Sustaining healthcare services for Silver Bay and the surrounding region has continued to be a priority for Mayor Wade LeBlanc, who recently held discussions with Behavioral Health Director Cecilia Bloomquist of Sawtooth Mountain Clinic in Grand Marais to “keep the lines of communication open” with the drawn-out closure of Silver Bay’s clinic underway.
In brighter news, a new playground has been installed outside of the Trailhead Center and is now open for use. City Administrator Lana Fralich complimented the quality of the playground, adding that children were ready to climb all over it before construction was even complete. She further confirmed that another improvement for the area, adding signage, is still being worked on.
The City’s Silverpointe II workforce housing apartment project was awarded a deferred loan from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency for $750,000. The award is part of the state’s Workforce Housing Development Program, to be specifically used for building market-rate residential rental properties in areas showing potential for job growth. Silver Bay was one of six communities in the state chosen this year, with an overall total of almost $4.5 million in funding being offered.
There will be two possible events near the start of next year for the Council to lobby for funding for local projects: First, the Legislative Session Priorities dinner will be held January 13, with LeBlanc tentatively planning to attend. Second, Capitol Days will be February 2nd through the 4th. City Administrator Lana Fralich passed on warnings that funding would be difficult this coming session, a continuation of budgets tightening in the past few years. The Council was directed to focus on pushing fewer projects rather than spreading resources too thin.
Consent agenda items of note were that City Hall will be closed the day after Thanksgiving to allow personal time for City staff; the City also renewed its contract with Costin Group to provide continued lobbying services for 2027.
Two small resolutions approved by the Council were amending a minor clerical mistake on the Purchase and Development Agreement for the Silver Bay Boathouse Project and setting a public hearing to approve a variance for driveway approaches and street or sidewalk alterations in the city code. The public hearing will be held during the next City Council meeting on November 16th at 6:00 pm.
A larger resolution concerned the wastewater treatment facility and the City’s related mercury variance. Although Silver Bay has relied on the variance to allow them a greater output of mercury, a dangerous pollutant, into Lake Superior, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has signaled an unwillingness to allow the variance to continue as-is. Bolton & Menk Principal Engineer Brian Guldan talked the Council through their options, recommending a long-term overall facility upgrade that would gain substantial funding if the City pursued a compliance schedule with MPCA. Prior to final acceptance of the schedule, the City would have the ability to back out of the arrangement. The Council eventually agreed to respond to MPCA in favor of a compliance schedule.
City Engineer Josh Stier had a brief update on the Citywide Street Improvements Project, particularly the section at Adams and Arthur. All concrete curbs and gutters, as well as driveways, are in, and as of this meeting, the contractors were just waiting for a spell of dry weather to get pavement down before winter.
In other business, the Council pledged their support for the 148th Fighter Wing in their efforts to gain F-35 Lightning II aircraft, which would be an upgrade to their current status. Duluth and Two Harbors have similarly pledged support. The City also renewed its franchise agreement with Mediacom as a 5-year extension of the existing contract, including keeping the franchise fee at 3%. Fralich had one addition to the agenda, bringing the Council’s attention to deferment applications for special assessments. Currently, as laid out in the City’s policies, certain deferments at hand would be denied even if other requirements were met due to being under the $1,000 limit by a whopping total of $5.83. Fralich requested an augmentation to allow the deferments, which the Council informally agreed upon. The Council plans to take formal action on the matter and amend the policy during its next meeting on the 16th.
