Council Meeting Summary for January 28th, 2015

The City Council met for the second time of the year at 4:30 on Wednesday the 28th to discuss a wide range of topics from the more or less run of the mill to the very specific.

Right after calling the meeting to order, we opened up the floor for public comment and received one resident voicing their concern about the then imminent vote facing the hospital board to discontinue elective obstetrics services at North Shore Hospital.  As this issue has been in the news considerably and since I have been drafting another post to summarize what the City can do moving forward.  Needless to say, the Council engaged in the conversation and committed to remain engaged in the issue.  More to come on this soon.

The consent agenda didn't contain any novel information apart from a few minor corrections to the meeting minutes and so was approved and we were able to continue on to the very important item of selecting the fifth member of the council who will fill the seat vacated by Jan Sivertson at the last meeting.  The person selected will serve for the remainder of that term, until the next election in 2016.

It was an honor to have FIVE great candidates interested in the open position... They didn't make it easy for us!  Each of the candidates brought specific talents, skills, and perspectives to the table, but we could only pick one!  After a lot of deliberation the Council voted to appoint Tracy Benson to the Council to serve as the City's 5th representative.  We felt that her background with the community as well as her experience with local business and organizations made her a fantastic choice.  We look forward to working with her and are excited to see her contribution to the community!  She took the oath of office right after the appointment and took her seat at the table!  To Tracy and all of our applicants, thank you for being willing to serve!

The next two things on the agenda had to do with beer.  Yes, you heard me right.  Beer.  In order for Grand Marais to have a taproom with beer on sale, the City needs an ordinance/license to govern that sort of thing!  Last year the prior City Council drafted and approved the first reading of the ordinance and so it was left to the new Council to approve the second reading of the ordinance to make sure that the language and fees were as they should be.  

After that item passed unanimously came the practical application of that ordinance.  The owners of the new Voyageur Brewing Company and Taproom had their license application in and, with everything in order, the Council approved their application.

Returning to the Council as requested at the last meeting, representatives of the District Heating Task Force appeared before the Council to update he City on progress made.  The District Heating Task Force has taken the first step in their process, hiring a coordinator for the next stage of the project.  This stage includes seeking customer contracts, vendor bids, a public communication plan, and a financing plan.  In addition, the suggestion was made that the District Heating Task Force be adopted as a formal City committee.  The conversation about this pointed out that this would allow the City to have stronger oversight in the process and would streamline the updates that the Council receives about progress made.  This vote was taken and was accepted.  

How are we going to move forward as a City?  What does the future hold?  What rules do we need or not need to keep Grand Marais the special place we all love?  These questions and many more are rolled into the next agenda item, strategic planning.  The Council was presented with information regarding different approaches to strategic planning and their pros/cons.  The Council discussed these options and decided that before we move forward we need to look backward and inspect the plans that have already been completed by past Councils.  These include the Comprehensive Plan for the City, the City Code, as well as other plans that have been put together such as the Park Plan.  The Council will be reviewing these throughout the coming months and will be seeking public input as to how the City should look at planning for its future.  All of the Councilors agreed that the residents of town need to be involved so that there is investment in the plan and so any actions we take are taken as a City and for a solid reason.

Onto the HR item!  The Library Director requested the Council hire a part time Library Cataloguer on recommendation of the Library Board.  The Library has seen the need for a cataloguer increase since another employee reduced their hours.  The Library Director and Board feel that this is a sustainable and needed hire that will speed up the arrival of new materials on the library floor.

Already an hour and a half in, the Council took new business, of which there was a fair amount.

-An update on the estimate for installing public bathrooms in the section of City Hall vacated by the Visitor's Bureau was requested and will be sought for the next meeting.

-Councilor Kennedy brought up the suggestion that the City join Greater Minnesota Parks and Trails, an organization that the County is a member of.  The organization focuses on developing outdoor recreation opportunities in greater Minnesota and the Council agreed that it would be good for the City to show solidarity with non-profits and other governmental agencies to support this development.

