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Harbor town home plat nearing completion

Jodi Summit
Posted 6/27/19

TOWER— It appears the city’s long-delayed plat for the harbor town home project is close to completion, potentially clearing one of the final hurdles for what could be the most significant new …

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Harbor town home plat nearing completion

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TOWER— It appears the city’s long-delayed plat for the harbor town home project is close to completion, potentially clearing one of the final hurdles for what could be the most significant new development in the city in decades.

Mayor Orlyn Kringstad updated the city council at their Monday meeting on two of the most significant issues that have held up the plat for months. SEH engineer Matt Bolf said the city had received the final DNR paperwork to address an outstanding state easement, which the council approved unanimously. Kringstad noted that mortgage-release papers needed from Frandsen Bank, a mortgage-holder of the TEDA-owned charter school building, were ready and would receive the required signatures soon. He said a similar agreement with the Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation for the Lamppa building was also in the works.

“That takes care of the major outstanding issues with the plat,” said Kringstad.

Tower Harbor Shores Project Manager Jeremy Schoenfelder, who appeared on speakerphone, told the council that the developer’s agreement had been signed and would be emailed, as well as mailed, to the city. He said the CIC plat and HOA documents would be completed as soon as the developer had a copy of the recorded plat.

The city’s planning and zoning commission will need to grant approval to the CIC overlay plat, which will then be forwarded to the county for recording. The town home project will also need to go through the city’s zoning process, including an application for a conditional use permit.

“We appreciate everyone powering through everything,” Schoenfelder said. “We are excited to get moving and underway.”

The council also approved the extension of the interest-only loan repayment period through the end of 2019. This extension had been previously approved by TEDA and was sent to the council.

Hoodoo Point Campground

Richard Hanson, who is part of the local Blandin Broadband Project committee, told the council that he was working with campground manager Randy Pratt to submit the campground’s proposed wifi project as one of the area projects eligible for a share of the $75,000 in Blandin grant dollars. The project has been approved by the broadband committee but needs final approval from the Tower Economic Development Authority (TEDA), which is overseeing the grant.

The grant would pay for installing campground-wide wifi, including adding electricity to several utility poles where the wifi transmitters will be installed. The campground and city will need to provide some in-kind donation as their match on the grant. Pratt said he can help with the digging of the 200 feet of trench needed for the electric line and hoped to get other volunteers helping also. The council approved allowing the city maintenance crew to assist if more in-kind hours are needed. Hanson said his time on the project also counted towards the in-kind match.

Fiber optic cable is already connected to the campground area, so this project will allow the public and campground users to access high-speed Internet at the city-owned campground.

“This is an important step to get people in the city connected,” said Kringstad.

The council approved the project. The wifi system will not be installed until this fall and would be operational for the 2020 season.

Pratt also told the council that after the Timberjay had reported on the wifi project, the campground had received inquiries from two advertisers interested in placing ads on the campground’s wifi connection page.

Pratt asked the council to table any action on rate changes or on the possible installation of new docks.

Shedd disputes

Tower News claim

Councilor Mary Shedd spoke during public input, addressing an allegation made by Tower News commentator Anthony Sikora in his opinion piece on the June 17 special city council meeting. Sikora alleged that Shedd, councilor Sheldon Majerle, and the mayor kept meeting in the city hall for hours after the meeting adjourned, violating the open meeting law.

“I want to let the public and fellow council members know it is incorrect,” she said.

Shedd noted that she had left the meeting right after it adjourned and went to Good Ol’ Days for dinner. “I got a text from Orlyn after I had dinner that I had left my jacket at city hall,” she said. “That is my hallmark. I always leave something behind. I walked to city hall and went upstairs…. and retrieved my jacket.” Shedd noted that Majerle was at city hall when she went back up. Majerle had also had dinner after the meeting at Good Ol’ Days, with his wife Robin and sister-in-law Nancy Larson. He had offered to get take-out for Kringstad, who had volunteered to wait at city hall for Biss Lock to come and change out the locks following the suspension of the city clerk-treasurer.

While the mayor, Majerle, and Shedd were momentarily in the building together, Shedd said it was inadvertent and no city business was discussed. “There is no violation,” Shedd said. “And I do understand the perception warrants extra care.”

