The Grand Marais City Council had a short agenda to cover in their meeting on Wednesday, April 27. One topic for discussion was the current board openings and application process. City Councilor Dave Mills said he was interested in getting more information about the applicants’ vision.
“I would like to see more questions. Specifically, I would like to see more about the individual’s vision and/or philosophy,” Mills stated.
Currently, the application primarily focuses on pinpointing each applicant’s qualifications. Council Member Tracy Benson and City Administrator Mike Roth also noted that many do not apply with a lot of prior knowledge about the boards and typically learn as they go. As a result, asking for specific plans or philosophies might not be ideal.
Roth also pointed out that the council would run the risk of appearing to exclude viewpoints if the application focused on vision in addition to qualifications.
“Even if you did not have a hot topic, I would be nervous about asking someone’s position on something, and then if you said no, they could assume you just did not like their position,” Benson added.
As the council continued discussion, Mills stated that he still wanted more questions about the applicant’s vision for the board they would serve on. “The more we’re talking about this, the more I’m hoping to get the ideas and the vision and even what you wish the board had done differently,” he explained. “And I think by putting that on an application, it will force a person to think about it.”
It was decided that City Administrator Roth would bring suggestions for an improved application to the next meeting.
Update on Public Works garage
The council also took some time to go over the current site plan and preliminary budget for the Public Works garage. The initial budget came to about $3.8 million, though the various costs may shift a little as quotes from building contractors based on the floor and site plans start coming in.
There was a brief discussion about the cost, with some council members suggesting that they might be able to make some cuts as the plans move forward. Roth recommended, however, that they not plan on trimming the budget quite yet.
“It’s going to be a difficult proposition to talk about lowering costs at this point,” Roth cautioned. “Because what we are really talking about when we talk about lowering cost is reducing the facility’s capabilities. And I think that the last and the clear direction we got from the council was that we want this building to be designed to meet all of the needs in the foreseeable future. We can certainly cut back and still have a great building, but there will be sacrifices on the amounts of spaces that are included and the types of facilities that are involved.”
The council also looked at the regional park designation application for Sawtooth Bluff. Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux stated that it was well written and seemed ready for submission. After a brief discussion, a motion was passed to approve the resolution supporting the regional park designation in greater Minnesota application for Sawtooth Bluff.
A few questions came up during the council and staff reports as well. Benson asked if the Grand Marais Fire Department was still planning to research and put together a policy for false fire alarms. Roth responded they are looking into it.
Benson also mentioned that she went to the Cook County Local Energy Project (CCLEP) presentation on the carbon fee and dividend, and was disappointed that there was not a larger community presence there.
“This is one of those deals where I would prefer I heard more from the community before I go after a resolution on this,” Benson stated. “I felt like I’d be more neutral about it until I heard people saying, hey, this is worth our time as a community.”
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