Grand Marais Mayor Jay Arrowsmith Decoux is facing some competition this upcoming election from City Councilor Kelly Swearingen. Both were kind enough to answer some questions posed by the newspaper. Below are their responses to those questions.
Q- As an introduction, please tell us a little bit about yourself: where you grew up, your education, hobbies, interests, what you do for work, and of course, tell us about your your family.
Jay- I have called the North Shore home for right around a decade and have lived in a number of unique situations, from a cabin on a lake to a yurt and now a home in Grand Marais. I attended public school in southern Minnesota before graduating from Saint Olaf College with a double major in Psychology and Philosophy. Since living in Grand Marais I have worked a number of jobs, but now run two businesses in town, the Fireweed Bike Cooperative and Art House Bed and Breakfast with my wife, Rose, and our son, Ennis. We strive to live the best life we can in Grand Marais and help out by volunteering and stretching out a helping hand wherever possible.
Kelly- I am a graduate of Cook County High School and continue to hold the girls’ shot put record for over 30 years! I have a Bachelor’s degree from St Cloud State University in Education and accidentally landed back in Grand Marais where I raised my son, who now is about to be a homeowner in Cook County as well. I proudly am an Accountant at North Shore Health and have been on City Council since February 2018.
My husband and I have continued to work on our home which was originally built around 1930 and in our free time, we like to fish the big lake, spend time at a family cabin, spend time hosting friends or family at our home for a meal, cards, a fire, what-have-you. I love Labrador Retrievers, owning two of my own and a grand-dog who is also a lab. I have served on the Park Board, Cook County Softball Association Board, Cook County Curling Club Board, Board Member at Bethlehem Lutheran Church and served on their Finance committee.
Q- Why are you running for Mayor of Grand Marais?
Jay- It has been my privilege to dedicate the last six years to trying to understand and represent the city. I believe that the city finds itself in a unique space with many projects and policies in flux, in the process of revision and new direction. It would be my privilege to work with the community and Council to see these projects to their finish and set Grand Marais up for the next several years of operation with a clear direction.
Kelly- I am interested in seeing good outcomes for the people of this community. I want to continue to develop good relationships between the council and staff, staff and public, as well as council and other boards/entities. I feel I am a good listener and can use my background in education, finance and leadership to develop these relationships and build on our fiscal enterprises.
Q- What do you see as the biggest need for Grand Marais? And what do you propose to solve that need?
Jay- Right now the community’s needs for continued direction and appropriate behavior to slow the spread of COVID-19 rise to the top. Next on the list would be infrastructure, an often-overlooked need. Many of the other areas of concern are linked to infrastructure, i.e. housing needs to be built on city utilities to be affordable, limiting the lots available for homes, and the flooding in the downtown area due to larger rain events and higher lake levels are another example.
Kelly– At this point in time two needs come to mind, increasing housing options for our community and trying to mitigate as much as possible the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are currently working on an updated zoning ordinance which I hope will make it easier to add housing options to our City, therefore allowing more people to find answers to lack of housing and something which they can afford. As far as the pandemic, that is a bit more difficult. But I feel we can be a hub for sharing information, getting info out to the public, ensure the safety of our community and try to assist our citizens so they are able to get the services they need.
Q- Do you feel the city works well with the county on joint issues? Can the relationship be improved?
Jay- I have a meeting already planned with the new County Administrator James Joerke and look forward to breaching this very subject! The relationship between the City and County has always reflected the people making the connections and I believe, with the willing people working together, some elements of that relationship can be clarified and thus strengthened. Both the City and County have specific abilities and working together cooperatively is, by far, the most effective strategy.
Kelly- I think we have had lapses in communications for several different reasons. I think both entities try, but we both usually have many issues needing our attention and families, so schedules can be an issue. We had returned to having joint powers meetings before COVID-19 and hopefully we can return to those. We also now have a new County Administrator in place and several of us are already meeting with Mr. Joerke and I look forward to continuing to develop our working relationships.
