Councilor Anton Moody was worried about the costs he saw to build a new city hall/liquor store. He suggested cutting 2,400 square feet from the 16,000 square foot plan to save $840,000 from the estimated $5.5 million costs.
Council has spent the last year discussing building the replacement facilities. At the May 27 meeting, Moody and the rest of the council looked at costs and a schedule prepared by LHB Inc., who developed documents related to building a more modern, more efficient liquor store and city hall. Everyone agreed the city should look at paring down the plan but leave room, as councilor Kelly Swearengen suggested, for expansion down the road.
City administrator Mike Roth said he would take the council’s suggestions back to LHB so they could come up with a plan for a smaller footprint.
Councilor Swearengen asked if the city council could fill the potholes on the city/county-owned road that fronts the Little League field. Until the city and county can decide to fix the road together or have one of the entities take care of the side street, the potholes are ever-growing, bountiful, big, and need to be filled.
Administrator Roth said he would have the city crew fill the holes with gravel until a more permanent plan can be made.
• Council approved the hiring of Lisa Furlong as a part-time seasonal clubhouse attendant at the Gunflint Hills golf course, and Paul Pederson as a part-time, seasonal groundskeeper.
• Councilors got some good news on Wednesday, May 27 when they learned there would be a savings of $196,759.10 on the city sewer upgrades being done in conjunction with the Highway 61 work through town.
Minnesota Department of Transportation Engineer Andrew Deming notified the council that a change order would provide for lining the sewer pipes, lining six sanitary manholes, lining service connections, and spot repairs to the sanitary sewer as needed which would result in significant savings for the city.
KJM Contractors, Inc., who are doing the street work, proposed the value engineering for the sanitary sewer redesign that resulted in the city’s net savings.
• The council went into a closed hearing with City Attorney Chris Hood advising them on the pending litigation in the matter of Mike’s Holiday, Inc., versus the State of Minnesota and the City of Grand Marais, etc. The meeting was closed pursuant to the Minnesota Statutes, Section 13D.05, Subdivision 3(b).
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