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Board approves Square Lake Park budget amendment, construction contract and design amendment after exchange on transparency
Summary
The county approved a watershed-backed package of Square Lake Park improvements, a budget amendment, a construction contract and a design amendment after board members debated whether the project had been discussed in public parks meetings.
Public Works project manager Mike Klein asked the Washington County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 12 to approve three actions to advance Square Lake Park (Park 6006): a budget amendment reallocating $124,600 into the project, acceptance and execution of a construction contract with Windberg (low bid $1,064,028) and a design contract amendment with HR Green for additional gate, turnaround and stormwater modeling work ($79,214).
Klein said the project responds to a 2020 long-range park plan and addresses recurrent stormwater-driven erosion that degrades beach and lake areas. The county collaborated with the Carnelian-Sans-Cole watershed district during design and secured a clean water grant to support the improvements. The project includes pavement reclamation (recycling on-site), stormwater basins to treat runoff and ADA upgrades to trails and the fishing pier; construction is scheduled to begin in early September 2025.
Commissioner Claussen raised procedural concerns, saying the project had not been discussed at the Parks and Open Spaces Commission in a televised meeting and withheld support on transparency grounds. Public Works Director Wayne Sandberg said the watershed grant opportunity arose outside the parks commission timeline and that accepting the Square Lake grant would not prevent pursuing separate grants for Lake Elmo Swim Pond filtration; he offered to follow up offline with Claussen.
The board voted to approve the budget amendment, recorded 4-1 with Commissioner Claussen voting nay. The board subsequently approved the construction contract and the HR Green design amendment; the design amendment vote recorded one nay. Klein said the low construction bid was below the engineer's estimate and that the contractor (listed in the bid materials as Windbird/Winberg/Windberg Companies in the transcript) is a veteran-owned firm with local experience.