Q- The city lacks parking in the busy summer, and doesn’t have enough public restrooms. These are long-term issues with no easy solutions. Do you have any ideas on how to mitigate these 3-4 month conundrums?
Jay- The city has done a parking study that shows that parking supply throughout the city is adequate, but that people prefer to park in locations close to their shopping destination, which puts some spots at a premium. This is still a source of frustration for downtown shoppers and businesses. Short of limiting time parked downtown and ticketing vehicles, there will be better signage along Hwy 61 (after the construction project) that will direct people to larger parking areas, which will hopefully lessen some of the congestion downtown. When things move more smoothly, they move more quickly. As for bathrooms, there have been conversations toying with putting public restrooms as part of a structure built on the site of the 2020 fire and potentially any development on the Coast Guard area would include restrooms.
Kelly- We have talked about this and possibly trying to have an area where downtown employees can park in designated areas to try to open up some other spots. We have two municipal lots and the Coast Guard Point area, but I realize these all are pretty full many hours of the day. We have done the homework to make sure that handicapped parking is available to meet the needs of this population and we continue to look for opportunities. I think this summer showcased that you don’t need a town festival in order to attract visitors, they were here in large numbers yet again. I am hoping having better walking opportunities may encourage people to leave the car at the motel, camper, etc.
As for restrooms, we were hoping to build a larger restroom with the City Hall/Liquor Store project, but we have taken a break from moving forward with that right now in the pandemic. Port a Potties are a short term, not very attractive, option for our downtown streets. We managed to have more this year, but even then, parking was blocking some of them, dumpsters would be right next to them. We need to continue to search out options, but in this COVID- 19 era and even after, the market for construction and construction supplies will continued to be overwhelmed and expensive. This falls back to our taxpayers and it becomes a discussion of how do we spend funds. Businesses are a critical part of our city as well as the citizens who live in it.
Q- The city is proposing to upgrade some zoning laws. Do you support allowing for smaller lots than what is currently allowed so more houses could be built in the city? Please explain your answer.
Jay- I do support smaller lots. I believe it is a concrete way to lower the cost of housing in Grand Marais. The size of those lots is something that we need to take a look at however. How small is too small? A great deal of feedback from the community on the proposed changes suggested that the proposed 4000 sq. ft. lots would be too small for effective utilization, so perhaps a 5500 sq. ft. or 6000 sq. ft. lot size would be more appropriate. I would encourage anyone interested in this to take a look at the maps for the City Housing Plan at www.ci.grand-marais.mn.us/housingplan
Kelly- Because I am a very visual person, our Communications Director did a Power Point presentation of some lots that we currently have within city limits and how they looked. I was pleasantly surprised. Now some of these may not be forever homes, but maybe a widow does not want a large yard to maintain and shovel, so something smaller fits for her. Or a single person or couple just starting out need a place, want to build equity before they would look to move up to a family home with a yard for the 2.5 kids and a dog. That is why we need housing options. I want to be careful about using the word “affordable” because that means something different to all kinds of income levels. If there are options to rent, own something small, downsize, upsize, it may be a better solution for citizens or those looking to move here. So I am in support of having options for people and let them figure out what is best for them.
Q- What do you love about Grand Marais?
Jay- I love Grand Marais because it rewards you for hard work. It isn’t easy to live here, but it sure is worth the work.
Kelly- Besides the view of the water? The Lake is in my blood; I always want to be near water. We have Lake Superior, Sawtooth Mountains, 3.5-ish distinct seasons for all sorts of activities to do, many inland lakes close by for recreation. Overall it is safe. At the end of the day I hope we want to be good neighbors to one another. If not, this may not be the right place to be autonomous or self-serving, because usually you know who your neighbors are. And finally, when the @#$% hits the fan, we are there to support each other and pick each other up. Not only when a fire strikes or snow drifts lock us in, but when we need a volunteer, when we lose a beloved community member, when a cancer patient needs a rally of friends or strangers to pick them up or a simple prayer is said before going to sleep. We need to have each other’s back. Around here, I think we mostly do.
Leave a Reply