The Grand Marais Park Board continues to look for ways to complete a better “community connection” entry to the recreation park/campground without spending over $100,000.
Grand Marais Park Manager Dave Tersteeg is ready to finalize plans for a “Community Connection” pathway leading from Highway 61 into the east end of the park and down to the waterfront. The pathway is intended to connect campers with downtown Grand Marais and welcome residents into the park as well as keep sediment from running into the marina. The marina currently requires occasional dredging to remove sediment that runs into the lake on that side of the park.
The park board has decided that the budget must be scaled down several hundred thousand dollars to a final cost of under $100,000. At its February 7 meeting, Tersteeg said he believes that the cost can be contained by using volunteer and staff labor as much as possible and searching for the best prices on materials. “I came from a gardening/landscaping background,” he said, “and I’ve always thought this was a very manageable in-house project.”
The board talked about the possibility of obtaining grants to help fund the project. If they do it without any grants, Tersteeg said, they would not be required to fulfill any other entity’s agenda for the project. On the other hand, he said the DNR has funding for pathways that connect to “trails of significance” such as the Gitchi Gami Bike Trail that runs along the north end of the park along Highway 61. Board member Tracy Benson recommended that they use the firm that created the design models, SEH, to help them explore grant possibilities since this was part of their agreement with the park board.
Meeting a “really stringent” model calling for capturing 80 percent of the sediment, Tersteeg said, would be “a million dollar project.” He said he would like to create a sediment-capturing area that the staff could maintain themselves. He told the board they would be able to see a difference in the amount of sediment that ends up in the marina.
“We’ve got to get settled into a modest, doable plan,” Tersteeg said, that could be completed by staff and local contractors. Both Harbor Park and the handicapaccessible trail at Sweetheart’s Bluff were done that way, he said, and North House has been remodeling its landscape this way.
Board members expressed a desire to use local materials and resources as much as possible.
Numbers good at pool
The month of January saw 1,629 visitors at the pool, up from 1,355 last year. Head Lifeguard Charles Christiansen said the pool has quite a few new members, some who go twice a day.
The pool brought in $20,000 more in 2011 than it did the year before, although it had been closed November and December 2010 after a storm wreaked major damage to the facility. If the pool had remained open the last two months of 2010, however, Christiansen said, he thought 2011 would still have brought in about $10,000 more. “It was just overall a really steady, decent year for the pool,” he said. “It shows that the community needs the pool.”
Because the pool is now closed on Sundays, the spring cleaning that usually requires closing for a week will only require closing for three or four days because the staff can do some of the work on Sundays. The pool will be closed the last week in March to complete jobs that could not be done beforehand.
Insurance discount for fitness class
The board is considering joining a Blue Cross/Blue Shield program that would give insurance customers who exercise regularly at a participating facility a $20 discount off their monthly premium. It would be available to people attending the water fitness class and would cover the monthly cost of the class for pool members. It would cover 2/3 of the cost for non-members, who pay $30 a month for the class.
The pool would have to pay a $450 set-up fee to become part of this program as well as very small ongoing fees. The board and staff discussed the possibility that this would bring new fitness class attendees and keep current class members attending. Pool staff will be polling class members to find out how many of them might use such a program. The board is willing to look at using the program with other insurance companies as well.
New position
Upon the resignation of previous Assistant Park Manager Amber (Wright) Humphrey, who went to work for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in December, two park positions are being revamped. Manager Tersteeg said expecting an assistant manager to do everything the park manager could do was expecting a lot, as was paying the person running the office (Samantha Williams) a secretary’s salary.
Tersteeg said a really “maintenanceoriented” facilities manager is needed. Humphrey was always busy fixing things and didn’t get time to do a lot of other things, he said, and Williams was handling situations for the park manager and assistant manager when they were not around.
With this in mind, he and City Administrator Mike Roth rewrote both job descriptions and changed the pay scale, bringing the three positions immediately under the park manager—head lifeguard, office manager, and grounds and facilities manager—more in line with each other. All three are union positions.
Applications for the grounds and facilities manager position will be accepted until February 24. Tersteeg said he was hoping to find candidates with small engine, carpentry, or similar trade experience. When Wright was hired, they had 30 applicants, and Tersteeg was optimistic that they would be able to find a qualified person.
Sally Berg joins board
Sally Berg, a new community member, joined the board at this meeting. She moved to Grand Marais after retiring from 16 years as a school principal. She is a master gardener, and she and her husband used to stay at the campground before moving here. “It was probably what convinced us that we wanted to live here,” she said.
Berg said she had no agenda for being on the park board other than the fact that she “just wanted to get involved.” After retiring from a busy job, she said, she welcomes having something to do.
Busy summer ahead
Campground reservations for the summer are strong, Tersteeg reported. “Full-service sites are still in demand as always,” he said. The 20 new full-service sites are going to be well used, he said.
Tersteeg said he would be attending an upcoming trade show in Minneapolis where he planned to sell the town and its events along with park sites. He said, “People will flock to us and talk about doughnuts and pizza.”
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