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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Breitung makes offer to police chief candidate

Stephanie Ukkola
Posted 9/29/21

SOUDAN- The Breitung Town Board has made an offer to Daniel Reing to serve as police chief for the township. The board decided to make the offer at their Sept. 23 meeting after he received a clean …

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Breitung makes offer to police chief candidate

Posted

SOUDAN- The Breitung Town Board has made an offer to Daniel Reing to serve as police chief for the township. The board decided to make the offer at their Sept. 23 meeting after he received a clean background check. The hiring is subject to a physical exam, psychological evaluation, and any other state requirements.
Base salary for the position is $58,240. Additional benefits bring the yearly cost to the township up to $91,829 according to information from the study done by the Breitung Tower Police Committee last spring.
Reing currently splits his time between working as an officer at the Eveleth Police Department, a special education teacher at St. Louis County Schools, and as an EMT for Cook Area Ambulance Service.
The Breitung Police Department shut down March 5 when former chief Dan Nylund resigned, and the reconstituted department will function differently under a new chief. The department will no longer have any on-call hours and will be limited to Reing’s 40 hours each week and any part-time officers they may hire. St. Louis County Sheriff’s office will respond to any emergencies during the times Breitung police are not scheduled.
Supervisor Chuck Tekautz and clerk Dianna Sunsdahl have been meeting with councilors from the city of Tower to negotiate a policing contract between the two communities.
Parks
Breitung received $1,200 from the Tower Firemen’s Relief Association for the purchase and installation of a small skating rink for beginning skaters at Soudan Park. Tomsich said that he will ask the Joint Powers Recreation Board for $500 and Lake Country Power for $1,000 to fund the remaining costs of the project. The rink will be housed under the Margaret Lilya Pavilion and have bumpers and lighting.
The board heard that the Soudan Park improvement committee met with a landscape engineer from JPJ Engineering. The engineer is putting together a master plan for the playground/rink area that will include new hockey boards, expansion and improvements to the warming shack, a path to the basketball and volleyball courts, signage, rink and playground lighting, additional swings, a toddler play area and more.
The board passed a resolution to apply for $13,000 from the IRRR Downtown Streetscapes Program for the beginner skating rink, garden updates next to entrance signs, a solar powered traffic calming sign, four painted crosswalks, two bike racks, two benches and a “Caution Kids Playing” sign. An additional application for $45,000 from the IRRR Culture and Tourism Program would cover work at McKinley Park including upgrading electrical hardware, landscaping, upgrading the boat launch pedestrian ramp, new decking for two docks and a new campsite map.
Trails
Tomsich reported that Breitung maintenance has been maintaining sections of bike trail that are on Tower property between McKinley Park and HooDoo Point. Tomsich presented a worksheet detailing maintenance costs over the past eight years. Tomsich said he is trying to balance out who does what in the future and isn’t necessarily seeking reimbursement for past costs incurred. Tomsich said going forward he’d like to enter an agreement with Tower that defines each community’s responsibilities.
Other news
In other news, the board:
• Heard a complaint about a vehicle on Main St. that is unregistered and appears to be leaking fluids. The township will send a blight letter.
• Heard there have been multiple complaints about a flag on display at a home on Main St. for its public display of vulgar language. Supervisor Tekautz will speak with the homeowner.
• Heard that a party may be interested in hockey boards; if the party does not take them the township will list the boards for sale on Two Rivers Auction.
• Heard that the 4th St. sewer project will take priority over the South St. sewer project in the event of an early winter.
• Heard from Supervisor Greg Dostert that he reported five addresses on Echo Point Rd to the St. Louis County Lodging Tax Board after hearing complaints from neighbors.
• Accepted the high bid of $616 from Seth Leino on a 2003 GMC Envoy that was acquired via police forfeiture.
• Passed a resolution to increase the PERA pension benefit level for firefighters.
• Passed a resolution to accept donations made during the past year, including $65 from Jackie Kangas for recreation, $7,500 from the Bois Forte Band for fire assistance, $50 from Tower Soudan Agency for the community picnic, $2,500 from Stuntz Bay Association for road maintenance, $400 from C&C Winger for the fire department, and $1,200 from the Tower Fireman’s Relief Association for the beginner ice rink.

• Passed a resolution to rezone property near the water tower from residential to multi-use.
The next meeting will be Thursday, Oct. 28 at 12 p.m.