-In addition to that, Councilor Kennedy suggested that the City look into joining the Cook County Trails Coalition when that opportunity arise.  This group, very much like the GMP&T organization, seeks to unite ALL users of outdoor trails so that we can push for help maintaining and developing our trail networks.

-The developers of the proposed Grand Lakeview Twinhomes requested that they be put on the next agenda to discuss a development agreement on their undeveloped property immediately behind the Gofer Cabins near the East end of town.

-At the first meeting in February the Council will go over committee assignments and will include Ms. Benson in the assignments, thus re-distributing many of the appointments.

-Also, in February there will be a joint meeting of the City, County, Tribe, School at the City Chambers on February 26th.  This meeting will be to discuss items of regional significance to all of the parties involved.

Hearing no further business, the Council adjourned a little after two hours into the meeting!  Whew!

*As always, if you have any questions or comments on this, please let me know and I will do what I can to find you an answer or address your comment.

Is our housing situation like New York's?

Recently I was passed along a very interesting and hopeful document put together by the City of New York and the office of Bill de Blasio.  Now I wouldn't normally say that Bill de Blasio and I have a lot in common (and I am sure that we don't other than we eat food and breath air and happen to be the mayor of our respective city...), but the items that he outlines in this document sound surprisingly familiar...

Here is his introductory letter:
---
To My Fellow New Yorkers:

We have a crisis of affordability on our hands.
It’s a crisis in many ways built on New York City’s success. We are a safer, more welcoming city than we were decades ago. People from all over the world come to study, to work or to start a business here.

And that success story has put pressure on our housing stock. Coupled with ever-rising economic inequality, it has created a painful reality where more and more New Yorkers are spending more and more to cover their housing costs, and entire neighborhoods have lost their affordability. Affordable housing is part of the bedrock of what makes New York City work.

It’s what underpins the economically diverse neighborhoods New Yorkers want to live in. It’s critical to providing financial stability for working families, helping them get ahead and build a better life.

And that is why today, we are laying out a comprehensive plan to build and preserve 200,000 affordable units over the coming decade, to support New Yorkers with a range of incomes, from the very lowest to those in the middle class. This is a plan to get ahead of the curve, to protect neighborhoods, and build our city’s next generation of affordable housing.

It’s about knitting communities together. Our affordable housing policies must reach every New Yorker in need, which is why this plan thinks big about the changes we need to make—in government and in the private sector—to make this a city where everyone rises together, and everyone has a safe and decent home.

If you’re in a community where affordability is disappearing, we want to protect it. If your family lives in a rent-regulated apartment, this plan is focused on helping you keep it. If you’re a senior trying to remain in the neighborhood you helped to build, we are fighting to help you stay. If you are a building owner or developer intent on building or preserving affordable apartments, we will support you.

This is a five-borough, ten-year plan. It will marshal people and resources from every corner of this city behind a singular purpose: to make this city again a place where our most vulnerable, our working people, and our middle class can all thrive. Together, let’s make that vision a reality.
---

As far as I am concerned Mr. de Blasio hits the nail on the head when he says that affordable housing is "part of the bedrock" that makes his, and just about any, city work.

I also agree that affordable housing is essential to properly knit neighborhoods and communities together.  It is very hard to have a cohesive community if some of your residents are struggling to find one of the basic elements of survival.  It fosters disdain and prevents some from engaging with others... We don't like to admit this, but it often is true, going both ways.

I do find it interesting, however, the reasons for this problem in New York and how that differs from Grand Marais in substance only.  The popularity of New York has drawn more people in, similarly the popularity of Grand Marais is drawing people in... however it seems that most of the people coming up here aren't coming to study or work or start businesses, but to retire, relax, and recreate (which in its own way is a very good thing!).  The economic ripple of these activities is definitely not the same.

