In her report to the Tofte Town board on August 9, Rescue Squad Chief Louise Trachta said, “We’ve been constantly busy. We had three tricky rescues on Temperance River recently and thankfully, no deaths. We reported to an accident by Satellite Inn. It was a medical problem with a driver and again, the crew handled it well. We’re rolling along as well as can be expected.”
Bluefin seeks bike trail easement
Bluefin Bay Resort owner Dennis Rysdahl asked for an easement so that a bicycle spur trail could run across his property and connect the Gitchi Gami Bike Trail so that people won’t have to bike out onto Highway 61 for a short stretch.
“I see people out on the highway all of the time and I would like nothing better than to see them biking safely on the bike path,” said Supervisor Paul James.
Although the board was in favor of granting the easement, Rysdahl first needs to present the township with a legal description of where the spur trail will go. He said he would bring that back to the next meeting.
Work at Tofte Park
John Nelson and Jerry Gervais will soon start work at the Tofte Town Park. They will move the playground equipment to a new spot and they will put up a 36-inch handrail around the parking lot, upgrade the picnic area, museum walk and pump house area. The picnic tables and parking will be closer to the dock and to the restrooms. In one area Nelson and Gervais will build a retaining wall. All told the project will cost $12,000.
“We will hire a younger guy to help us because, together John and I are about 140 years old,” Gervais said.
Cell phone tower plans up in the air
A quitclaim deed will have to be done on what is known as the former Futterer property before Duluth Towers can build a cell phone tower on the land located just above Tofte. So far the town board has given consent to allow up to a 190-foot cell phone tower to be built, “But everything is up in the air, including the final height of the tower,” said James.
“They (Duluth Towers) are asking for a 190-foot tower because it will have more range. It would be nice for search and rescue and law enforcement if the tower was taller and had more range, but planning and zoning will have a say and meetings will be held so that the public has a final say in it. If they build it taller they also have more space to sell to cell phone providers. Some of the cell phone towers have internal arrays and some have external arrays. It’s cheaper to build towers with external arrays, but like I said all of that is up for discussion,” James said.
Commissioner gives community center update
West End County Commissioner Bruce Martinson reported that although he is not on the Cook County Community Center Steering Committee, he often attends meetings and, “It takes up a lot of my time.”
Martinson said currently the budget for the community center is $8.5 million and $1 million has been set aside for the hockey rink and ball field.
Not included in the budget for the community center is a proposed water slide for the pool, Martinson said. Also, because the center will be attached to the school and will incorporate the space where the old gym, Mianowski conference center and locker rooms are now, the school is asking to be paid for that land.
“The county will negotiate with the school for how much money to pay for that property,” Martinson said, adding, “A wetland mitigation will also probably have to be done for the ball field.”
“Is that in your $8.5 million budget?” asked Tofte Supervisor Jim King.
“No, it’s not in the budget,” Martinson answered.
“Then I’m going to go out on a limb and say you will go over budget,” said Supervisor D.C. Olson.
As it now stands the YMCA from Duluth will manage the facility. Martinson said it is anticipated that family passes would cost $59 per month, “Unless you have health insurance, and then your health insurance might cover some it. If you’ve got Blue Cross-Blue Shield they will cover up to half of the cost of the membership” he added.
“That’s if you’ve got the right kind of Blue Cross Blue Shield, which many of us don’t have,” Supervisor Paul James said.
There has also been mention of vouchers for those families that can’t meet the monthly membership costs, Martinson said.
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