TOWER — Personnel and potential personnel dominated the city council agenda here on Monday as the council approved pay increases and discussed the possible hiring of a part-time administrative assistant for city hall.
The proposed hiring of an additional city hall worker prompted plenty of council discussion about the workload and about keeping city wages and salaries reasonably competitive with other small cities in the region. The city has hired three clerk-treasurers in the past seven years, with workload and salary being major factors behind the departures.
In apparent response to those concerns, the council unanimously approved a motion to increase the clerk-treasurer’s salary by $5,000 a year, effective next month. Mayor Dave Setterberg noted that Tammy Mortaloni, who has served in the clerk-treasurer position since December, was no longer probationary and that a raise was justified. Even with the increase, he said the city’s pay rate for top administration remains a bit below average for the area.
He noted that the city can’t hope to compete with some of the slightly larger cities in the area, like Babbitt and Biwabik, which can afford higher salaries.
“We do sometimes try to work in other ways by providing more vacation time,” Setterberg said, adding that the city had budgeted for a significant pay increase as well.
The council also voted unanimously to raise hourly pay for both interim ambulance supervisor Jen McDonough and public works supervisor Ben Velcheff, both of whom he said are going above and beyond. Setterberg said Velcheff has been working to assist all the projects going on presently in the city. Council member Kevin Norby questioned how the increase for Velcheff would factor into the union contract, since he is part of the local AFSCME unit. Setterberg said the city has the right to make a market adjustment and noted that the contract won’t be coming up again until 2027.
Council member Bob Anderson suggested, as he has numerous times recently, that the city should consider scaling back on the number of projects, citing staffing capacity.
Despite those concerns, the council approved the pay raise.
The discussion then turned to an administrative assistant, which proved a somewhat tougher sell for Setterberg. He said the personnel committee has been discussing an assistant for some time, who would replace the stable of part-time contractors that the city has called on for the past several years to handle certain projects, reconcile bank deposits, and write and manage grants.
Setterberg said the proposed assistant would likely work 12-15 hours per week and estimated that the cost to the city would be approximately $15,000 a year. He said the city would save on expenditures for some contract work and noted that city grant writer and manager Nancy Larson is hoping to phase out into full retirement over the next year or so.
Setterberg argued that the new assistant could be trained over time to be able to fill in on a wide range of administrative duties, which would help provide more redundancy at city hall.
But Norby said he wanted more information before committing to another position at city hall. “I’m not against it, but I want more information,” he said.
Anderson agreed. “I’m having trouble with another permanent employee,” he said. “My personal feeling is we already do too much. I’d like to dial it back 25 percent from what we’re doing now.”
Council member John Van DeVoort said he’d be more comfortable with the hire if it was part of a 3-5-year staffing plan.
In the end, the council opted to table the idea. It’s expected to be back on the council agenda in July.
In other action, the council passed a motion to clarify that approval of project bidding and bid openings are the purview of the council and that project plans need to be approved by the council prior to soliciting bids.
The motion came in response to council concerns about SEH’s solicitation of bids for a city-owned airport hangar without prior approval from the council. Mortaloni said she had consulted with the city’s attorney as well as legal counsel at the League of Minnesota Cities, who agreed that while the process was likely done legally, it is not typical and lacks transparency.
In a memo to the council, Mortaloni said the issue appears to have arisen back in May of last year (prior to Mortaloni’s hiring), when the council approved a $165,900 contract for design services with SEH that outlined projected submittal dates, which included a date for advertising for bids, opening bids, and making a contract award recommendation. SEH maintains that the signing of a contract that includes projected dates for various steps, effectively authorized the firm to undertake those steps and that all legal bidding procedures were followed.
That explanation is at odds with past city practice and Mortaloni made it clear in her memo that SEH would be informed that on all future projects, city council approval will be required before soliciting bids and that the council will be involved in the bid openings. In the case of the airport hangar, it was the airport commission that reviewed the bids and made a recommendation to the council.
At the same time, the council approved a motion accepting the process used in the hangar project, even as city officials indicated such a process will not be allowed in the future.
In other business, the council:
• Gave the first reading to the vacation of the road easement for the former Harbor Court Rd. The city council had previously vacated the road itself, but now needs to terminate the underlying easement. The council also approved the holding of a public hearing on the vacation for June 25 at 5 p.m.
 Approved Registered Land Survey #164, which defines the parcels adjacent to the harbor slated for town home and apartment construction and the future Harbor Court.
• Validated its previous approval of a request from the Vermilion Housing Corporation to contribute $20,000 as part of a local match for a major renovation at the Tower and Soudan apartments. The Vermilion Housing Corporation has again submitted an application for funding from Minnesota Housing.
• Heard notice that filings for city council and the mayor seat will open from July 14-July 28. City hall will be open until 5 p.m. on July 28 to accommodate any last-minute filings.
• Approved a request from the Tower-Soudan Historical Society for a city proclamation declaring the week of July 12-18, as Heritage Week. Society representative Louise Gately told the council that the group has a number of activities planned for the weeklong celebration.
• Approved a bid of $1.299 per gallon from Superior Fuel for propane for the next three years.
• Heard from Mortaloni that the Minnesota Historic Preservation Office has given final approval of a new customer service counter space for use in the Old Fire Hall, which will soon be the new home of city offices. A bid solicitation for the new counter will go out next week. The city is still waiting on the completion of an appraisal for city hall.
• Approved a motion to hire Julie Long as an EMT with the Tower Ambulance and Eric Pulkinen as an EMR, pending background checks.
• Approved a request from Dave Erickson at D’Erick’s to block off a portion of the street in front of city hall for the annual Fourth of July beer garden.
• Tabled action on an easement request from the Mesabi Trail, pending more explanation.