SOUDAN- The Breitung Town Board is asking St. Louis County planning officials whether the Vermilion Park Inn has a conditional use permit, as appears to be required by current zoning regulations. The board discussed the issue at its July 27 meeting after a prospective buyer of the facility, Cathy Cerra-Harvieux, suggested that the facility may be operating without a conditional use permit.
Yet the Timberjay has confirmed that the inn does have a conditional use permit to operate as a commercial lodging facility. That’s according to Mark Lindhorst, senior planner with the St. Louis County Planning Department. Lindhorst said the CUP was initially issued to Marian Zaudtke, who owned the facility prior to the current owners. According to Lindhorst, the CUP remains with the property as long as the use remains consistent with the permit.
At a meeting held at Vermilion Park Inn on July 9, Cathy Cerra-Harvieux, who hopes to buy the inn and convert it to a residential sober house, told the audience that Vermilion Park Inn did not have a current conditional use permit to operate as a bed and breakfast. Breitung Board Chair Tim Tomsich said that Cerra-Harvieux argued that because the Vermilion Park Inn did not have a conditional use permit, she was not required to have one either.
The board passed a motion to send a letter to the county’s planning and zoning department to ask them to look into the issue. Zoning issues in Breitung Township, including Soudan, are overseen by St. Louis County.
Police report
Police Chief Dan Reing reported 162 service calls in June. The department made two arrests including for a DWI for an adult female where the suspect refused to test and an adult male who was arrested for domestic assault. Eight citations were given, including one for driving without a seatbelt, two for driving after revocation, one for driving after cancelation, and three for speed (66, 70, 72 mph in a 50 mph zone.) Reing said there were 22 more calls during June than last year.
Reing also warned of fraudulent calls. He said criminals have been calling and posing as police officers or other law enforcement staff and demanding money. He said police would not do that and if you do have legal fees to pay the courthouse is where you pay them. If a caller asks you to pay at ATMs to third party services that is a red flag, warning you that this is not a legitimate call. If you suspect fraud call 911.
In other news, the board:
• Accepted a propane bid from Edwards Oil for $1.345/gallon for a three-year term. The only other bid was $1.565/gal from Lakes Gas.
• Heard that the McKinley Park Campground building needs a new roof. Maintenance director Tom Gorsma is getting quotes for replacement. The roof was installed when the building was erected in 1994.
• Heard that the wastewater board’s project to add an additional wastewater pond is included in a House bonding bill for $1 million.
• Heard that 3 Jasper St. has been cleaned up and that the residents removed the refrigerator on their own. Chief Reing said that there were still “excessive materials in the yard” but the materials had been covered and were much better, though he still considers it an “ongoing issue.” Reing said that the other blight warnings that had been sent out similarly returned positive results and only one house on Poplar St. is still an issue.
• Heard that the township did not receive grant funding for improvements to the skating rink and park area from the DNR Outdoor Recreation grant program.
• Passed resolutions to accept donations, first from the Tower-Soudan Agency for $50 to support the Breitung Community Picnic and second from the Dan and Jim Hill families an amount of $862.62 for the purchase of a bench with a plaque in honor of their parents James (Pete) and Donna Hill.
• Passed a motion to write a letter to the city of Tower in support of the city purchasing the county maintenance buildings on Marina Drive.
• Passed a motion to pay $52,305.79 to Jola and Sopp Excavating of Eveleth for forced main improvements.
• Approved a purchase of $1,984.55 for three ceiling fans in the township maintenance garage. Two of three existing fans are out of order.
• Passed a motion to approve the fire department’s purchase of two LUNAR cameras
at the cost of $2,018 each. LUNAR cameras can be used to communicate between members of the fire department and with other fire departments with local monitoring and remote monitoring through the cloud. The cameras can aid in quicker searches and rescues with thermal imaging and provides information on the wearer’s air status. 

The next township meeting will be Thursday, Aug. 24 at noon at the Breitung Community Center.