City Administrator Mike Roth came to the council meeting on Wednesday, May 25 with a complete list of the people who had been recommended for the city’s comprehensive plan steering committee. The names came from both council members and from people who had been asked for suggestions by the council. After compiling the list of suggestions, Roth said he had a total of 80 names for them to work with.
It was decided that the council would aim to have between 9 and 11 members on the steering committee. However, the actual number would depend on how many people were willing to serve.
Once again there was discussion regarding whether or not the members should be restricted to people who lived within the city limits. During the previous meeting, council member Tim Kennedy had said he thought it was important to have members who lived within the city limits serve on the committee since they would have a vested interest in the project.
Roth, however, reiterated that he thought it was more important to have committee members who could connect the council to the opinions of the people in the city, but not necessarily who lived within the city limits themselves.
“You are not trying to get people to represent the city,” Roth said. “You are trying to get people that represent the project. It is up to you to decide whatever criteria you think best meets that.” He later added, “We can look at the group we come up with and decide demographically if we covered it. I think demographics is the most important thing to be real careful about.”
The question was still up in the air as the council moved on to narrow down the candidates and determine who to contact first. Each council member took several minutes to select his or her top candidates. Then, based on those recommendations, Roth said he and Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux would start contacting people.
Council reviews quote for public utilities garage
The council received a quote from Morton Buildings for the public utilities garage, proposing a rough budget of $1.5- $1.7 million. The total was a little less than the cost originally put forward by the project’s architect, LHB, which was $1.85 million.
“If you want, what I will do is get back with LHB and start getting some firmer cost estimates from them about doing the design work for those streets, water and sewer and about doing the architectural work for the structure.” Roth then added, “It is time for us to move forward on the path I think of either getting our architects working on a detailed design or going on to some other kind of design and build process.”
DeCoux said he was comfortable moving forward with LHB. The next step will be for Roth to bring in some firmer quotes for the council to sign off on.
In other business
. The council looked at a permit application for the 26th Annual Arts Festival. The request included permission to block off a couple of streets from noon on Friday, July 8 until 5 p.m. on Sunday, July 10. The permit was approved.
. Council member Anton Moody attended a meeting between One Roof Community Housing and the Cook County/Grand Marais Economic Development Authority (EDA) about the EDA’s affordable housing project. Moody said he hoped they would soon be able to come before the city council to present their plan.
“We need to have ample time to understand what this is all about,” said Kennedy. “I would like to have had the committee present some kind of a concept to the council to talk about what this vision is and the timeline for it, but because they don’t have all the details together, it keeps getting pushed back.”
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