Metro briefs: Bonding bill proposal includes $82 million for St. Paul projects

St. Paul officials will be celebrating if the bonding bill Gov. Mark Dayton proposed this week comes to fruition.

The bill includes $82 million of investment in St. Paul projects, including $42.9 million for the city's Kellogg Boulevard-3rd Street bridge. Driving was restricted on the bridge after engineers discovered in 2014 that its outer lanes could not adequately support current traffic levels.

Dayton's bonding proposal also includes $14.5 million for Como Zoo's seal and sea lion exhibit and $13 million for the Science Museum of Minnesota.

The governor's plan allocates $12 million for the Dorothy Day Center's Opportunity Center, the second phase of a $100 million overhaul of the Catholic Charities service center in downtown St. Paul.

JESSIE VAN BERKEL

A team that had been searching for a missing 54-year-old woman found a body Saturday in Blaine, police confirmed. The searchers from United Legacy, a nonprofit search and rescue organization, found a woman's body near the 128 block of Jefferson Street NE. around noon, Blaine police said.

While the body has not been positively identified, it was found about 2 miles from the spot where Lisa Marie, whom authorities have said was struggling with mental health issues, was last seen on Wednesday after leaving her home in the 800 block of 129th Avenue NE. on foot.

Shakopee's only low-cost meal delivery program has been taken over by a local agency that provides nutrition services across the south metro.

Community Action Partnership (CAP) took over Shakopee Mobile Meals at the beginning of 2016. The 40-year-old meals program announced in the fall that it would stop services Dec. 31, citing a kitchen change and new federal requirements that it said made it difficult to continue.

The CAP agency, which already provides meals to hundreds of seniors in Scott, Dakota and Carver counties, has taken on seven clients in Shakopee who were served by Shakopee Mobile Meals, said senior nutrition program manager Denise Loesch.

"It is our sincere hope that the program will grow, and I believe it will," she said.

The agency has retained some mobile meals volunteers but is looking for more. Those interested may contact Loesch at 952-402-9855 or at dloesch@capagency.org/.

The search for a new Wayzata city manager continues this month.

The Lake Minnetonka city is searching for a replacement for Heidi Nelson, who started work as Maple Grove's city administrator last month.

Wayzata posted the open position Jan. 12 and will accept applications until Feb. 5.

In the meantime, the west metro suburb is being managed by former longtime city manager Doug Reeder.

KELLY SMITH

James Michael Hayden, 38, also was ordered to pay at least $221,463 in restitution to his victims.

Hayden pleaded guilty in June in Dakota County District Court to three counts of theft by swindle over $35,000 in connection with the scheme, in which he would convince people to invest in a business to buy homes subject to foreclosure in Burnsville, Lakeville and other metro area communities.

Hayden promised to share the profits once the properties had been purchased and sold, but he never purchased many of the properties for which the investments were intended. The victims lost more than $400,000.