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The May 11 Grand Marais City Council opened with Richard Olson coming before the council in the Open Forum portion of the meeting.
Olson questioned why the Gitchi Gami trail through town was used by motorized vehicles, namely snowmobiles, this past winter.
“The Gitchi Gami trail through town was designated as non-motorized, and it’s currently being used for motorized use by snowmobiles on the north side of Highway 61. I don’t know how that fell through the cracks. It was forbidden use,” Olsen said. He added that pedestrians needed the north side of the trail open for walking from Johnson’s grocery store east through town.
Grand Marais Mayor Jay Decoux said this subject had come up and would be revisited in the fall by the council.
Bad Seed Food Truck
Christina Conroy came before the council to request allowing her to set up her Bad Seed Food Truck either on Artist Point’s parking lot or across the street from the trading post on city land.
She explained she needs to use city land because she cannot afford to buy or rent a lot this year. Also, the operation of her food truck “is not only necessary to support my own family, but employs year-round residents as well as provides a service to the community and tourists.”
Conroy said she had a generator, so she didn’t need an electric hook-up, and she takes care of garbage and recycling.
Conroy has two fulltime employees. She plans to be open Thursday through Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. She noted there is plenty of business for everyone, and she wouldn’t be parked by another restaurant.
Mayor Jay Decoux asked City Administrator Mike Roth if the city had precedence for this.
Roth explained that councils had denied this type of request, noting restaurants pay property taxes and other food truck vendors operate on private land and get a permit from the city.
Conroy said she already pays various fees to operate her truck, adding she would be happy to pay a vendor’s license.
City Attorney Chris Hood was asked for advice. He said the topic can be “pretty controversial related to where the food truck is in relationship to other restaurants.” Hood also mentioned that the city would have to make sure the vendor was insured, indemnified the city for liability, and have an annual aggregate coverage for liability and tort liability. He suggested if the city wanted to pursue this, the best way would be to adopt an ordinance. He said the town of Winona did this when food trucks became more common in their town.
Hood recommended that if the council allowed one license agreement, the board should be ready to allow for more license agreements on city-owned property.
Councilor Tracy Benson said before the council could act, there would need to be some thought behind any agreement. “I don’t see it (Conroy’s request) as a quick response.”
Mayor Decoux asked for Conroy’s request to be put on the next agenda so councilors could “think about it and review it.”
Council approves Kiosks
Jan Sivertson and Richard Olson came before the council as representatives for the Creative Economy Collaborative (CEC), which was instrumental in planning the kiosks.
Olson said the CEC “Got four good solid bids,” with two local bids, which were lower than the other bids.
Of the two considered, Olsen said Paul Nordlund’s bid was “compete and true to specifications.”
Councilor Benson asked what the purpose of the kiosks would be?
“Kiosks are a delivery system for content,” Olson said.
Following the discussion from Olson and Sivertson, the council approved a bid from Paul Nordlund to build three interpretive kiosks in Grand Marais for $27,154, or $9,051 each.
Nordlulnd’s bid was substantially below the estimated $54,000 to build the kiosks, and that figure did not include the art design or sign panels, which added $13,000 to the number, bringing the finished work to $67,000. The city council approved the budget for the project in January.
Despite the lower building costs, the CEC asked the council to allocate the budgeted $67,000, with the extra savings used to fund the graphic design and content writing costs.
Sivertson said the content and artwork hadn’t been completed for the kiosks, and she and Olson asked that the kiosks not be put up until that work is finished.
When all of the work is done, one kiosk will be located at the Community Connecting Corner leading into the Rec Park; the second will be at Wisconsin Street and Highway 61 (the harbor). A third kiosk will be located near the Grand Marais Library. Cement pads for the kiosks are already in place.
Information contained in the kiosks will be way-finding maps and information about events, and a way to link to Visit Cook County.
According to an earlier CEC document submitted to the council, content possibilities include “a wide, BIPOC, multi-gender embrace of human history, culled from pre-settlement Anishinaabe to present-day events, issues, beliefs, practices, and personalities and a similarly wide historical and bicultural embrace of the natural histories of flora, fauna, water, geology, ecology, meteorology (modern dark sky status) and climate assets of the area.”
The fashionable structures will be made of steel and wood to be durable and long-lasting. There will be no electoral hookups or lighting in the kiosks. Instead, plans are to keep them evergreen, simple and needing minimal maintenance.
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