Grand Marais city councilors dealt with a number of issues ranging from public restrooms and television to holiday parades and decorations during their October 28, 2009 meeting.
Mayor Sue Hakes began the meeting by asking for public comment. Mark Sandbo, representing the Grand Marais Hotel Company, addressed council and “thanked” them for having a letter sent to his employer threatening legal action if the deteriorating advertising sign at the corner of Highway 61 and Broadway was not removed or repaired within 30 days. Council decided to take the action at its prior meeting in the wake of a violent wind storm that tore off or loosened many of the metal panels and created a hazard to both passing people and vehicles. The sign has long been in a dilapidated condition, and has been the subject of several discussions at previous meetings.
Sandbo said the letter apparently spurred the owners into action, and a new sign that has already been approved by the city is being prepared, as is an application for a Storefront Loan. He said the new sign should be installed within a month, and it will stand 7 feet tall at its bottom and 18 feet tall at the top; by comparison, the existing Shoreline Motel sign is 48 feet tall.
“I wish the letter had been sent eight months ago,” said Sandbo.
Holiday parade
Chamber of Commerce Director Bev Wolke presented the permit for the annual Christmas parade, which will be held Nov. 24. Line-up will start at 5:30 p.m. at the Senior Center, and the participants will step off at 6 p.m.
The parade will proceed down Broadway to Wisconsin Street, turn up First Street and down the one-way street back to Broadway. The loop will then be repeated, and should take about two minutes, said Wolke.
Council approved the permit and agreed that the city staff will put up the holiday banners and lighted deer, and procure a tree, as usual. Wolke said she would speak with the sheriff to make the necessary safety arrangements regarding traffic and crowd control.
Decorating the downtown
Diane Brostrom, director of the Grand Marais Area Tourism Association, presented what she called a “basic plan” for sprucing up the downtown business district in an effort to attract more holiday shoppers.
Brostrom said her organization is asking business owners to create special window displays and expand their hours, and said she is working to make downtown look “lit up and like something special” through the pursuit of her plan. The plan calls for the purchase and installation of 330 strings of lights, 68 red bows and 140 garlands. The decorations would be placed on trees, fencing and light poles on Broadway Avenue, Wisconsin Street and West First Avenue, and in Harbor Park. Total cost for purchase of the holiday items is $9,941.
In conjunction with her proposal, Brostrom said the Cook County Events & Visitors Bureau has received a $15,000 one-time grant from Explore Minnesota Tourism to highlight shopping and activities all along the North Shore. Unfortunately, she said, the grant money for “A North Shore Holiday” may be used for marketing only, and not the purchase of decorations.
Councilors agreed that the downtown area was in need of some new holiday trappings, but pointed to the city’s ongoing budget struggles. City Administrator Mike Roth said the budget could be finagled to come up with $10,000 to meet the request, but pointed out that that would take the place of something else that was on the city’s priority list that would’ve cost $10,000. He also cautioned councilors that they could be asked for $10,000 “five times at every meeting.”
Brostrom and some of the merchants who were present agreed that it would take a lot of volunteer effort to properly install all of the decorations, and great care would have to be taken in the storage of the items so that they would last many years. Some offered to donate to the cause, and council voted to match up to $5,000 of the money raised in the business community, plus the cost of electricity and staff time to assist with installation.
It is hoped the decorations will be in place by Nov. 19.
Public restrooms
Ken Wielinski and Max Bichel of the Grand Marais Lions Club came before council with an issue “that needs to be addressed”: the lack of downtown public restrooms.
Wielinski said there are only two public facilities now, and that hardly seems adequate for a community that prides itself on tourism. He said the Lions Club has no money or resources to take on the project itself, but they would be willing to serve as the coordinating agency. He asked the city for some commitment to the project, before the Lions and other volunteers spend any time researching the matter further. The research would include such things as finding a location for the facility, design and cost, and construction.
Asked about the cost of the project, Roth said there were a lot of variables, such as the size, shape and cost of the building lot and the desired building; availability of the public utilities; the cost to hook up to the utilities; and ongoing maintenance and cleaning costs. Roth did say that the newest bathhouse, which was built at the Rec Park several years ago, cost over $400,000, but that was way bigger than the facility now under discussion. Still, he said, “the costs add up quickly.”
There was general agreement that the project was a worthy one, and council gave its support, although no funding source was identified. A council representative will be appointed to work with the Lions as they move forward with the project.
Other business
In other news, it was noted that the PAC-13 (Public Access television) equipment has been relocated to City Hall, and the city staff will assume control of the broadcasts. However, in an effort to keep costs low, council meetings will be videotaped without a camera operator, and the county commissioners’ meetings will hit the airwaves only if the county provides a copy of the tape. A system to regularly update the public service announcements is still under consideration.
Finally, Roth reported that the city’s brush pile near the water tower is being burned, and complaints about excessive smoke have been received from the hospital and school district. Roth said there is an unusual amount of smoke in town due to the large quantity of green brush from the recent windstorm, and wind conditions that shifted overnight. Council agreed that providing the brush pile is a convenience that should be continued, but no solution was reached as to how to manage the smoke or amount of debris thrown on the pile.
Roth said the brush pile is normally burned once a year, preferably in the fall when weather conditions are favorable, and the smoke has never before been such a problem.
However, he said, “It could happen anytime. When we burn, we run the risk of blanketing the town with haze.”
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