Cook County North Shore Hospital Board Member Tom Spence told the Tofte Town Board that now might be the best time to join forces with Schroeder and Lutsen to look at applying for grants and loans that would be used to build a small senior assisted living complex in the West End.
“For the last 18 months you have been talking about building senior housing in Tofte so the older people can remain in the community. With the City of Grand Marais entered into a 90-day agreement with a private company looking at building a 30-unit senior housing complex in Grand Marais, now is the time for you to decide if you want to do this. If they build one there you will have a 20-30 minute drive to see your family member. What’s going on in Grand Marais should create a sense of urgency in the West End,” Spence told the Tofte Town Board at its Thursday, October 13 meeting.
Tofte Board Chair Paul James told Spence that the town board had actually been looking into this for the last several years, not just the last year and a half. After talking it over with board members Allan “D.C.” Olsen and Jim King, they agreed to make a motion to meet with Lutsen and Schroeder to discuss working to build some kind of senior assisted living facility, even if it is only, as Spence suggested, a freestanding building with four units.
Spence said the Birch Grove Community Center might be a good place to look at putting up a building. He said that he had met with Schroeder and Lutsen town boards and had gotten a positive response to the idea of joining forces.
“It will look better if all three of us apply for grants for this project together,” said King. The board will look at scheduling a meeting with the other townships in early December.
Truth in Taxation
Cook County Commissioner Bruce Martinson said the county was raising property taxes to meet its 2012 expenditures. For those residents owning property valued at $76,000 taxes are slated to go from $43 to $107; for those owning property valued at $150,00 the bill was being raised from $272 last year to $403 in 2012. On land/house valued at $276,000 the tax bill was being raised from $1,055 to $1,156.
“I think people will be up in arms at the Truth in Taxation meeting, especially with those who own property from $60,000 to $150,000,” said Martinson.
BWCA Land Exchange
“The U.S. Forest Service is conducting a land exchange with the county for 1,192 acres in the Boundary Water Canoe Area,” said Martinson. “I think you should request a trade for Section No. 29, land that is adjacent to the Birch Grove Community Center that is now owned by the Forest Service. You could look at using that land for a fire hall expansion, senior housing, cell phone tower site or even for gravel if it has gravel,” said Martinson.
The board agreed and noted that the fire hall was at its capacity and at some point in time would need to be replaced with a bigger hall. They passed a motion asking that Section No. 29 be included in any trade with the county and Forest Service.
Skating Rink
Rob Barse, a representative of ORB Management who is in charge of securing plans and bidding out the skating rink and warming house for Tofte, said he has been meeting with Cook County Planning and Zoning Administrator Bill Lane to secure a permit for the warming house. If the permit is granted in the near future and the Tofte Design and Review Board okays the plans, local contractors will be asked to submit bids for the work. But all of this will have to happen fast because the town board said that Nov. 1 is the drop-dead date for work to begin. “Otherwise it gets too late in the season and we’ve all seen how fast the weather can change,” said James.
Cemetery Park
John Nelson said that he had installed a 14-foot, 36-inch culvert and dug the drainage ditch down six feet, placing rock and fabric in the basin at the cemetery. “This should stop or at least slow down the water unless we have a spring in the cemetery,” said Nelson.
“Thank you for all of your work. Everyone appreciates all you do for the community,” said James.
In other matters the board agreed to raise the rental rate for the Tofte Town Hall for non-residents from $25 to $50 per day. Locals will still pay $25 per day to rent the town hall.
The board also passed a motion for liquor license renewals to Bluefin Bay, Coho Cafe, Superior Waters, North Shore Market & Bottle Shop and Mike’s Holiday.
Due to the changing weather a volunteer work project for the park has been shelved until next spring. At that time unwanted brush will be cut and cleared from the park and a solution will be sought to keep the brush from growing back.
Work will soon begin on the Tofte Homestead Road. Plans are to install a new culvert and catch basin before spring, “or we could lose the road,” said Jerry Gervais, who appeared before the board with an update on the project. What can’t be done this fall will be completed next spring.
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