It appears Lake Elmo will keep an elementary school within city limits.

The Lake Elmo City Council on Wednesday night approved several key measures needed for Stillwater Area Public Schools’ proposed new elementary school in Lake Elmo to proceed. The district plans to build a new 148,000-square-foot elementary school on a 47-acre parcel on the northwest corner of Lake Elmo Avenue and 10th Street North — kitty-corner from the Cimarron Park mobile-home community.

The council voted 4-1 to approve a zoning change — from agriculture to public facilities — and a change to the regional sewage treatment system boundaries to include the proposed property, among other measures. Council Member Katrina Beckstrom voted against the proposed changes.

“The school district has had an elementary school in Lake Elmo for 100 years, and we’d like to keep one for another 100 years,” Superintendent Mike Funk told the council before the vote.

The population center of the district has been moving “further and further south,” he said. “The center used to be (Minnesota Highway) 36. Now it’s just north of (Interstate) 94.”

The current elementary school, built in 1920 and located in the city’s Old Village area, is already near capacity and enrollment is expected to grow by more than 200 students in the next 10 years; Lake Elmo is one of the fastest growing cities in Minnesota.

District officials last summer entered into a $4.5 million purchase agreement for the land at Lake Elmo Avenue and 10th Street North contingent on the passage of the district’s $175 million bond referendum in November; the land is owned by Tom Kindler. The referendum passed in November with 57% support districtwide and 70% support in Lake Elmo precincts.

Lake Elmo resident Hannah Reyes, who teaches first-grade Spanish immersion at Lake Elmo Elementary, said the proposed site is ideal for a new school because it is at the “heart of where the biggest growth of population is happening in our district” and provides access from several directions because of the main roadways that connect there.

“A school is more than academics,” Reyes told the council. “It’s a community. … The students, families and community of Lake Elmo deserve to have their elementary school located in Lake Elmo. To vote ‘yes’ means to provide a school for our community for another 100 years.”

Lake Elmo resident Ryan Knudson also encouraged the council members to vote “yes” on the measures.

“What we are voting on is whether to keep the school in Lake Elmo or not. That’s it,” he said. “If we don’t approve this, the school district will probably go somewhere else.”

His wife, Cassondra Knudson, told council members to consider the “legacy of Lake Elmo” while voting. “We should keep the school in Lake Elmo where it has been for 100 years,” she said.

Lake Elmo Elementary Principal Stephen Gorde said the new school would be a “a world-class facility that will serve generations of children to come in Lake Elmo.”

People who spoke against the site expressed concerns about the loss of trees, an increase in traffic on 10th Street and the site’s proximity to the Oakdale Gun Club. City officials said those concerns will be addressed during the conditional-use permit process for the property.

Former Lake Elmo City Council Member Susan Dunn said the council should deny the amendment to the city’s comprehensive plan — a document she said took years to develop and is meant to guide development in the city until 2040.

“The question is not if we need a school or how fancy it should be?” she said. “The question is, ‘Is our comp plan a moving target?’ There have been over 10 amendments to the comp plan already. Is it a moving target or are you going to hold fast?”

Dunn said the school district should consider sites within the existing metropolitan sewer service area.

“The school should be in our city center,” she said. “I was not aware our city center was moving south. There are 4,000 acres in the MUSA. We couldn’t find 15 to 20 acres around the Old Village? It’s about education and environment and where the heart of our city really is. The school is the center of the city.”

The city’s Planning Commission voted 3-2 last month to recommend that the City Council deny the zoning change — from agriculture to public facilities — and not approve the change to the regional sewage treatment system boundaries to include the proposed property.

Beckstrom, the council member who voted against the measures, questioned how the school district’s plan was consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan.

“This parcel is not within the MUSA,” she said. “It’s an island upon itself. How is this consistent with (the city’s land-use) goals?”