The Executive Summary of the article could apply almost directly to Grand Marais... Just change the city name and things sound very familiar:  It speaks of stagnating incomes and rapidly increasing housing costs, it speaks of the right every resident has to live in a neighborhood that gives them the things they need to succeed, it states that high rent-burden on a community is damaging to its economy, it speaks of supply and demand (people staying in their houses longer and thus not turning over those houses to younger families... largely because there aren't options for older adults to move to!), and how the private sector has not produced adequate housing to meet the need.

New York City is proposing the building of 200,000 units of affordable housing over the next 10 years throughout the 5 boroughs of their city.  If you take a look at the math, if you scaled the project down to the size of Grand Marais, we would be adding around 30 units of affordable housing in the next 10 years to match their initiative... That isn't actually that many.  Three units of housing a year?  How can we make that work?

To add to this conversation, those living below or at the poverty line in New York City measure around 20% of the total population, where in Grand Marais that number fluctuates around 10%.   So, if you wanted to be cynical about this, we could say that Grand Marais could then build roughly half of those units of housing... except that we don't just have a problem with affordable housing for people near the poverty line.  We have lost Deputies, nurses, doctors, administrators, etc because of this housing situation and its affect on middle class wage earners too.  I mention this to support the idea that 30 housing units could be about right, if not a little low for our situation!

These are the things they seek to do in New York:

• Fostering diverse, livable neighborhoods 
• Preserving the affordability and quality of the existing housing stock 
• Building new affordable housing for all New Yorkers 
• Promoting homeless, senior, supportive and accessible housing 
• Refining City financing tools and expanding funding sources for affordable housing
• Planning and land-use needs to be re-vamped

• Economic diversity should be the cornerstone of development
• Municipal tools and assets need to be used more effectively
• Protect past municipal investments by finding ways to lock in affordability
• Take advantage of current opportunities/incentives (low interest rates, attention on this subject)
• Increase funding for housing programs

Their plan is broken down so that 60% of the housing units would be renovation/preservation of existing affordable housing stock and 40% would be new construction.  Again, scaling this to Grand Marais, this would mean 18 units of housing would be renovated/preserved and 12 units would be constructed.  Does that work here?  Could that work here?

Ok, but how are they going to fund this?  Mayor de Blasio's office states that this project will cost around $41.4 billion over 10 years.  Scaled to Grand Marais size this would be a little over $633,000 over 10 years or $63,000/year or a little over $20,000/unit average.  That DOES sound do-able, but can we get good, long-term affordable housing for that amount in our community?

New York is going to be re-distributing money in the city's budget to accomplish this in addition to applying for state and federal funding in addition to pursuing partnerships with private industry in addition to partnering with other funds that could contribute...

We have many resources at our disposal as well; however, much, much more limited than New York's... This is going to be a continued area of investigation of course.  Is it possible for the City of Grand Marais to arrange and fund a project, with partnerships of course, that could provide affordable housing for every resident?  What are the downsides to this?  Why hasn't it happened in the past if it is so important?

There are many, many more questions that go into this conversation.  I am interested to engage more specifically in these questions and help to formally engage the City into the process of working to solve the housing issues that have been identified.  What will that look like?  I don't know.  We will get some answers if we keep thinking and looking at it though.

*So, this is a very basic exploration in the New York City project.  Here in Cook County we have had many explorations into this situation and I do believe that creating a housing plan similar to this NYC plan would be a very, very good idea.  What do YOU think about the NYC project or how Grand Marais could move forward to help address this situation in our community?

Summary of City Council Meeting 1-14-2015

Well, it's official!  As the second piece of business of the night on January 14th, I was sworn in as the mayor of Grand Marais.  It has been a wild ride and things are just starting to get going with this new Council.  Speaking of the new Council, the third item of business was to swear in Mr. Dave Mills and Mr. Anton Moody.

You may be wondering what the first item of business was...  It is easiest if I describe the scene:
*Since Mayor Carlson, Councilor Spry, and Councilor Lenz's terms technically expired December 31st, 2014 and Councilor Sivertson is now Commissioner Sivertson, at the beginning of the meeting there was one (1) standing Council member, Mr. Tim Kennedy.

