August 10, 2026 Shorewood Council Meeting 4 Minute Recap

NOTE: Relevant links are at the end of this article

Worth knowing from Monday’s Shorewood City Council meeting:

Attending: Council: DiGruttollo, Gorham, Sanschagrin, Labadie, Maddy
Staff: Nevinski, Morreim, Schmuck, Czech, Thone
Staff not attending: Griffiths

Agenda item 2: Claims List

Expenditures of interest:

Payroll                                 $ 69,427
SLMPD (4th of July)          $  7,439
LaPointe (ROW permit      $  8,000
American Legal Publish.  $  7,826 (codification of ordinances)

Total all expenditures this period: $195,876

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Matters from the Floor

Resident Barry Brown raised four budget-related concerns for the council to consider:

• A $1.2 million discrepancy between two city documents on the MSA road fund balance;
• the omission of the roughly half-million-dollar recycling fund from budget discussions;
• A 12% levy increase that came in well above the 7.66% the city’s own financial consultant had projected for 2027;
• A question about whether a proposed $150,000 police/fire backup power system is oversized, he asked council to table the item pending more information. (The council did discuss the system at length later in the meeting.)

General Business

1. Highway 7 Safety Study:   In 2024, the state gave Shorewood and neighboring cities $200,000 to study how they could push for safety improvements on Highway 7. That money has now been fully spent on a study by SRF Consulting, which recommended joining an existing regional coalition rather than starting a new one.

Separately, the group has applied for $7 million in additional state funding to help pay for Highway 7 improvements already planned by MN DOT, which is short several million dollars. Shorewood chipped in about $1,800 (its share of the cost) to help prepare that application. A decision on the application is expected in September.

Council also had specific questions about the money itself, most answered by City Administrator Nevinski who said he didn’t know exactly what would come back to the council next. It depends on the Met Council’s September decision on the funding application. 

Gorham asked where the $3 million figure in the Shorewood CIP for Hwy 7 came from. Staff said it’s a rough estimate based on the city’s anticipated share of specific intersection work, the real cost is still unknown.

2. Engineering Responsibility Reallocation :   City Engineer Matt Morreim reported that the city’s shift of engineering duties from Bolton & Menk to in-house staff (per the council’s instructions) is progressing as planned. Consulting costs are trending down, roughly 30–40% lower than they would have been under the prior arrangement. Staff has absorbed most resident inquiries, utility requests, and construction oversight. He said the city will lean more heavily on outside engineering support for larger capital projects, such as the upcoming 2027 mill-and-overlay project.

3. Excelsior Fire District Budget :  The district’s proposed 2027 budget totals just over $2.9 million, a 6.39% increase, driven mainly by finalizing a five-year staffing plan and a shared police/fire universal power-supply (UPS) upgrade. Although budgeted at $150,000, estimates for the equipment and actual cost have not been formally discussed. Opinions are the UPS may be extremely over budgeted. Without that item, the increase drops to 4.41%.

Council debated whether any potential savings on the UPS system should return to the city to reduce the levy or stay in the fire district’s coffers to build up cash reserves (currently 17–19%, below its 20–30% target). The council agreed to apply savings toward the property tax levy. Council unanimously approved both the operating and capital budget.

4. SLMPD Budget:   The police department’s 2027 budget carries a significant increase, driven largely by a shift in the cost-allocation formula that raised Shorewood’s share (+22%) more than other member cities. Council discussed the shared UPS again but chose not to give the police chief formal direction on it, leaving deeper research to his discretion and further discussion with the council. The operating budget passed unanimously with contingencies on the final cost of the UPS.

5. South Shore Senior Partners Dissolution:  Council accepted a letter from South Shore Senior Partners announcing it will dissolve effective December 31, ending its volunteer-run senior programming at the SCEC. Council members were careful to clarify that accepting the letter doesn’t commit the city to continuing those programs, taking on the group’s lease, or hiring staff to replace them. Those decisions will follow recommendations from the SCEC task force, which meets this week. Council thanked the group’s volunteers for their years of service. After persistent questions, Nevinski finally clarified there was not a formalized lease in place. Informal arrangements dating to 2014 were never finalized. He confirmed that accepting the letter is purely a courtesy acknowledgment.

Other items:

• Finance Director Report: Jean Schmuck reported the city is continuing work on the 2027 budget and expects to wrap up its audit and deliver full financial statements, along with the long-term financial management plan, in September. The city also sent about 325 delinquent utility notices; totaling roughly $160,000 across that will go to a public hearing for assessment later this year.
• City Clerk / Elections Report: Staff reported two candidates have filed for the two open council seats, Eric Magistad and incumbent Guy Sanschagrin. The U.S. DOJ will send election monitors to several Hennepin County polling locations. Shorewood was not among them.
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Sources:

LMCC-TV (watch the video any time)
Council meeting materials packet
Policing by the Numbers, SCA, Aug. 12, 2026