Summer is on its way to the Grand Marais Recreation Area and Campground.
“Reservations continue to be really strong,” Grand Marais Recreation Park Manager Dave Tersteeg told the board its May 1 meeting. The Fourth of July and Fisherman’s Picnic are all booked up, Office Manager Samantha Williams said.
Summer help is arriving, Tersteeg said. They will have five seasonal maintenance workers who will hopefully provide the extra help they didn’t have last summer. They needed more help downtown on the weekends when they only had four seasonal maintenance workers.
Summer pool hours
Summer staff has been hired, and regular summer hours at the pool will begin on June 4. The pool will be open from noon to 9:00 p.m. on Saturdays and from noon to 8:00 p.m. on Sundays. Summer prices start Memorial Day weekend.
Swim lessons have been scheduled for the summer and log rolling is in full swing on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Manager Tersteeg had been asked at the last park board meeting to investigate the cost of a new pool liner to replace the one that has been there since 1987. It is rough and has needed repeated patching. Tersteeg said in an April 26 memo to the board that bids solicited in 2007 had ranged from $27,906 to $79,300. “The 2012 pool budget does not allocate enough capital to afford refinishing the big pool,” his memo concludes.
Board Chair Walt Mianowski asked what it would cost to rehab the pool building, but Bill Lenz, also on the city council, said the city’s attorney said they should not discuss pool rehabilitation at all while they are dealing with a contract the city previously made with Burbach Aquatics regarding using that company for future pool projects. The city continues to stay out of the county’s plans to build a new community center with a pool because Burbach declared it would take the city to court if it became involved in that project.
Golf report
Gunflint Hills Manager Mike Kunshier said they had joined “Wild North Golf,” which advertises courses in the Northland. They got a startup 50-percent-off price of $450 ($50/hole) for the season.
There will be no mixed league this summer because there is not enough interest among golfers. Many of those who were active in mixed league in the past are older and no longer golfing.
Kunshier said he was expecting a new used mower that would cost the city $20,000 less than a new one. The year 2002 was the last time the course purchased a new mower, and that one was previously used, also.
Mianowski asked when the old golf course pickup would be replaced. About the pickup, Park Manager Tersteeg said, “It brings down our image!” The parks department is expecting to get an old pickup from the public utilities department when it gets replaced.
The next meeting of the Grand Marais Park Board is Tuesday, June 5 at 4:30 p.m. at the Recreation Park Rec Hall.
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