I was not just a little nervous that this honor would go to his head as he sat down at the middle of the meeting table and called the meeting to order alone.  Following calling the meeting to order he said a word of thanks to the previous Councilors and Mayor, a very fitting way to start out the new year of meetings.

I echo Mr. Kennedy's words and thank Mr. Carlson, Mr. Spry, Mr. Lenz, and Ms. Sivertson for their time and commitment to the City of Grand Marais.  Myself and the new Council hope to build on the foundation that they have laid to serve our community's needs in the unique way that Grand Marais demands.

After these important actions were completed was the public comment period.  I was very glad to see a resident of the City bringing questions to the new Council concerning the district heating project.  At present there are still many questions pertaining to that project and in order to answer your questions, we need to know them!
*I encourage any and all of you to come and ask questions at the public comment period or contribute your thoughts.  That is what that time is there for!

Then it was time for the formalities.  At the first meeting of each year the City has to designate the acting mayor (who fills the mayor's duties in the mayor's absence), official newspaper (the periodical that will public City announcements), the City's depositories (the banks that the City uses), and official signatories (who can sign official City business).  All of these things progressed quickly with the Councilors moving, seconding, and voting on the motions to accept the proposals for each.

One last, but very important formality is how to proceed with the Council vacancy left by now-Commissioner Sivertson.  Technically the Council could have appointed someone at this meeting, but the Council, recognizing the importance of that last seat, decided to solicit for candidates from the community and make that decision with more information and interested parties.

*So, if YOU or anyone you can think of are interested in helping make Grand Marais a better place by helping add perspective and insight to the Council, I very much encourage you to send me or City Hall a letter or email explaining who you are, what your connection to the City is, and what your qualifications for the position of Council are... Now, to keep things in context, qualifications for the position of Councilor can be just about anything!

Whew!  All of that done and we were just getting started!  The Council took well over half an hour to discuss and assign the committee and board assignments.  The Council also accepted the request from the Northwoods Food Project (a group working on local food production amongst other things!) to have Council representation on their board.  Below is the list and assignments as per the end of this meeting.  *It is important to add that when the 5th Councilor is selected in the future, these assignments will definitely change.

Starting with City Boards and Commissions:

Public Utilities Board (the board that oversees conflicts between the City and PUC customers)
Mr. Mills, Mr. Arrowsmith DeCoux, Mr. Moody

Public Utilities Commission (the policy making and managing body for the City's Public Utilities)
Mr. Kennedy (incumbent)

Safety Committee (the committee that makes sure OSHA practices happen at the City)
Mr. Moody

Planning Commission (the body that governs city planning and zoning within the City)
Mr. Kennedy (incumbent)

Personnel Committee (the group that oversees hiring, discipline, and firing for City employees)
Mr. Arrowsmith DeCoux, Mr. Mills

Park Board (the policy making body that governs the Rec. Park and other City park lands)
Mr. Mills

North Shore Management Board (a regional group that makes and enacts policies pertaining to preserving and managing our valuable shoreline and Lake Superior water quality)
Mr. Arrowsmith DeCoux

Arrowhead Regional Development Commission (a regional economic development commission that supports the development of businesses and infrastructure)
Mr. Moody

Library Board (the policy making body that governs the library)
Mr. Arrowsmith DeCoux

Cook County/Grand Marais Economic Development Authority (a group that implements programs and projects to support economic development in our communities)
Mr. Moody

Cook County YMCA
Mr. Mills

Moving on to the community organizations with City Liaisons:

Animal Advocates
Mr. Moody

North House Folk School
Mr. Arrowsmith DeCoux

Cook County Local Energy Project
Mr. Moody

Active Living/Safe Routes to School
Mr. Kennedy

Northwoods Food Project
Mr. Mills

*If you have any concerns pertaining to any of these groups, your City Councilors would be glad to hear your comments or questions.

