There was a bit more of an audience than usual during March 2nd’s Silver Bay City Council Meeting, with locals weighing in during the public comment period as well as in response to a new business issue involving funding local businesses. Mayor LeBlanc apologized for his absence from the February 17th City Council meeting, as he had instead attended a meeting with the Minnesota Chamber. He reported that Lake County was well-represented and that he was able to speak with many local legislators. He also attended a Scenic Byway meeting and recommended a council member join, as Silver Bay is an important part of the scenic byway, and it would be good to have Silver Bay represented on their board, especially with the opening of the Multi-Modal Trailhead Center. LeBlanc also recognized the popular success of this year’s Snow Day in the Bay event, stating that “[the] organizers did a great job.” The crowds also made it a great time for local businesses and organizations looking to raise funds.
Consent agenda items approved included minutes for Feb 17th meeting; an advertisement for exchange days, where residents can place unwanted items on their boulevard to be picked up by others on May 16th, June 13th, August 15th, and September 12th; an advertisement which will be appearing in this paper’s April 3rd and 17th editions concerning the city of Silver Bay’s future neighborhood revitalization mini-grant program; a public notice of violation for failure to comply with drinking water monitoring requirements given by the State of Minnesota Department of Health during the month of March 2024; declaring 18 Mueller hydrants as surplus; and that officials will be attending Capitol Days March 17th19th, which will provide an opportunity to lobby for local projects.
Business from the City Administrator involved two resolutions. The first, Resolution No. 2026 #21, authorizes a grant agreement between the city of Silver Bay and the state of Minnesota through the Iron Range Resources Office of the Commissioner. The grant to the city is for $3 million, to be used for phase 1 of the city-wide road and utility improvement project. The council unanimously approved. The second, involving the future of the Mary MacDonald Business Center, was more contentious. Resolution No. 2026 #22 would accept a proposal from Bolton & Menk, Inc, costing $13,000, for their professional services in planning and cost estimation of a proposed building as an alternative to reinvestment into the Mary MacDonald Business Center in Silver Bay. This would mean building something new in the space rather than renovating the current building. During discussions with tenants of the building, they mentioned many concerns, including costs and impacts on tenants and taxpayers, but did eventually recommend moving forward with the proposal. After some debate and an acknowledgement of the immediacy of the issue, the Council decided to table a resolution at least until after making a lobbying bid for funding at the Capitol Days event in mid-March. They will then revisit the issue in April.
The big issue of the meeting was a New Business item involving SophiaLee, LLC’s request to amend their COVID-19 Taconite Community Relief Loan agreement. SophiaLee is the owner of the North Shore Adventure Park in Silver Bay. Alice Tibbetts, representing SophiaLee, LLC, had asked to speak to the council concerning the Taconite loan agreement signed in September 2021. The key part of the original agreement at hand is that over $15,000 of the final loan payment would be forgiven, provided the North Shore Adventure Park maintained staffing payroll of at least 6,000 hours per year. This is due to the purpose of the Relief Loan, which was to increase employment and alleviate local businesses suffering during the Covid epidemic. The Park successfully hit their mark up until 2025, when falling tourism traffic led to staff cuts, taking the Park under 6,000 hours of payroll for the year. Tibbetts noted during her presentation that she had been the one to set the standard of 6,000 hours, as the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) used her current payroll at the time as the standard. And in a post-Covid world, with all other factors that have come into play, “that level is unsustainable,” she stated. Tibbetts continued to say that “IRRRB has communicated to the city they do not care if that payroll amount changes,” a point which the members of the city council and attending public debated. Tibbetts, who has made all loan payments required so far and does not foresee major problems until the final payment if unforgiven, requested to reduce the amount of payroll needed to fulfill the loan forgiveness requirement to a more realistic number, given the extreme economic and tourism industry changes over the past few years. The Adventure Park went from open six days a week with an average of 150 customers a day during Covid’s peak to open four days a week with an average of 65 customers a day in 2025. Tibbetts referenced statewide tourism data from the Federal Reserve while noting the drop in tourism, in her opinion, was due to a few key issues: Less interest in outdoor activities after the spike in traffic driven by Covid in 2020- 2022, increased smoke from fires in the summer as well as other inclement weather, Canadians boycotting the United States starting in 2025, and increased nationwide economic stress caused by increased prices and stagnant wages, among other factors. She also made it clear that she did not see traffic increasing dramatically in 2026. The Adventure Park, as well as the land it sits on, is privately owned and not funded by tax revenue. Noteworthy points of contention during the presentation included the Park and its land having been for sale for over a year and how the loan in progress would be handled after the sale, fears of funding issues down the road as events like Capitol Days are set to be more competitive, and Silver Bay and the IRRRB’s stakes in the details of the loan. After much discussion, a motion to forgive the loan failed. The Council suggested Tibbetts put forward a future proposal that would involve adjusting the repayment structure to be more attainable for the business.
