Yvonne Mills came before the Grand Marais City Council on Wednesday, April 11 to voice her support for a Dark Sky initiative for the town. Previously Mills addressed the Grand Marais Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in regards to the city installing new LED street lights on Highway 61. Mills said the new LED lighting was brighter and whiter than the other streetlights, and it disturbed her to look at them.
Council member Tim Kennedy, who is the city’s representative on the PUC, sad that while the PUC LED lights save energy, an unintended consequence was that “the lights we got cast a bright white light.”
Mills brought signatures from 75 people who would like to see the city install streetlights that are not as bright as the newly installed lights.
A long discussion was held concerning how hot bulbs burn—temperature versus hue and how many Calvins constitute what is and isn’t bright—and what the city should or should not do about lighting in town.
Mayor Jay Arroswsmith-DeCoux said he has heard from people who would like to see the city pursue dark skies initiatives, but he thought that might entail the city passing an ordinance requiring all business to meet the Dark Sky guidelines, and he wasn’t sure that would be in the best interest of the town at this time. He suggested getting more information about street lights to see what the city is required to have for lighting, and forming a group to study Dark Sky guidelines. Councilor Tracy Benson said, “There is no lack of information out there to help us make a wise choice.”
Painting and other cosmetic work of the public restrooms at City Hall will begin soon through the volunteer efforts of Sarah Hamilton and friends. The council agreed to donate up to $7,000 for Hamilton and her group to purchase and install new changing stations, new bathroom fixtures, a new outside bench, new signage, paint a mural, and clean and repaint the rest rooms inside and out. The volunteers who will paint, sand, and clean for free, will also explore, with the help of city workers, whether a second bathroom stall can be installed in the restrooms.
After receiving unanimous support from the park board, the city council voted to accept up to $30,000 of reimbursement towards purchasing trees for the town. The money comes from the Great Lakes Restorative Initiative- Strategic Community Forestry Grant fund.
Under terms of the grant, the city is responsible for the volunteer coordination, purchasing and reimbursement and grant reporting paperwork. Purchased trees would have to be native to the state, and be bare root or in containers and a minimum of 200 trees need to be planted. The project must be completed by August 2018. . Council approved an electrical bid for $79,000 from Nordic Electric to install electrical upgrades to 44 sites at the Grand Marais Recreation Park. The Grand Marais Recreation Park board recommended by a 4-1 vote that the council accept the low bid of $74,950 from Hunt Electric. The lone holdout on the park board was Dave Mills, who is also a city councilor. Mills said he felt that the bid should go to Nordic Electric because they were qualified and they were local while Hunt, who was also qualified, is a regional company.
When Parks Manager Dave Tersteeg was asked, he said that he did worry that Nordic Electric, which has come promptly every time they are called, might not be so certain to show up if they didn’t get this bid.
Council members got into a lively discussion about the value of hiring local business, and in the end voted 5-0 to accept the bid of Nordic Electric. . Grand Marais Mayor Jay Arrowsmith-DeCoux presented the Community Visioning draft document to council. The original draft was prepared by the Community Design Group and reviewed by the steering committee. “In order for the project to move forward, vision and values language need to be adopted and will become the foundation for upcoming phases and projects,” said the mayor.
“Accepting these draft statements does not mean an end to working on them or improving them, but rather a willingness to use them to select comprehensive plan subjects and develop language for the plan.”
But it was clear from questions posed by council members that the document wasn’t complete, and it will be sent back to committee to be reworked. . A $2,500 grant from the Minnesota Department of Health that will be used to update the city’s fluoride equipment at the water treatment plant was accepted. The city will contribute $2,719.49 to help with the purchase of the needed fluoride equipment. Those dollars will come from the Water Fund. . Council voted to allow Grand Marais volunteer fire fighters to join the Volunteer Firefighters’ Benefit Association (VFBA) at a cost of $7 per fire fighter per year to the city.
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