You still with me?  It was definitely a busy meeting, but we are not even half way through yet!
The Council then voted on and appointed the City citizen representatives to the City boards and commissions.  Thank you very much for all of the interest from the community!  We were pleased to have so many well qualified candidates.  If you showed interest and were not selected, please stay involved!  We need continued participation throughout the City!  Pending the acceptance of their appointments, the newly appointed citizen representatives are:

Helen Muth for the Library Board

Hal Greenwood (inclumbent) for the Economic Development Authority

George Wilkes for the Public Utilities Commission

Sally Berg and Kaye Tavernier for the Park Board

Hal Greenwood (incumbent) and Michael Garry for the Planning Commission


With all of that work done we settled into the next few items on the agenda, deciding whether the City should accept grant monies that would fund the final steps of the district heating project, seeking customer contracts, bidding out expenses, and seeking financing through state bonding.
There was a lively conversation on the matter, fueled by concerns from the community that this project is going to be an economic drag on the City as well as other logistical concerns.  The Councilors discussed all of these points and finally got to the conclusion that it would be imprudent to not accept the grant monies considering that the previous City Council voted to spend $3000 of city money to pursue the grants... which were awarded as per that plan.  If the previous Council put money into this project, it wouldn't make much sense for the new Council to rewrite the purpose of that investment by not accepting the grants.

The other part of the conversation, which went long and very in depth as well, was the signing of the contract with FVB Energy, the firm that has been designing the project.  If the Council voted to accept the grant money, then the City would also have to enter into a contract with FVB Energy to pursue customer contracts, seek bids, and seek bonding... all in partnership with the City.

The conversation was very interesting, but basically came down to the fact that the City was ready to make that commitment based on all of the votes of previous Councils to support this project.  There are many conditions though.  The contract that the City will be signing is written very much in favor of the City with the City being able to suspend or terminate the contract with proper notice with no penalty.  The Councilors also stated that if the City takes on responsibility for this project, there will need to be regular updates provided to the Council at upcoming meetings, a public forum to ask and answer questions, and the consideration that the standing District Heating Committee become a City committee until this process is complete.  There are many pieces of information that need to be found during this project, some of which will dictate whether or not the project will continue to move forward.  The City has no commitment to complete the project if these factors are not satisfactorily resolved.  However, this project has been viewed as a project of regional significance by many people, including our legislators, Dave Dill and Tom Bakk, who are very interested in this project succeeding.  If you have any questions about this process or the project itself, please let me know and I will do my best to connect you to the information you need!

Almost done.  Just a few more things!

The Council moved to accept maintenance responsibility for any infrastructure built as a result of the TAP (Transportation Alternatives Program) grant money that the City is applying for as a part of the Hwy 61 Redesign project.  The grant money would fund part of any bike or pedestrian path built as a part of the redesign.  This project is not slated to begin at least until 2019, so there are a lot of uncertainties in this conversation, but in order to apply for the monies from TAP the City needed to take responsibility for the infrastructure it funded.

As a final piece of business the Council accepted a bid from CR-BPS (Building Performance Specialists) to perform an energy and asset assessment on the City Hall building.  This assessment will compliment the work being done to see how we can improve the Municipal Liquor Store as well as provide life cycle information and energy efficiency information for the City Hall building.  The resulting report will show many ways that the City can improve the performance of City Hall in order to better serve our needs, reduce costs, and increase efficiency.  This survey will be done in the upcoming months and will require additional action in the future to enact any changes suggested in the report.

OK, that's it.  We adjourned at 7:07pm relieved and very satisfied with a great working session.  In closing I encourage you all to come to meetings to participate in the public forum and see the process taking place.

As always, please contact me if you have any comments or questions about what happened at this meeting!

First meeting of 2015-- Business to attend to!

This Wednesday, January 14th at 4:30pm at the City Hall we will be getting together for our first council meeting of 2015!

Since this is the first meeting of the year, there are many things that need to be attended to by the council to set the stage for the year, but there will also be a few additional items on the agenda that need timely attention.

