With two people gone, councilor Tim Kennedy and mayor Jay Arrowsmith Decoux, and a light agenda, the Grand Marais City Council held a short meeting on Wednesday, March 27.
First up, with councilor Anton Moody taking over leading the council for Arrowsmith Decoux, two members of the Grand Marais Art Colony came before the board to discuss the 29th annual Grand Marais Arts Festival.
Lin Salisbury, events coordinator for the annual Arts Festival, submitted a request to have the streets blocked off beginning at 8 a.m. (or earlier) for the July 13-14 festival.
Salisbury said the second annual Artful Evening on the Harbor, a fundraiser for the Art Colony held in conjunction with the festival, would be held from 5-7 p.m. at Harbor Park on Saturday, July 13. A tent will be brought in for the event, and the area will be fenced because alcohol will be served, said Salisbury.
Council granted the permit to close the streets but told Salisbury she would have to come back and get a permit to serve alcohol when she had the proper documents to present to the board, which she agreed to do.
Next, after a short presentation by city administrator Mike Roth about the long term way the city budgets for replacing items like a city maintenance truck, council voted to replace the city’s 2008 one-ton maintenance pickup with a new one.
The current pickup has 70,000 miles on it and has been used to plow snow in the winter and is used as the main maintenance vehicle by the crews in the summer, Roth said.
After reviewing three quotes, council selected the $30,880 bid from Midway Ford. Two other bids were $11,000 higher, but Roth noted that the lower bid from Midway Ford came through a state bid program.
“We will add a plow package and buy a sander unit that slides in the back,” of the new one-ton 4×4 pickup truck, said Roth.
As far as the old truck, Mike said it would be sold, offered first locally.
In council reports, Kelly Swearingen said the YMCA would host their annual volleyball tournament May 4-5, and for the months of April and May the YMCA would be hosting Try Day Fridays, where people could come and try the facility for free. If they decided to sign up that day, they would have the sign up fee waived, she said.
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