Grand Marais City Council discusses downtown alley maintenance

Property Maintenance Supervisor Lenny Bloomquist was at the Grand Marais City Council meeting on Wednesday, February 23, to discuss the city’s downtown alley maintenance. In addition, Bloomquist provided the council with the snow removal operations the city is undertaking.

The alley most discussed was the one behind Joynes and the Gunflint Tavern. “There are some issues with removing the snow there,” said Mayor Jay Decoux, noting the conversation had “Kind of snowballed into a bit of a larger conversation.”

When snow has been removed from that alley, it has been placed on 1st Avenue for the city to remove. However, Lenny said it wasn’t the city’s responsibility to remove the snow; it was the business’s duty to haul the snow off the street. When the snow wasn’t removed recently, the city called law enforcement to deal with the problem. Councilor Tracy Benson thought that wasn’t the most prudent thing to do, but Administrator Mike Roth said it was a state statute and the city was encumbered to contact the police.

Bloomquist summed up the problem succinctly, “There’s lots of snow and nowhere to put it.”

Councilor Craig Schulte asked Bloomquist what the city did year-round to maintain its alleys and Bloomquist said his crew put a little gravel on the alleys in the summer and did nothing to them in the winter.

Several Councilors asked if the city could push the snow piled up on 1st Ave to the large pile at the end of the street by the Trading Post.

A tired Bloomquist explained, “They push it out, and it sits there four, five hours, and my plow rides up over it. It takes a lot of passes by the big grader to move snow. If you do one, you will have to do all of them and it takes a lot of time.

He added, “Soon as you do it for one, we have to do it for everyone. We can barely deal with what we have right now.”

Currently, the city is storing snow on the Coast Guard parking lot and in the senior center parking lot, as well as the large pile by the Trading Post, but as Lenny noted, “We are running out of places to put the snow.”

Councilor Tracy Benson asked about hiring a temporary contractor to help out. However, administrator Roth said he was worried about the city’s collective bargaining agreement with the workers and said it was not a simple idea.

Bloomquist was asked if the city could take on more plowing and hauling snow, and he replied, “The street department has worked every weekend since June. It’s eating on everybody. Everyone is tired of it.”

And, said Bloomquist, “We have been so busy. I don’t need any extra snow.”

Mayor Decoux asked if the city had any other workers it could use to help clear and move snow. “Pretty much all of the utility department is already moving snow,” said Lenny.

“I don’t think the city is going to get into hauling snow (for businesses), said Schulte. “They have enough snow to move. I think the city has done a good job of working with people right now.”

Snow is piling to the point of ten-fifteen feet on people’s property, said Schulte. “Eventually, they will have to haul it off their property. Then, businesses will have to pay to have it hauled away.”

Bloomquist was asked if the city needed more snow removal equipment or more operators. “We don’t need another operator. Not new equipment, When the city isn’t plowing, the crew is moving snow. It just needs to stop snowing.”

Councilor Anton Moody said snow removal in the alleys should be left to businesses to handle. However, he added that the city couldn’t make notable exceptions for some businesses and not others. He also asked Lenny to tell his crew that they had been doing a good job clearing the sidewalks and streets.

To sum up the city’s commitment to downtown alleys, Decoux said, “The service level the town provides for alleys is we are putting some gravel on them in the summer and leaving the snow plowing and hauling to the businesses?”

Lenny nodded yes.

“It’s been an overwhelming winter for everybody,” said Benson. “We need to communicate that in a kind way. With an explanation.”

As for Bloomquist, who was on Zoom, he said it was past his bedtime and added, “I hope this ends soon.”