But Mayor Charles Cadenhead said plans are “living, breathing” documents that sometimes change. “They don’t have to change, but they can change — if there is a will. It’s a guide. We have to put a lot of thought into this process. This was not something that was knee-jerk. We’ve had lots of discussion with the school district. I think that this is for the public good. It’s not that the city center is moving south; it’s that the population is moving south. Building a school (at the new site) means more kids in Lake Elmo can attend school in Lake Elmo.”

Funk said after the meeting that he was pleased with the outcome of the vote.

“We look forward to continuing to partner with the community of Lake Elmo as we work together to meet the needs of our students,” he said.

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The Service Employees International Union estimates about 1,000 nurses and employees from a dozen nursing home facilities in the state went on a one-day, unfair labor practice strike Tuesday.

A couple hundred nursing home employees from various facilities rallied outside The Estates at St. Louis Park on Tuesday morning, while others took part in early-morning picketing outside Cerenity Senior Care in St. Paul, Providence Place in Minneapolis, Saint Therese Senior Living in New Hope and The Estates at Roseville.

Jamie Gulley, president of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, said it’s the largest nursing home strike in state history.

“We have been working short, too long. We worked through the pandemic, and we were essential and we expect to be paid and respected for the work that we have done for this community and for the residents every single day,” Gulley said.

The workers are asking for a minimum wage of $25 an hour and more staffing.

Jared Mituga is a registered nurse at The Estates at St. Louis Park and said he’s worked there for 23 years. He said he and others feel overworked and underpaid.

“They are disrespecting us because they don’t value us. So for us to be valued, we expect that they pay us, protect us and give us better wages and better benefits,” Mituga said. “For us to give the patient the care they need, you have to have a better staffing ratio,” he said.

Marc Halpert is CEO of Monarch Healthcare Management, the company that manages The Estates chain. He said there are daily chats with employees.

“My personal job is to make sure that my staff are happy. And whether that’s wages or benefits, or, you know, not being overworked, that’s been my goal for nine years. And it’s really tough,” Halpert said.

Halpert said he didn’t have information about the nurse-to-patient ratio at The Estates in St. Louis Park, but said they were fully staffed Tuesday despite the walkouts.

“We were able to bring in other members from our other facilities, we do have 62 facilities throughout the state of Minnesota that we manage,” he said.

Halpert said of the hundreds who rallied outside The Estates at St. Louis Park, he believes 17 were employees of the facility.

Teresa Brees said she works in laundry at The Estates in Roseville and has been there for a little more than five years.

Brees said she wants a livable wage, better health care and safer work conditions.

“I tore my bicep tendon here working 23 days straight in housekeeping. I was in housekeeping at that time. And there were two housekeepers to clean this whole facility and take care of 120 residents,” Brees said.

Christine Ciepielinski is a licensed practical nurse at The Estates at St. Louis Park who works on the dementia unit. She was one of a couple hundred who picketed outside The Estates nursing home in St. Louis Park.

Ciepielinski said she enjoys her job, but staffing shortages are making it tough.

“We are constantly working short; I am always there to help my nursing assistants because I can’t leave them in the weeds to do all of the work. If I have to take somebody to the bathroom, if I have to give a shower, if I have to clean up the dining room, if I have to take laundry down, whatever it is that I have to do for the day to help make sure that the shift gets done,” she said.

When asked about staffing shortages, Halpert said the company has not been able to rebound since losing employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have up to $10,000 sign-on bonuses to find staff. We are out there. We are competitive. We are marketing. We are advertising, we are trying to find people,” he said. “The state of Minnesota has a shortage of health care workers. Through immigration and through other ways, we’re all trying to bring people in as fast as we can.”

Halpert said it’s not impossible for employees to reach $25 an hour without help from the state, but he called it unreasonable.

“Over the nine years that I’ve been with Monarch, to get $25 an hour, would shut down the facilities within six months,” he said. “I would love to give them what they’re asking for. We just have to make sure that it’s reasonable and that we can make it happen.”

Service Employees International Union officials say they hope to gain wage and benefit concessions this month.

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