Mark Pedersen of Pedersen Design & Consulting presents design plans for the renovation/ expansion of the Lutsen Fire Hall and Town Hall to citizens and the town board at the January 17 meeting.
At the Lutsen Town Board meeting on Tuesday, January 17, Mark Pedersen of Pedersen Design & Consulting presented design plans for the renovation/expansion of the Lutsen Fire Hall and Town Hall, noting that the plans are about 95-99 percent complete. “We need to go through them; to mark them up,” he said. “Now is the time to come forward with comments and changes.”
There were questions about the removal of the old garage building and the cement slab beneath it, about if and when some trees would have to be removed, about the electrical service capabilities, about the septic system, and about storage of fire department equipment during construction.
Pedersen said one more meeting to try to answer those questions and to fine-tune the plans would bring the township to the “threshold” of bidding. Pedersen had hoped to be the contact person for the bid process, but he is now working out of cell phone range and he recommended that the township turn things over to an architect. He reminded the town board that the plan was to have the plans finalized by an architect anyway.
However, he said there was not much an architect would need to add. “They don’t need to re-invent the wheel here,” Pedersen said.
The timeline for hiring an architect and for getting final plans completed was discussed. Fire Chief Paul Goettl said he would like finalized plans to be available at the March 13 annual meeting. The board agreed to advertise for an architect to finalize the plans and to handle the bidding process. A special meeting to review proposals from architects was set for Monday, February 13 at 6 p.m.
Members of the Lutsen Trailbreakers Snowmobile club talked to the town board about a related matter. Larry McNeally said the club was interested in the old storage building behind the fire hall. He said the snowmobile club would be willing to move the structure at no cost to the township if it could have the building to put up elsewhere. McNeally said the structure would give the snowmobile club room for long-term, covered storage for its groomers and equipment.
Supervisor Marland Hansen asked where the building would be reconstructed and McNeally said that was yet to be determined, but added, “We’d make good use of it and we’ll keep it in Lutsen.”
A unanimous motion passed authorizing the snowmobile club to take possession of the structure when the time comes to remove it.
In other business:
The board listened to Jim Boyd, who has been making the rounds of local government entities—the county, the City of Grand Marais, several townships and the Cook County – Grand Marais Economic Development Authority (EDA), asking for input and support for the EDA to work with the University of Minnesota’s business retention and expansion (BR&E) program.
Boyd, a member of the Cook County Broadband Commission, an employee at the publication Highway 61 and the business representative for Cook County Higher Education, said this is one of his “pet issues.” He said, “We’ve got to find a way to attract young people, young families to Cook County.”
He brought a laugh when he said, “Everyone complains about the EDA, but no one seems to want to do anything to change it.”
Turning serious, he said he thought the university’s BR&E program could help. He explained that the BR&E would be “an effort to knit together this multi-layered, fractured, community” to create a better environment for business. “The more I learn about this program, the more I like it,” he said.
The Lutsen supervisors agreed it would be worth pursuing and passed a unanimous motion of support for the BR&E concept.
Fire Chief Goettl reported that the fire department currently has four people taking the 120-hour firefighter I and II courses. He said training is ongoing for the fire department.
The board approved the appointment of election judges Mary Thornwall, Judy Brisky and Amity Goettl for the upcoming election on Tuesday, March 13.
The board set the date of Monday, Feb. 20 for its annual budget and audit meeting. The board will hold this meeting to audit its records for 2011 and to develop a budget to present at the annual meeting. The next regular meeting of the Lutsen Town Board is Tuesday, Feb. 21.
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