The Coldest Council Meeting of the Year? 1-30-19

The Council braved the cold weather to meet for the second meeting of the year, which was a few weeks after the Council's first meeting, since meetings occur on the 2nd and LAST Wednesdays of each month.

There was a strong showing at the meeting despite the cold, with only Councilor Kennedy absent due to being on vacation someplace warm. Lucky him!

Due to a lack of public (everyone was home and warm!), the public forum was opened and then closed.

The next thing on the agenda was the Consent Agenda, which is a way for the Council to consider and vote on a number of items together for efficiency's sake in the case that the items are not controversial or require further discussion. This Consent Agenda had the typical 3 items (Approval of the agenda, approval of the previous meeting minutes, and approval of bills), but also had 4 other items on it. Those items were: approval of the Legion Club's Bingo Permit, approval of the Lion's Club raffle permit (for Fisherman's Picnic), approval of city tobacco license renewals, and approval of Le Grand Du Nord's (a bike race that happens over Memorial day weekend) request to use City streets for the event.

Councilor Moody pulled the tobacco license renewal item from the Consent Agenda for further discussion, but there was a motion made to approve the Consent Agenda minus that one item. It carried unanimously.

The Council then discussed the age change for tobacco sales that just happened in Duluth and whether or not this is an action that the City of Grand Marais should consider. There was some conversation about what the purpose of changing the age would be and whether changing the law was the effective choice versus working to promote a healthy lifestyle without smoking. Considering that this conversation has been brought to the Council before by high school students at ISD 166, the consideration of this seems to be prescient. The Council's discussion moved in the direction of the importance of promoting a healthy lifestyle instead of limiting choice within the City. Following this discussion the Council approved the 4 tobacco sales licenses for the City.

Moving right along, the Council next addressed an issue that was brought to the table by the appointment of Councilor Schulte to the Council. As many are aware, Councilor Schulte is also the co-owner of the SuperAmerica store here in Grand Marais. The City had, many years ago, negotiated a price for the City's fleet fuel from the establishment and has stuck with that agreement since. This falls into the category of a contractual conflict of interest for Councilor Schulte, so there will be some additional checks and balances put in place to protect the City and Mr. Schulte from any allegations of wrongdoing or manipulating prices in this contract.
Through a resolution the Council formalized the agreement that the City has with Mr. Schulte's business and allowed the City to continue in a business arrangement with his business as long as the agreement was respected. Every time that the City pays a fuel bill to SuperAmerica, it will be separated from the rest of the bills and will be voted on with Councilor Schulte abstaining and with him signing an affidavit stating that this transaction was in line with the resolution.
*I would like to point out that this is not terribly rare in small town government. The possibility that the people who run for government seats also own businesses is pretty high and these legal solutions are very well understood and established.
The resolution passed unanimously.

The next item on the agenda was an update on the progress concerning the Hwy 61 Redesign Project that is slated for 2020. Well, was slated for 2020. It seems that the MN DOT is running into complicating factors with the assessments for leases and right of way purchases as well as a few other details, so MN DOT is discussing bumping the project back to 2021 in the City and 2020 for the mill and overlay at the edges of town.
*It is important to explain that the City is not certain what their reasoning is and is still gathering information on the situation. In some ways it seems that delaying a year will give the community another year's worth of time to plan for and accommodate the challenges that the construction will bring and also give the City another year to lobby for the best possible schedule for local businesses. In other ways delaying a year will complicate plans being put in place and other projects that the City has scheduled with other organizations (such as the boat launch in the Rec. Park, set for 2020 as well).
The Council will gather more information and have that prepared for the next Council meeting.

That was all for the listed items on the agenda... it seems that the cold has limited the agenda as well!

But the meeting wasn't over yet! We still had our Staff and Council reports:

Councilor Schulte reported that he has gotten orientation materials for the Park Board and will be attending his first Park Board meeting in early February.

Councilor Moody brought a question up regarding a scheduled Joint Powers meeting, which will be planned by the School administration. This meeting was planned for the 28th of February and will have representation from the majority of the elected boards in the county.

Councilor Swearingen reported that she has passed along the minutes of the YMCA Advisory Council to be included in the record for the City.
*Councilor Moody interjected with the question about where the negotiations are at between the City and the County. The answer to that question is that the Council needs to do its strategic planning retreat to figure out what priorities are and what are all of the contracts and agreements that the City wants to discuss with the County. At that point the City will bring up those things at a meeting with the County.

I mentioned meetings that I had with the Grand Marais Area Tourism Association where the group began its annual budgeting process and worked through how much will be invested in particular events. I also attended the Library Board meeting where the Library has been investigating doing some construction in the cataloguing area behind the counter to create another office and to streamline the operation in that area. This project will be funded from the Library's designated fund account. I also mentioned that because of the cold, there are concerns for the wellbeing of some members of our community and I can encourage you all to check on your neighbors or older/vulnerable citizens in our area to make sure that they are able to care for themselves in this weather. A huge kudos to Cook County Emergency Management and Cook County Public Health and Human Services for all of their help... Please be safe out there!

Administrator Roth reported that the decisions to close city offices or departments lies with the department heads and they will consider their employees' needs and the community's needs before making a decision.
He also reported that the time and date for the Council's strategic planning retreat will happen on Feb. 19th from 12-4pm. The goal is to prioritize the Council's goals for the next year or two and to educate the Council about past planning that has been done.

*There were a few comments that I would like to take a second to explain a few things that were referred to in the meeting so everyone knows what's going on...
Councilors Moody and Swearingen both made a reference to whether there was any update on the golf course. What they were referring to is the golf course superintendent, a position that the City has been advertising for very thoroughly. The City received 8 applications and has been completing interviews to try and find the best candidate to continue/improve operations at the Gunflint Hills Golf Course. There will be more information to report as it develops.

**Councilor Schulte asked if the City was running its generator. He was speaking about the City's backup generator at the top of the hill, which has been running almost all day to help meet the additional need for electricity due to the extreme cold. The last thing that the community needs is a brown out of some kind because the current on the main line isn't up to the demand, so all of the power plants in the area are running to make sure that electricity remains stable.

I think that just about covers it. As always, please let me know if you have any questions!