Shedd also spoke about Sikora’s allegation that the mayor had held an illegal serial meeting, by sharing information prior to the meeting that led the council to put the clerk-treasurer on leave.

“Anyone who has attended the last three months of meetings wouldn’t be surprised [at the council’s actions],” she said. “The first time I saw the search warrant, showing probable cause of criminal conduct was at the meeting. The search warrant spoke for itself.”

Airport

The council accepted the low bid from Fahrner Asphalt Sealers to do crack sealing and repairs at the Tower Airport. The total project cost is estimated at $30,270 plus an $1,000 administration fee to the city. The airport’s other FAA project this year was engineering and design work for the crack seal project and the maintenance building design, at a cost of $62,400. The city will receive a grant from the FAA for 90-percent of the projects and the state for five-percent, leaving a city contribution of $4,683.

Airport Commission Chair John Burgess said the city received $150,000 in FAA funding each year for airport maintenance and improvements. He noted the airport generates about $30,000 in revenue to the city each year, and the city only budgets $8,000 for airport-related costs. In addition, council member and longtime airport commission member Sheldon Majerle said the city also receive lease income and personal property taxes from the hangar owners at the airport.

In related action, the council discussed what to do with the city’s Polaris Gem car, the road-legal electric utility vehicle.

The batteries on the car are no longer working properly. Cost to purchase new deep-cycle batteries would be $900 from Tower Auto. The city had initially thought they would use the vehicle to transport visitors to and from the harbor and have used it at several public events in the past. More recently it was used at the airport to bring people into town, but now there is an airport car available.

The council tabled any action and will investigate options.

Animal ordinance changes?

The council denied a request from Lisa and Jason Sanderson to add a third dog to their home. The current city ordinance allows up to three pets per dwelling unit, of which only two may be dogs. The couple already has two dogs and was hoping to adopt a rescue husky puppy this week. Research done by the rescue group alerted the Sandersons to the city ordinance.

The council did agree to look at changing the ordinance, but that process will include going through planning and zoning, holding a public hearing, and gaining final council approval.

While the council clearly sympathized with the family, they noted that allowing an exception in this case would open up the council to requests from others.

“We’ve had issues in the community about following the rules,” said councilor Steve Abrahamson. “You can vote to allow it, but then be careful for the next person. Where would it end?”

The council discussed removing the line in the ordinance that specifies only two dogs are allowed. Lamppa said that the ordinances in place in surrounding towns permit up to three animals, with no restrictions on the type of pet. It was also noted that the Sandersons’ lot is almost four acres, with a fenced-in yard.

The city’s Ordinance No. 20, regulating and controlling animals in the city of Tower, also requires that owners are responsible for feces pickup within city limits, that cats and dogs must be issued a city license and show proof of rabies vaccination, and that no one shall keep or harbor a dog that engages in loud, frequent, or habitual barking that causes annoyance to neighbors.

The city had previously received a request from a resident who hopes to have backyard chickens. Currently the ordinance does not allow non-domestic or barnyard animals without a written application and a special permit.

Other business

In other business the city council:

Removed suspended clerk-treasurer Linda Keith from all city committees and commissions, replacing her with interim clerk-treasurer Ann Lamppa.

Appointed Dan Schultz (retired president Queen City Federal), Diane Meehan (retired president Frandsen Bank- Tower), Greg Buckley (current president Frandsen Bank- Tower), Orlyn Kringstad, Rachel Beldo, and interim clerk-treasurer Ann Lamppa to the newly-formed budget and finance committee.

Passed the DNR conflict of interest policy that is required annually as part of the LCCMR grant (for trail work at the harbor).

 Accepted the resignation of long-time EMT Josh Carlson and will send a letter of thanks for his service to the community.

Approved hiring Isaac Gawboy as a new member of the fire department.

Approved hiring Amy Heglin as an EMT. Heglin recently completed the EMT class offered in Tower.

In business from the May 13 meeting, the council:

Approved raising water and sewer rates by $2 per month, effective in 2020, to help address shortfalls in the water and sewer funds.

Approved a one-day liquor license for the Tower Fire Department Relief Association’s Fourth of July beer tent.