TOWER— The city council here, on Monday, authorized soliciting bids for a sewer and water extension from Pine Street to the Marjo RE property to serve up to six new homes currently being built on the site.
The new extension would be built along the planned alignment of the new Harbor Drive, which will be created as part of a planned major mixed commercial-residential development along the harbor front.
Back in February, the city received approval for $482,000 in grant funding from the Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation to install temporary holding tanks for the six new planned homes near the Marjo Motel. Since then, however, plans for an even larger development at the harbor have moved forward quickly, which prompted consideration of redirecting the already-approved funds to pay for a utility extension that would serve both developments, and with a permanent sewer solution on the Marjo property, rather than the temporary holding tanks.
While the council had previously authorized bidding for installing the temporary holding tanks, Clerk-Treasurer Michael Schultz said the significant change in the scope of the proposed project prompted him to bring it back to the council for further authorization.
At this point, all the parties involved are supportive of the new approach. Schultz noted that city officials met with IRRR staff earlier in the month, who were strongly supportive of the new approach. The developers on the Marjo property have also expressed support.
“It’s a win, win for everybody,” said council member Kevin Norby.
Bidding the proposed extension should help give city officials a clear idea of how far the already approved funds might go and how much additional funding might be needed to complete the project.
In other business, the council approved a resolution accepting the resignation of council member David Wanless, who was elected to the council on a write-in campaign in November. The council also authorized advertising for applicants to fill Wanless’s seat through the November 2026 election.
Wanless, a relatively new resident in the community, has expressed frustration about the city in the wake of two fires in his neighborhood this past winter, one that destroyed a house and the other that destroyed Wanless’s garage, two cars, and various equipment. On the council he had urged more aggressive action to address what he saw as shortcomings on the fire department, which had struggled in its response to the two recent fires.
Wanless, who has said he suspects an arsonist was responsible for his garage fire, has indicated he and his wife plan to move somewhere outside the city.
In other action, the council:
• Heard that the funding mix-up with the state’s Public Facilities Authority, or PFA, had been largely resolved with help from Sen. Grant Hauschild. Under the resolved arrangement, approximately $1.2 million in funding for the joint Tower-Breitung drinking water treatment plant will come in the form of a low-interest loan (at 1.647 percent), with the remaining $4.8 million in a grant.
“This is much more in line with what we were expecting,” said Schultz.
In related action, the council approved the bond purchase from the PFA along with a related resolution. The council also gave approval to a pay estimate of $934,025 to Lakehead Constructors for ongoing work on the drinking water plant.
• Discussed the ongoing review of the city’s fire department, noting that maintenance checklists have been completed and that repairs on some of the vehicles have been made. Those repairs include replacement of leaf springs on the city’s main pumper and repair of a leaking gas tank on the city’s brush rig. Schultz said the city is planning to have the rigs inspected in the coming weeks and that he hopes to have those reports done by the next council meeting. He noted that the department has also replaced some equipment that was no longer in good working order.
Schultz also outlined some training opportunities that the department will need to undertake and he said he hoped to have a training plan for the year established by next month.
Schultz also gave an assessment of the department’s leadership, which was comprised of a chief and a captain for a five-member department. The department’s structure has typically included an assistant chief and a training officer as well, but Schultz said the city’s review committee felt it didn’t make sense to have so many officers with such a limited number of volunteers. “So, based on that in our kind of review and analysis, we’d like to leave the fire chief as is, put Steve Freshour in as the assistant chief and vacate the captain position,” Schultz said. “And, again, we definitely want to continue to monitor this and consider different options as we continue to work through this process and may have recommendations in the future.”
Following Schultz’s comments, the council voted to eliminate the captain position for now and appointed Freshour as assistant chief.
• Gave the first reading to a revised city ordinance regulating the use of city streets by off-road vehicles. Schultz said city officials wanted to update the current ordinance in anticipation of further increases in OHV use in the city once the new OHV campground opens near Soudan in 2026. Among the changes would be the posting of a ten-mph speed limit sign in alleys that see significant OHV traffic, a change recommended by police chief Dan Reing.
• Approved motions to hire Karen Fischer as an EMT on the ambulance service and Daniel Fischer as an EMR.
• Heard that the city received reimbursement from FEMA for $4,930 for debris removal in the wake of last year’s June flooding event. The city continues to work with FEMA for reimbursements of $61,380 for repair of damage to roads and bridges and $65,687 for repair of damage to parks and trails.
 Gave Schultz and public works supervisor Ben Velcheff the authority to interview and hire a summer maintenance worker.