During June’s second meeting, City Administrator Patty Nordean reminded all that there will be an Open House at the Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant on Tuesday, July 7th, from 12:30 – 2:30 pm, to celebrate the new facility and upgrade. The event is open to the public and there will be cake.
City Planner Sarah Swedberg updated the Council on the ongoing planned apartment project by Vision Incorporated, with plans currently being drafted for what exactly will be built on the site. The City has also recently had several trees planted, with more to come once preferred species have been delivered.
City Engineer Andy Brotzler gave a quick update on the Lighthouse Point Road Project, which is starting this week. Those coordinating the project have taken care to ensure Two Harbor’s 4th of July fireworks show at the Waterfront Park and the Heritage Days Parade on Saturday, July 11th will continue as planned without interference such as road closures. Because of its impact on the town, the Lighthouse Point Road Project has its own webpage, located at clients.bolton-menk. com/lhproadproject/. There is also a link available to this page on the Two Harbors City website, near the bottom of the home page where it says “Learn more about the Lighthouse Point Reconstruction Project”. The page will be updated as the project progresses and has contact information for those with questions or comments about the project. Brotzler encouraged queries to be sent to info@ LighthousePointReconstruction.com.
City Administrator Nordean’s biweekly report perhaps most notably included continued planning for the Highway 61 Reconstruction Project, which will widely affect Two Harbors in the near future. One of the larger business items approved on the agenda included a proposal from Bolton & Menk for Highway 61 Reconstruction Project Communications, and from here the project is sure to only come up more often during meetings.
Committee Reports began with Public Works, which is discussing maintenance needs on the current bandshell, complicated by the hopes of switching to a new site within a few years. Recycling bins are also an ongoing issue the committee is still working out. Public Safety went into overtime with talks about the recently uncovered ordinance limiting parking in the cemetery. Public Affairs, meanwhile, tackled a proposed dog park on this week’s agenda as well as covering protocol for communications during emergencies. The Finance Committee did further Highway 61 planning and decided to push for a gas rate increase, also on the agenda. Trees & Trails is making progress on the Odegard trail and was happy to announce the 35 trees recently planted by the community. On a more somber tree note, spruce budworm continues to be afflicting balsam firs in town.
Some items of note approved on the Consent Agenda were: special event permits for Sterling Dance Program on June 27-28 and Lovin Lake County during the July 4th celebration; a Lawful Gambling Exempt Permit for Crush ALS Inc. to conduct a raffle; allowing Two Harbors High School class of 1976 to dig up their time capsule buried within Thomas Owns Park, provided they have done a proper 811 check of the area to ensure the digging will not damage utilities; a survey of the Lake County Veterans’ Memorial parcel; a payment for the 2024 & 2025 Street Improvement Project; and a $100 donation to the Police Department.
In larger items of business, the Council approved the increased gas rates, which Finance Director Miranda Pietila described as being about a 4.5% increase, equating to about $5.08 more per month. She also clarified that the new gas rates would take effect July 1st, with the first bill attached to the new rates appearing on residents’ August bills.
The Two Harbors Police Department is seeking funding to build a storage/training facility to safely hold vehicles, evidence, case files, and other assorted records/ documents, as well as a location for conducting training exercises. The total cost of building this facility is estimated at around $400,000, with just over $150,000 covered by a state grant for Public Safety and around $75,000 from the City of Two Harbors. The Council approved their request to seek financial aid for the remaining costs, just under $200,000, from the IRRR Public Works Grant Program.
A more complicated issue was the matter of an appraisal of available land for a possible dog park, brought forward at the request of the Public Affairs Committee. The land in question is the brownfield property east of the wastewater treatment plant. In the time since the Public Affairs Committee’s meeting, City Administrator Nordean found record of a previous appraisal of the land done soon after its acquisition by the City in 2022. At that time, four years ago, it was valued at just over 1.5 million dollars. No additional testing of the area has been done since the last appraisal, raising the question of what a new appraisal would bring to the table. On request, City Attorney Tim Costley estimated a new appraisal would cost roughly $3,500 with a max of $5,000, enough to make the Council skeptical about putting money towards something which, at least on the surface, has already been done without changes in the interim.
The conversation then naturally turned towards usage of the land as a dog park considering its value and the upcoming park plan for the City, which includes a dog park as part of the goal. Councilor Todd Redmann floated the idea of a portion of the land being temporarily leased for use as a dog park, to which City Administrator Nordean gave Antonich Soccer Field as a cautionary example: having a community spot be on a technically temporary basis, yet realistically becoming too thorny a matter with the public to easily take it away once it exists. She further commented that, considering the County’s capabilities and the number of nonTwo Harbors residents who would undoubtedly be using the dog park, she thought Lake County should be involved in any planning for a dog park.
Next on the Council’s agenda, construction on 2nd Street and 4th Avenue currently involves boring for a utility line, but excavators have been stymied by encountering ledge rock, necessitating a price increase of $26 to $40 per foot charged by the company doing the boring, Gulbranson Excavating. The price increase, which was approved by the Council, is justified by the extra time and effort needed to deal with the rock, with a cap of $16,000 if the excavation is successful and $6,900 if there is no progress after a full day of work.
The last item, moved from the consent agenda at the start of the meeting, is a continuation of the Lakeview Cemetery parking matter. Councilor Redmann asked for discussion to clarify details on the current progress, which involves amending the ordinance regarding cemetery parking to allow 2-hour permitted parking in designated areas of the cemetery between the hours of 7 am and 9 pm for non cemetery business. It was confirmed that the ordinance can undergo more changes at a later date, but for now only the parking section of the ordinance is being addressed for a quicker, short-term solution. The Council, sans Hefter, voted yes on the ordinance amendment. Councilor Glaser brought up a request to refer the ordinance to the Public Works Committee, which will likely be formally handled during the next City Council meeting.
