Tofte Town Clerk Barb Gervais welcomes newly elected Supervisor Jim King to the table.
Birch Grove Community Center was the site of the 2010 Town of Tofte annual meeting held Tuesday, March 9, 2010. Tofte Supervisor Paul James was selected to moderate the approximately 25 people who spent 2½ hours listening to department reports, discussing the town’s proposed 2011 budget line-by-line and sometimes arguing over a variety of new proposals.
In election results, Jim King received 21 votes to win a township supervisor position. He will replace Tom Muntean who chose not to run. Barbara Gervais received 23 votes and will once again serve as town clerk.
Emergency responders report
Fire Chief Richard Nelson reported that the Tofte fire department currently has 14 members and that nine of them are halfway through a 140-hour training course. Nelson said that between 15 and 20 manufacturers have contacted the fire department about supplying a new utility body for the Ford Rescue truck. “Thiswould make it a dual fire/rescue vehicle,” said Nelson. The estimated cost for this new equipment is $15,000.
“We are getting our ducks in a row, picking our way through the ISO list,” said Nelson. Once completed, this would allow the township to receive an ISO rating of eight, down from nine. “This will reduce your yearly insurance rates substantially,” said Nelson. James thanked both Nelson and the entire crew for their work on behalf of the township.
Louise Trachta, Rescue Chief, said that her crew has nine first responders and that they responded to 51 page calls last year.
“I’m really proud of each member. They volunteer their time and their professional expertise to serve this community. They work well together and are a joy to work with.”
Trachta ” Trachta said the response time between Grand Marais and Silver Bay ambulance squads was very good, and added, “We don’t have any set-in-stone boundaries. We will respond where ever we are needed.”
Supervisor James said that Scott Dane had been retained by the township to write grants. “So far he has brought in more than $400,000 in grants to us in the last two years.”
Dane has worked with the fire department and the town on a variety of projects and done a good job, said James. He will be paid $1000 per year plus a small percentage of every successful grant he writes. If he writes a grant and it isn’t awarded to the community, he won’t be paid for his time.
Arrowhead broadband plan supported
West End Cook County Commissioner Bruce Martinson and Arrowhead Electric manager Don Stead appeared before the township to ask for a letter of support for a new broadband initiative. The initiative would pair Arrowhead Electric and a new group, Pulse Broadband. (See related story on page A1).
Under this agreement, cost to install fiber optic cable to county residents and businesses would drop from 52 million dollars to 20 million dollars. Pulse would supply design and engineering work while Arrowhead Electric would own, install and maintain the fiber optic cable.
Services would be bundled— 250 TV channels, internet and phone with free unlimited long distance service, for $125 per month, said Stead.
After some discussion a decision was made to write a letter of support for Arrowhead Electric and Pulse Broadband. Martinson said time was of the essence because all of the paperwork had to be completed and submitted for review by March 29.
Fishing museum financial support debated
Bluefin Bay Resort owner Dennis Rysdahl asked that $8,000 be added to the township’s 2011 budget. The money would be used to help maintain the North Shore Commercial Fishing Museum.
“Thebuilding is 15 years old and starting to need repairs,” said Rysdahl, adding that he felt that this should be an ongoing line item in future township budgets.
This opened discussion about where the money would come from. Currently, the Lutsen-Tofte Tourism Association (LTTA) contributes more than $30,000 per year for operation of the museum. As of this week, the LTTA and other tourism organizations throughout the county are forming one large promotional organization to maximize advertising dollars and ideas to promote the whole county. Rysdahl said that he had been working for months to come to a compromise with the LTTA so that they would donate funds for the next three years to the museum.
Meanwhile, the town has begun keeping 4% of the amount collected from the lodging tax. Thisis about $8,000 per year. Last year $220,000 was collected for the LTTA.
James said the township is at a stalemate with the LTTA. “We want to keep four percent of the money that we will only use for tourism, but they want to keep all of it.”
Judy Motschenbacher, Jerry Gervais and DC Olsen, among others agreed that th township should keep collecting four percent of the proceeds and use them to help promote Tofte.
Currently, said James, “We are collecting the four percent but we aren’t spending it. We are in negotiations with the LTTA over what to do with it.”
But Rysdahl countered, “It took months to get this compromise. It was like pulling teeth. This discussion has a lot of implications that I don’t think will go well.” Rysdahl added that he has a foot in both doors. He understood why some in the LTTA didn’t want to continue funding the fishing museum while he, as owner of Bluefin and a variety of other businesses located near the fishing museum, saw his customers benefit from its operation.
“Why does it have to be all or nothing?” asked D.C. Olsen. Newly elected supervisor Jim King asked that $8,000 be added to the budget without it being tied to the four percent collection. James suggested that the issue was too big to make a decision on until more information was gathered and it was decided that a group headed up by D.C. Olsen would meet and talk with the LTTA and try to work out a compromise. Rysdahl asked to be excused from the process because he felt he had done all that he could to date. A vote was taken to add the $8,000 to the budget without it coming from the four percent collection.
A committee will be formed to help clear a new area for the July 4th fireworks. A budget of $5,000 was set for this year’s fireworks display. When asked what that will get the town, James said, “Either 20 minutes of Disney display or 30 minutes of boom, wow, boom, and wow!”
Both Lutsen and Schroeder were asked to contribute more to the Fourth of July fireworks display.
Clerk Barb Gervais read a letter from Jessa Wallendahl, Birch Grove Foundation Director. In part, the letter stated, “Thanks to our unique and generous community, we have been able to offer new educational programs for children and adults, continue our popular senior lunch program, undertake a joint art project with the North Shore Commercial Fishing Museum, and install our new, more efficient boiler. We are hard at work on improvements to our existing facilities as well as plans for new recreational areas in the upcoming year.”
Thefinal budget of $173,071 was set for 2011, down $5,475 from the 2010 budget.
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