Grand Marais city councilors approved a contract between the city and Emmons and Olivier Resources, Inc., an Oakdale, Minnesota consulting firm which will provide the city with engineering and technical services so the city can update its stormwater plan.
Emmons is a water resource-based engineering and environmental consulting firm that specializes in water resource engineering, watershed planning, and modeling. EOR also advertises sustainable site design, planning, and landscape architecture.
Council agreed to contribute $2,880 to Cook County, which is 50 percent of the cost to purchase an aerial image of the city’s public utilities district. Cook County is the fiscal agent with Eagle- View Pictometry and holds the subscription, license for the data, and will serve as a vendor for the products.
According to the information provided in the council packet, “Aerial imagery technologies are increasingly becoming integral to the management of public and private stakeholders such as the U.S. Forest Service, counties, tribes, private lands, municipalities, and utility provider.”
The county is proposing to enter into collaboration with the City of Grand Marais to invest in the first-ever countywide, high resolution, leaf-off the vegetation aerial image.
“Every year thousands of dollars are spent sending technicians to evaluate large work areas, some of which may or may not have management needs at all. Prioritizing areas using advanced remote sensing methods saves time and resources by better directing those on the ground to areas where onsite assessment is needed compared to those sufficiently assessed remotely.”
The pictures would exclude the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
Photographs would be of such quality that the Forest Service could assess forest inventory resources remotely, identifying tree species and evaluating potential timber viability for planning.
Public safety and emergency services can map driveways, structures, and egresses. Planning and Zoning can use the images to make sure permits for new buildings have been received and followed. Highway engineers can use the pictures to examine road grades, roadbed conditions, and utility right of ways.
In other business
. Council also approved the request to hire Erika Ternes to work at the Grand Marais Library. Erika will work as a Library Specialist with kids.
. Roth reminded council that the library had asked to purchase a new copier for $5,000, and the board needed to vote to approve or disapprove of the purchase. Council voted unanimously to have the library buy the new copier.
. Council approved the fireworks display and a permit for the Ole Night parade.
. Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux, who serves as the city’s representative on the Grand Marais library board, said the library board recently updated its mission statement and added a four-word tagline: Explore, Learn, Create & Connect.
The new tagline said Arrowsmith DeCoux, “is pretty cool. We’ve got a pretty cool library.”
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