overfilled with a boiler feed water treatment chemical. About 175 gallons of <br />this chemical was released to GRE's clarifier and ultimately to the Mississippi River. It was <br />gready diluted by the dme it got to the River. Another issue was the 21 exceedances GRE had <br />for carbon monox/de (CO). Most of these incidents were a result of starting up the boilers <br />after a shutdown, prior to getting them up to optimum temperature. These exceedances <br />resulted in a Notice of Violation from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. CO is an <br /> <br /> <br />