Of the required actions we have:
1. Swearing in our new councilors (and me!)
2. Dealing with the consent agenda (paying bills, approving expenses, etc)
3. Discussing the vacancy of Jan Sivertson (all of the best to her as a Cook County Commissioner!)
4. Assigning committee/board/commission assignments to the City Councilors (come and see who is serving where!)
5. Reviewing and filling city representative vacancies on those same committees/boards/commissions
6. Designating signatories, acting mayor, depositories (banks), etc... Most of these things stay the same...

Of the additional items we have:
1. Action needed on approving the grants arranged to continue the district biomass heating project's development.
2. A letter for the Transportation Alternative Project (a project that could potentially provide some of the money necessary to fund part of the Hwy 61 Redesign Project) that states that the City will maintain any infrastructure funded by monies received from program.  The County has already agreed to sponsor this application, so keep your fingers crossed!

So, that's it for this meeting!  At future meetings there will be more in depth conversations about city priorities and projects as well as protocols for requests from the city; the first few months of meetings will basically be getting the City's business up to speed and the new Councilors informed and ready to push forward.

We would very much like your presence at ANY City Council meeting to hear the business of the City.  You are always welcome and are invited to speak during the public comment period at the beginning of each meeting if there is something you feel the Council should hear.

Thank you again for this opportunity!  I am excited to get started on January 14th!

2015 Predictions...

Almost all of the news outlets have recently been reminiscing on the happenings of 2014 and speculating on the prospects of 2015.  I have already heard that this year will bring the total unwinding of international relations on a global scale, that next year holds great potential of bringing peace to war-torn regions, economic destruction, economic prosperity, new tech, old tech coming back, etc, etc...

Needless to say at this point of the year you need to take these things with a grain of salt.  What I know is that I have completed the holiday shuffle and am back ready for the new year and all of its challenges.  There is a small buzz around town as some of our seasonal businesses gear back up for business and new businesses plan their grand openings.  All of this fuels what I am offering as:

Jay's 2015 Predictions for Grand Marais!

*Disclaimer:  This is one of those things that I am sure the advisors of higher up politicians would cringe at and advise against and you should probably take it with a grain of salt too, but these are my thoughts on the coming year.

I believe that 2015 will be a year of quiet optimism.  Through continued efforts to coordinate and organize our economies, we will start seeing efficiencies improving or beginning the process of doing so.  Hopefully we will begin to see improvements in transportation, infrastructure, usage, and environmental impacts that will help to make this a better, safer place to live.

I believe that 2015 will be a year of careful planning.  We are at a place in the city where we can start putting together another 5 year plan, we can draw from the work done on past planning efforts as well as draw in new information from the wonderful city residents who have stepped up to fill our board and commission spots (thank you to you all!).  What does the future of Grand Marais look like?  How can we continue to improve our standard of living here without compromising the village feel that we all love?  These are questions to consider.

I believe that 2015 will be a year of hard work.  Success brings hard work.  Our summer season will hopefully be busy and bustling.  Our spring and fall seasons will hopefully be full of ground work and discussion about future ideas as well as past ones. Finding solutions will take time and a lot of conversation.  Some of those conversations may be hard.  Not everyone will be satisfied, but we will put in the time to make sure that decisions are made responsibly and with support of residents and information.

I believe that 2015 will be a year of fun.  That may seem to be contradictory to the previous prediction, but I have noticed that the number of activities for local residents to enjoy has steadily increased and local resources for recreation have improved as well.  With that said, help prove me right and get out there and have some fun!

 2015 will be an exciting time for me because I get to begin going out and officially representing the City of Grand Marais to organizations and other political bodies to ensure that we do not get overlooked in the considerations for funding or programs (assuming that we need and can use said resources).  I look forward to the opportunity and will keep you all abreast of any developments that happen.

So, there you have it!  Those are my predictions for the next year.  Some may think that I dodged a bullet because I didn't state any specific items that I will be working on.  This was purposeful!  You all need to help direct the issues and items that get discussed.  Please communicate with me your thoughts and concerns about the city as well as any ideas that the city should consider.

Thank you and may 2015 be one to remember!