West metro briefs: Interim director chosen for Lake Minnetonka Conservation District

The Lake Minnetonka Conservation District appointed Jim Brimeyer, a former Metropolitan Council member and former St. Louis Park city administrator, as the agency's interim executive director starting the week of April 18 for up to six months.

Brimeyer is filling in for longtime leader Greg Nybeck, who stepped down after the board of directors approved a separation agreement in February. Nybeck will be on paid administrative leave until Oct. 31.

The Legislature created the conservation district for the Twin Cities' largest and most popular lake in 1967 to regulate its use. The district is partly funded by a levy of property taxes from the 14 cities on the lake.

KELLY SMITH

A second pedal pub-like boat will be on Lake Minnetonka this summer, after Paddle Tap won a liquor license for the craft.

The Lake Minnetonka Conservation District held a public hearing this month for Paddle Tap, which takes up to 14 people on a pontoon boat on which they paddle and drink.

The owner told the agency that the company has had no incidents or complaints since starting in 2015.

Jake Lundell, a senior at Benilde-St. Margaret's School, recently returned from New York after producing a public service announcement as winner of a nationwide contest sponsored by the National Road Safety Foundation.

Lundell's concept was chosen from more than 1,500 entries in the foundation's Drive2Life contest. His winning entry portrays a teen distracted by her cellphone who is nearly struck by a car as she crosses a street. The spot ends with an appearance by the Grim Reaper, who says: "I'll give her today, but tomorrow — who knows?"

Lundell, a Plymouth resident, won $1,000. His spot will air on TV stations nationwide in May during the "Teen Kids News" program, a nationally syndicated program aired on more than 220 stations, including WUCW-TV in the Twin Cities.

JOHN REINAN

The oldest church building in Wayzata will mark its centennial May 15, when the Unitarian Universalist Church of Minnetonka hosts a celebration of the historic building.

The free events are co-sponsored by the church, the Wayzata Historical Society and the Wayzata Heritage Preservation Board. For more information, visit uucmtka.org.

KELLY SMITH

The Excelsior-Lake Minnetonka Historical Society will host a free event on the history of Lake Minnetonka postcards, as part of the organization's monthly Tapping History event at Excelsior Brewing.

The historic postcards are among the only evidence left of Lake Minnetonka's famous hotels, steamers and amusement parks from the early 1900s.

The event, which will feature avid postcard collector Chuck Donley, will begin at 7 p.m. on Monday, May 9. For more information, go to elmhs.org.

Visitors to Excelsior will find a new electronic meter system next month that will replace aging coin-only meters along the Commons, the city's 13-acre park.

The city has decided for now to maintain free parking at two city parking lots and along Water Street, despite discussions last year to add meters in those areas.

KELLY SMITH

The City Council introduced an ordinance on April 19 allowing residents to keep up to four hens in their backyards. It's scheduled to vote on the ordinance Tuesday.

Under the proposal, coops would have to be located in backyards and at least 30 feet from neighbors' homes, and would be prohibited within 100 feet of shoreline along the Mississippi River and Crooked Lake.

Blaine, next door to Coon Rapids, passed an ordinance last year that allows up to six chickens per household.