Based on advice offered by their attorney, Grand Marais city councilors voted May 11 to send a letter to the county stating that the city will not participate in the development of a new community center until legal issues with a Wisconsin aquatics firm are cleared up.
“I don’t see any way we can continue in the project until the Burbach issue is addressed. This letter gives them an opportunity to re-visit and address that,” Chris Hood told council. “I don’t see any other option that doesn’t invite legal liability.”
At issue is a legal agreement the city signed with Burbach Aquatics of Platteville, Wisconsin in 2005 for its assistance investigating and making recommendations about what could be done about the municipal pool’s aging infrastructure. Burbach now contends that that agreement requires the city to use its services “on any repair, renovation or replacement of the city pool,” and has threatened legal action against the city if it takes part in the current community center project — which includes a pool —in any way.
The May 11 discussion was prompted by a letter the city received from the Cook County commissioners asking for the city’s financial help with the project, which estimates place at approximately $11 million.
Councilors agreed that they didn’t wish to become adversarial with the county, but stressed their unwillingness to expose the city to legal damages of at least $325,000.
“We tried to resolve this well ahead of time, and this is the first response we’ve gotten from the county,” Councilor Tim Kennedy said in reference to two previous letters the city sent to the courthouse to make the county board aware of the legal morass. “There still needs to be some action on their part other than this letter.”
City Administrator Mike Roth said he believed sending the letter to the county is the right course of action. He said it “offers a path” to try to correct the situation, such as hiring Burbach for the pool portion of the project. “I don’t know of any other way to resolve this without taking on risk,” Roth said.
Hood said there were some options, but it was up to the county to take action. For instance, he suggested that it might be feasible for a service contract to be written with the city after the project is completed. “It is a county project at this point,” he said.
At the May 17 county board meeting, Commissioner and Community Center Steering Committee Chair Sue Hakes said she had discussed this issue with County Attorney Tim Scannell and Auditor- Treasurer Braidy Powers. She said she would tell them more about their discussion at a special meeting the board will be having at 1 p.m. Tuesday, May 24 at which they will discuss 1-percent-funded projects.
In other business:
Parks Manager Dave Tersteeg gave an update on the ongoing upgrades at the municipal campground, and council voted to award an $18,554 contract to Nordic Electric, as low bidder, to install 50 amp (up from the standard 30 amp) accommodations at 14 “pull-through, big rig friendly” sites. The work is being done in conjunction with sewer additions at 20 sites.
Tersteeg also asked for and received approval to hire Leonardus Steenbakken and Deb Smith as seasonal washroom custodians. There were about 20 applicants for the positions, said the manager, who described the jobs as “thankless, but the most influential in terms of customer satisfaction.”
Council received a petition from the Homestead Cooperative seeking improvement of 11th Avenue West between Second and Third streets in the form of blacktop, curb and gutter. No action was taken, however, as the city administrator was scheduled to meet with Homestead’s board of directors the following week to discuss various options and associated costs, if available. The next step in the process will be authorization by council of an engineer’s feasibility study, estimated at $1,000.
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