Council Meeting 4-8-2015

Now that we are all done with our April Fool's activities, it is time to get down to business again!

The City Council met in the City Hall Chambers last night starting at 4:30 and had a number of requests and issues to take up.  Here is a summary of what was discussed and the solutions that the Council came up with.  If anything isn't clear to you, please let me know and I would be glad to help out in any way that I can.

We convened at 4:30 with everyone in attendance and despite a few changes to the minutes from the previous meeting, the consent agenda was approved with the addition of a discussion on meeting time as well as an inquiry from Councilor Mills about city park opportunities within the City... more on that later!  As part of the consent agenda we approved the Car Show Street Use Permit for Wisconsin Street for June 6th for the Classic Car Show.  Start telling your friends that the car show is coming and to get your cars registered!

The first thing on the agenda was a request brought to the Council via the public comment period of our last meeting.  Greg Gentz of Maple Hill brought a request before the Council to consider writing a letter of support for the Lakeview Natural Dairy in regards to the litigations taken against them by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.  If you would like more information on the situation, please click HERE.  The Council discussed the letter of support provided by Gentz with varying levels of support of the letter... I want to be very clear that the individual Council members all expressed their support of the dairy itself, but questioned the appropriateness of taking action in support of a specific entity that is not even within the City limits.  The City's lawyer, Chris Hood, also cautioned that taking a stance on a party in litigation is not something that a city council has jurisdiction on, nor does it set a good precedent for the future.  The Council agreed with these statements.  Also, Mr. Hood suggested that city councils generally don't write letters of support, they achieve this same thing through resolution.  The vote then came before the Council to write a resolution in favor of the Constitutional protections outlined in Article 13, Section 7 of the Minnesota State Constitution, which states:

Sec. 7. No license required to peddle.

Any person may sell or peddle the products of the farm or garden occupied and cultivated by him without obtaining a license therefor.

This motion passed 3-2 with two Councilors objecting to the potential wording of this letter.  *Later in the meeting, Mr. Hood chimed in to say that he had re-worked the letter into resolution form with a few minor wording changes and asked the Council to consider this as the resolution in question.  This was brought before the Council and passed 4-1.  The changed language being acceptable to one of the  previously objecting Councilors.  

Following that conversation, Ben Silence of the Grand Marais Fire Department came before the Council to ask for the approval of hiring 2 more firefighters for the department.  These two hires were previously approved in 2014 by the previous council and thus, upon Mr. Silence's recommendation, the Council unanimously passed a motion to hire those two people to the department.

*Now you may be asking: "Isn't it a volunteer department?  Why are we 'hiring' people then?"  

This is a fair question and one that we should explain clearly.  Our Fire Department is volunteer only in the regard that the people serving on it are doing it at their own choice.  The employees of the department are paid-on-call, which means that they are compensated for the time that they put into learning for and defending our community against fire and other emergency calls.  This money comes from the fees gathered for the services provided.  If you have more questions about our fire department, let me know or contact Fire Chief Ben Silence at 387-9092.

Another piece of business had to do with the motion made at the previous meeting regarding having the City apply for IRRRB grant monies to help defray some of the infrastructure costs associated with the hospital renovation.  We learned at last night's meeting that the IRRRB recommended that the City apply for $175,000 of DEED (Department of Employment and Economic Development) funds for the project after which they would match that number with $175,000 of IRRB monies.  Since we were so thoroughly informed of the hospital's project and knew the stipulations of these agreements, there was brief conversation to make sure all of the rules were the same as discussed last meeting, which they were, and then a motion was made and passed unanimously to apply for the DEED funds for the hospital. *This means that the City will be applying for $175,000 for the hospital, not $350,000.  The IRRRB will consider awarding the complimentary $175,000 after the DEED funds are received.

Now we are getting on to some other conversations:  Lee Bergstrom came before the Council to request funding assistance in their efforts to reconstruct 2 of the tennis courts on county land in between the YMCA and the Community Center.  The two courts closest to Cty. Rd. 7 are deteriorating and need attention.  The Cook County Tennis Association has had plans worked up to show that the cost of resurfacing these two courts would be around $145,000.  They are receiving $60,000 of 1% funding from the County for this project and are seeking $55,000 of grant monies as well.  The balance of the project amount will come from the Tennis Association itself and, as they requested, from the City.  The Council heard and agreed with Ms. Bergstrom that the tennis courts are widely used and a great amenity for our community, but all of the Councilors had hesitation of dedicating the requested $20,000 to the courts.  The Council requested that the issue be put off until next meeting so they had some time to research how much the City has given to projects like this in the past as well as what the "Council Priorities" funds have been used for in the past.  Council Priorities is a small fund that is reserved for the Council to use to fund projects that are seen to be, well, Council priorities... To piggy-back on this issue, I brought up my attendance at the county's non-mandated funding meeting last week and brought up that the City should be thinking about this as well.  The City is not a granting body, therefore we need to view all of our expenditures as investments into the community.  We are much more limited than the county in scope in some ways, so having this conversation is a great idea that can make requests for funding much more straightforward or at least create a sound understanding of what the City can and can't do.  More to come on this in the coming weeks!

