TOWER— The city council here accepted, with regret, the resignation of deputy city clerk Stephanie Carlson, but it remains unclear how the council might move forward in selecting a replacement. “I don’t think we realize yet how much we’re going to miss you,” said Mayor Josh Carlson. “Every task you’ve been given, you’ve done really well.”

The circumstances of Carlson’s decision to leave the city weren’t discussed at Monday’s council meeting, although Carlson did say that her lack of medical coverage was a major reason for her decision. Mayor Josh Carlson asked to conduct an exit interview with the deputy clerk on July 21, which will be her last day on the job. He said he hoped the interview would shed light on the operations at city hall and, could possibly lead to changes in the position that could reduce employee costs for the city. He said changes in ambulance billing should reduce the man-hours needed for that work, which consumed a significant portion of the deputy clerk’s time. He also suggested that the city could explore handing bookkeeping duties for the Tower-Breitung Wastewater Board back to the board. Currently, that work is handled at Tower City Hall.

Mayor Carlson made a motion to appoint a three-person hiring committee to consider potential applicants for whatever position is eventually offered by the city. Councilors Joan Broten and Brad Matich will serve on the committee, along with Marshall Helmberger. City Clerk-Treasurer Linda Keith said the city clerk normally sits on hiring committees as well, but Carlson said he was limiting his motion to the three.

The council also tabled a request by Keith to be given authority to hire a temporary worker for up to 32 hours per week to replace Carlson. Keith said it’s a busy time of year and noted that a primary election is coming up soon, but the council wasn’t ready to make a decision and pushed the matter to the July 25 special meeting agenda.

The council also postponed a request by the deputy clerk to pay out accrued sick leave, totaling $3,751. While councilors agreed that Carlson had earned the benefit, they had questions about how it might affect payouts to future employees. Keith said that the city attorney had noted that a payout would be in violation of the city’s contract with its city hall employees. “Are you prepared to change the contract for future employees?” she asked. Councilors also had questions about the tabulation of the sick leave owed. Keith said Carlson had figured the time herself and that she hadn’t had a chance to review her figures. “Let’s review the sick leave numbers to see if they’re accurate,” said Mayor Carlson.

In other business, the council discussed a letter from the Minnesota Department of Health about the city’s water quality situation, which has improved since work to address beaver activity near the well site was completed, but still remains above acceptable limits on an annualized basis. While the last two quarters have tested within safe limits for trihalomethanes, significantly higher levels recorded last September and November are boosting the annual average. Assuming that levels remain where they are for the next two tests, the city should fall within acceptable limits.

If that doesn’t happen, the city will likely need to look at some technical solutions to address the problem at the treatment plant. “”We’re keeping an eye on it at this point,” said city engineer Jason Chopp, with SEH. “If the problem comes back, the next step would be to do some pilot tests. We’ve identified three technologies that should address it and we would bring them in to test their effectiveness.”

In other action, the council:

‰ Briefly discussed a letter from the Greater Minnesota Parks and Trails Commission, which noted that the Lake Vermilion bike trail had been ranked highly in the competition for inclusion as part of the state’s regional trail system, which would make the project a strong candidate for funding. The trail group will need to submit a trail master plan to the commission to qualify for the Sept. 2, 2016 funding round.

‰ Approved a consulting contract with SEH totaling $69,500 for work on the airport taxiway and hangar apron project.

‰ Tabled action on a pump maintenance and inspection agreement with Minnesota Pump Works.

‰ Discussed how to proceed with the demolition of the former Hardware Hank building on Main Street. St. Louis County, which took possession of the property on tax delinquency, is paying for the demolition, but the building shares an exterior wall with the former Olson’s Meat Market, next door, which is also dilapidated but remains in private ownership. The G Men, who are scheduled to do the demolition, are unwilling to do so without a plan for addressing unavoidable damage to the former meat market building.

St. Louis County agreed to contribute $5,000 towards the $15,000 cost of the demolition, and the owners agreed to put in a match of $5,000, but want the city to pay $5,000 as well.

But Mayor Carlson said he opposed a city contribution given that the land in question will remain privately owned following demolition. “I can’t see spending any city money to help pay for demolition for a parcel that will remain with the private landowner,” he said.

According to Keith, the city could proceed with the demolition of the former meat market under the city’s blight ordinance, and assess the $10,000 cost to the property owners to pay off over time.

But that would force the city to expend the $10,000 up front and hope for reimbursement over time. Instead, the council instructed Keith to inquire with the property owners about paying $5,000 up front and the remainder under a payment plan to the city.