Minutes - Council Work Session - 05/07/2019 - Special Closed

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Motion by Councilmember Riley, seconded by Councilmember Musgrove, to open the closed session. The Closed Session was adjourned at 6:00 p.m. Attorney Shafer provided a summary that a personnel matter was discussed with the City Council and pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13D.05, subdivision 2(b) the meeting was closed to the public. Motion by Councilmember Kuzma, seconded by Councilmember Heinrich, to approve the discipline of an employee and authorize the City Administrator to sign the discipline letter on behalf of the City. Motion carried. Voting Yes: Mayor LeTourneau, Councilmembers Heinrich, Riley, Kuzma, Musgrove, and Shryock. Voting No:None. 7.02: Discuss Manganese Concentration Levels in Ramsey's Municipal Drinking Water Ramsey Utilities Supervisor John Nelson gave a brief presentation of our water system and its daily operations to the council. The presentation included well locations, and which municipal wells were affected by the manganese health advisory. The health advisor has two thresholds for human consumption, 100 ppb (parts per billion) for bottle-fed infants under the age of 12 months and 300 ppb for the rest of the general population. Nelson informed the council that wells #5, #6 and#7 were our lowest manganese producing wells and well below the 100 ppb threshold. These are the only wells that we would be using to produce drinking water, until demand for water increased beyond their capacity. Brian Noma, from the Minnesota Department of Health, was on hand to explain the test results and why manganese is present in our municipal drinking water system. Noma explained various types of filtration systems that would lower our manganese concentration levels and the possibility of mixing the water in our system to lower the overall concentration on manganese. Noma also discussed the options on drilling additional wells and buying water from adjoining communities as additional ways to lower our manganese concentration. Noma again reassured the council that our drinking water met all safety standards required by the Minnesota Department of Health. Only the manganese levels exceeded the health advisory recently updated by the department of health. Anna Arkin from the Minnesota Department of Health was on hand to present the council with options for various types of communication formats that the council could use for public outreach. Arkin offered to work closely with our Communications and Events Coordinator Megan Thorstad to develop an information package that would be used to inform the public of the new manganese health advisory for drinking water. 3. ADJOURNMENT Closed Session Meeting/May 07,2019 Page 2 of 3