Grand Marais city councilors approved the purchase of a new server to run the computers in City Hall at their Nov. 13 meeting. The vote came a week after the old server crashed, bringing city business to a standstill.
“It’s a critical piece of equipment,” said City Administrator Mike Roth, explaining that without a working server, there are no meeting minutes or agendas, reports or bills. The old server was purchased in 2007, and was upgraded last year.
The city’s replacement schedule calls for the server to last “an optimistic” eight years. But, said Roth, “eight years is a long time to imagine a server lasting.”
In fact, the old server was out of service for nearly a week before council’s meeting, and was brought back on line just in time to prepare the materials needed for the Wednesday meeting. The new server will be purchased from Sundew Technical Services of Grand Marais at a cost of $5,103.56.
In the only other business to come before them, council approved the planning commission’s recommendation to grant a conditional use permit to David Rohl of Country Financial and Insurance allowing an internally illuminated sign on his First Avenue West building.
The sign has been on the building for years, but is not connected to a power source. Rohl said in his application that the light will be minimal, opaque and have a soft glow rather than being “overly bright.” The terms of the permit allow the sign to be illuminated from sundown to 9 p.m., but the sign cannot be lit on Sunday.
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