Briefs: South St. Paul shoring up Mississippi River levee

South St. Paul will pay Barr Engineering $300,000 to repair the levee that protects the city's Mississippi Riverfront industrial park from flooding.

Half of the cost will be paid out of a $1.2 million grant the city received from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to make flood control improvements. The other half will come from city sources, including its storm water utility revenues.

During times of high river levels, some of the industrial park can be lower than the river. The levee, built in 1966, has kept the river out of the park, but now needs improvements to keep protecting the area from flooding, said city Public Works Director John Sachi.

A key improvement will be replacing the pumping station, which moves water from the dry side to the wet side of the levee, Sachi said.

The improvements follow findings in 2010 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the levee had several deficiencies. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the failed New Orleans levee, the Army Corps began an intense evaluation of all federal levees, including the one in South St. Paul.

Recycling locations for holiday lightsWhen it's time to take the holiday lights down, consider recycling them at drop-off locations across the south metro.

The Dakota County Recycling Zone, 3365 Dodd Road in Eagan, accepts broken or unwanted holiday lights year-round.

Through January, the Recycle Your Holidays program also has drop-off locations at hundreds of places around the state, including more than a dozen spots south of the river. To search for the nearest location, go to www.recycleminnesota.org.

The city of Lakeville is asking residents not to toss their old holiday lights but to recycle them at City Hall, or at any of the three city liquor stores or at any Ace Hardware.

The city notes that light recycling provides jobs for adults with disabilities and keeps non-degradable light strings out of landfills. Replacing old lights with LED lights also saves energy and greatly cuts electric bills.

Holiday concerts on TV todayEagan Television will be showing holiday concerts from local church choirs and the Eagan Women of Note all day Christmas Day.

The programs, which will repeat throughout the day, will feature the choirs from Catholic Community of Saint Thomas Becket, St. John Neumann Catholic Church, Trinity Lone Oak Lutheran School, Advent United Methodist Church and Mount Calvary Lutheran Church.

The programs are available online at www.eagan-tv.com or on E-TV Community Channel 15, E-TV Government Channel 16 and E-TV Eagan Television Channel 20.

For more information about public access programming, production classes or volunteering, call 651-675-5044.

Fire department seeks volunteersThe Burnsville Fire Department is looking for volunteers to help with training programs and retrieving supplies from local hospitals.

To help out, a volunteer needs to be organized, willing to work as part of a team, and have a valid driver's license.

The time commitment is flexible but generally involves coming in for three to four hours once or twice a week.

For more information, contact Bill D'Agostino at the Burnsville Fire Department at bill.dagostino@ci.burnsville.mn.us.

Winter parking rules are now in effectThe city is reminding residents that no on-street parking is allowed between 2 and 6 a.m. from Nov. 1 to April 1.

After a snowfall of two or more inches, no on-street parking is allowed until the streets have been cleared.

The city also suggests:

• Posting reflective stakes or flags along lawn curbs to help minimize plow damage to lawns.

• To reduce plowed snow in your driveway, place driveway snow downstream in the direction of traffic and clear an area upstream from the driveway to create an open pocket for plow snow.

KATIE HUMPHREY, JIM ADAMS AND LAURIE BLAKE