On Monday, June 18, crews from S.J. Bautch Construction prepared the old fire hall building at the Lutsen Fire Hall on the Caribou Trail for transport to a new site a few miles up the road. The land under the old building was needed for the Lutsen townhall/ firehall expansion and the Lutsen Trailbreakers needed storage space, so the building was donated to the club, which paid for transport to its new location. The snowmobile club will use the building for storage of trail maintenance equipment.
If the rain holds off, by the time you read this crews from Edwin E. Thoreson Inc. will have already begun getting the ground ready for the pouring of a cement slab for the new floor of the fire hall and community center (town hall) addition in Lutsen.
Lutsen Township supervisors signed the necessary contracts on June 19, 2012, signaling that work can begin on the $600,000 project. Max Wahlers is the builder in charge of lining up sub-contractors (dirt work, concrete, plumbing, electrical, painting, etc.) and Wahlers and his crew will build the 3,700-foot addition.
Fire Chief Paul Goettl discussed several issues with the supervisors that had to be settled before the project could go ahead.
As the building plans called for, the fire hall would have floor drains that drained to a 2,000-gallon tank that would be used to collect hazardous wastes (oil, gas etc.), refuse from the trucks. The tank would cost $4,500 to install and would have to be checked periodically. If it needed to be emptied it would have to be done by someone from outside of Cook County who holds a special license to pump flammable wastes, said Goettl, and that would be quite expensive.
Goettl said the new fire hall in Finland was built without floor drains and Supervisor Joe Buttweiler said the garage for Arrowhead Electric was also built without floor drains because of the issue now facing the township.
Goettl said the only problem his volunteer crew might have was washing fire trucks in the winter. “The trucks get dirty from the dirt roads and the salt and they need to be washed. The salt is the main thing that needs to be washed off. But I suppose we can do it like any homeowner does and wash them quickly outside when it warms up to 25 above.”
“My suggestion would be to eliminate all of the floor drains from all of the buildings,” said Buttweiler.
After some discussion the supervisors voted to take the floor drains out of the plans and Wahlers will be notified about the change.
“Just be sure they slope the floors towards the doors,” said Supervisor Marland Hansen.
Next, said Goettl, Thoreson’s proposed building a second septic system for the addition rather than expanding the current system or discontinuing use of that system and building a new one altogether.
“They said it would be more affordable to build a separate septic system than try to tie in the pipes we have now into a new system,” Goettl said.
The existing septic system is now out of compliance and will have to be upgraded, said Goettl, who added, “Because Thoreson’s will have their equipment here, we might as well have them do the work.”
The supervisors agreed and Thoreson’s will also be asked to do the work needed to bring the current septic system into compliance.
Lutsen Treasurer John Groth said he wanted to thank the firefighters for coming in and taking down trees and removing debris around the fire hall so that work can begin. “They dropped a lot of trees and saved the township a lot of money. I want to thank them for their work.”
In other business Goettl said Cathedral of Pines donated $2,000 to the Lutsen Fire and Rescue squads. The board directed the town clerk to write a letter of thanks to Cathedral of Pines camp and expressed their appreciation for the donation.
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