It’s time to update Cook County’s water plan, and toward that end Ilena Berg of the county’s Soil & Water Office visited Grand Marais city councilors Dec. 28 to solicit input.
The current plan was adopted in 2006 and expires this year. Berg said the water plan is mandated by the state, and she expects to spend a lot of time this year working on the revision, which will likely focus on watershed management. “I want to be sure the city is on board with the plan,” Berg told councilors. “So I’m here to ask for your input or concerns. It’s important that we encourage towns along the lake to participate in this process and identify their priorities.”
Councilor Tim Kennedy began the discussion by asking about the proliferation of test wells around town, four of which were added in the last month on property behind the News-Herald building and adjacent to Birchbark Books & Gifts. There are already about 100 such test wells downtown, he said, and it seems to make no sense to drill a new one 10 feet from an existing well.
Kennedy said he spoke with the men doing the drilling, but they didn’t know anything about the state-administered monitoring program, placement of the wells, or when (or if) it would ever end.
“How long do we monitor these wells? Do they ever abandon any of them? Is there ever closure to it?” Kennedy asked, adding that he’s never seen any corrective action taken as a result of the findings of the monitors. “What is their objective?” he asked.
Berg said she didn’t have the answers either, but that would be a good issue to include in the water plan.
Kennedy also said he was concerned about the stormwater runoff from the highway that ultimately flows through the city’s Rec Park before going into Lake Superior. “The burden for mitigation seems to fall on the city. Why is the city— the last landowner before the water gets to the lake—responsible for that burden?” Kennedy asked.
Councilor and park board member Bill Lenz echoed those sentiments, and pointed out that there are many sites in Grand Marais where stormwater goes directly into the lake. “When will we have to mitigate that?” he asked.
Kennedy added that the Village Ditch (Nature Boy Creek) should be looked at as well. “There’s no retention at all,” he said.
Mayor Larry “Bear” Carlson observed that, in the event of state-mandated cleanups or mitigation, the state should pay for the projects. “We can’t afford to solve everybody’s runoff problems—that’s not our job,” the mayor said.
Berg said the comments and suggestions were good ones and asked that they be summarized in a letter and submitted to her office before the end of January. Once completed, Berg said the plan and its goals will be used to help solve the most important issues and to help her as she seeks and applies for grants and/or other funding that may be available for specific projects.
Berg encouraged city residents to contact her office with other comments or concerns by the end of the month, and said that already she has received 67 replies.
In other business:
. Council approved a 1.5 percent salary increase for the city’s eight non-union supervisory positions. The increase is consistent with that granted to union employees in their newly ratified twoyear contract.
. Council approved and certified the 2012 budget and levy in the amount of $815,057, which is a 1.32 percent decrease from the previous levy.
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