The library passed on a request for approval of the hire of 2 new library clerks at 10-15 hours each.  This request came in response to some staffing changes at the library where current staff have asked for reduced hours.  The library's strategic planning document identified this as a specific action item to help relieve the burden on current staff and to keep the library running smoothly.  This passed unanimously.

Then came another big conversation!  Public restrooms!  The City asked for some potential plans to be put together for the former visitor's center area at City Hall.  This area would be made into a public restroom facility to help ease the burden on downtown businesses as well as the port-a-potties that the City hires for the summer rush.  There were many questions about cost and design and maintenance, but the Council deferred the majority of the conversation to the next meeting on April 29th where the Council will be able to hear from other department heads about their perspectives.  I encourage members of the public to attend this meeting if you have anything to add about this concept.  Other things that the City is going to consider is long-term building plans for the City Hall... Does it make sense to put a bunch of money into this structure if we are going to have to re-do it all in a few years anyway?  Also, are there other options?  Satellite buildings?  Etc.  We look forward to the conversation coming next week about how we should proceed.

In the "Other Items" category there were two things:

1. Meeting Time-- In a brief discussion the Council decided that at the April 29th meeting (which will start at 4:30pm!) they will discuss a resolution to change the official meeting start time to 6:30pm instead of 4:30 to hopefully allow more community members the opportunity to attend meetings.  This has NOT been voted on and the APRIL 29th meeting will start at 4:30pm.  After this is voted on, we will make sure that the public is aware of any changes made.

2. Public Park Idea-- Councilor Mills asked the question regarding the small parcel of vacant land adjacent to the City Hall and Sven and Ole's on Broadway.  Formerly the home of the bike shop, this small chunk of land has sat vacant for many years, and has been for sale just as long.  The question was raised asking if the City has ever thought of purchasing this property for a small City Park with benches and picnic tables.  The Council was intrigued, but was pretty sure that we aren't in the position to be buying land.  Councilor Mills will do some investigation into the asking price, etc.

Council reports went pretty quickly:

I brought up a proposal for the City of Grand Marais to apply for a GreenCorps volunteer through the MN Pollution Control Agency.  These Corp members are basically interns who have just graduated from college in the area of environmental engineering or some other applicable field.  The purpose of the program is to get these young professionals opportunities to get their boots on the ground in real project scenarios while they assist communities in meeting their environmental goals.  For Grand Marais this person could be put to very good use: Dark Skies, GreenSteps, Commercial Efficiency Programs, City Hall efficiency, District Heating information programs, as well as potential partnerships with community non-profits or other governing agencies and the school.  I made a motion that the City proceed to the application and that motion was passed unanimously.

I brought an update about the library board's actions to create a financial policy that effectively guides the library through the use of its funds as well as the management of its endowment funds.  This has proven to be a challenging task, but it is getting closer to completion.

As I mentioned before, I attended the County's non-mandated funding workshop and learned a great deal about how the County does non-mandated spending.  I will stay in the loop on this issue.

Councilor Mills mentioned that the Park Board is still going over rates and policies for the campground.  He also stated that the winter was a bad one for the golf course, with significant winter kill on the course that is causing the course to lower its rates to try and keep golfers coming up to the course.  If you golf, head out there early and often!

Councilor Kennedy mentioned that he attended the Safe Routes for Schools meeting where they discussed their plans and goals for the period of 2015-2020.  They are having their annual bike rodeo May 7th at the Community Center and are looking for volunteers.  Please be a part of this activity!  It is a hoot!  He also commented that the PUC received 5 scholarship essays for the annual PUC scholarship.  He was excited to receive so many and was looking forward to awarding the $500, $250, and $100 awards to the best essays.

So, in closing, we covered a lot of ground and have more ground coming for the next meeting.  at 4:30 on April 29th.  If you have anything to contribute to the meeting, please come for the public comment period right at 4:30 and the Council discussion shortly thereafter.