Two Harbors Council, May 27th: Utility Extension & Committee Reports

City Committees have been working to move their specific missions forward. The Hous­ing Redevelopment Authority has been reviewing finance and maintenance reports and clarifying some of the committee’s business processes from the past few years. There was ap­parently some disorganization from the previous HRA Direc­tor’s tenure. They are reviewing HUD (Housing and Urban Development) requirements and are reviewing progress that has been made on the commit­tee’s five year plan. The HRA is planning for an upcoming audit and is getting ready for a strategic planning meeting that is coming up later this month.

The Library Board reported that registered library usage has increased. There are cur­rently about 3900 library card holders using the facility. This represents an increase of 900 patrons over the past year. Ad­ditionally, there have been over 60,000 web site hits to the li­brary’s Internet system. The Summer Reading Program gets underway on June 9th and kids will have access to online sup­port from library staff. Volun­teers have played a major role in supporting both library staff and users with over 1100 vol­unteer hours from community members.

The Trees and Trails Com­mission has been dealing with the continued fight against the Emerald Ash Borer. The Coun­cil voted to enter into a contract with Rick’s Tree and Stump Removal to treat ash trees for the pests.

The Public Arts Board re­ported that they are in the pro­cess of looking at proposals from the various artists that have expressed interest in the public mural project. Artist proposals will be forwarded to City Administration prior to final selection. The mural proj­ect is on track and on budget.

The Board considered four possible options for extending city utilities at the west end of town along Highway 61 as part of MnDOT’s reconstruction project. The project has been broken down into phases with the first option involving ex­tending the utilities from their current location, approximate­ly 600 feet southwest along the highway and crossing un­der the highway with sanitary sewer and watermain and the construction of a sanitary sew­er lift station to provide service to the area. The estimated cost of this option is $2,286,400. The second option involved the extension of utilities from the proposed sanitary sew­er lift station, approximately 1,500 feet southwest along highway 61 near Scenic Drive. Estimated cost of this option is $1,550,300. Option three involved extending utilities from the proposed lift station, approximately 2,000 feet along the southerly rear property line of city owned property to near Scenic Drive. The cost of this option is estimated at $1,859,700. Option four calls for extension of a carrier pipe under Highway 61 so that future utility extensions will not require digging up the road after MnDOT has completed the reconstruction project. The cost of option four is estimated at $235,000. The Council vot­ed unanimously to adopt op­tion four.

In other business the Council approved an Emergency Facil­ities and Land Use Agreement between the USDA Forest Ser­vice and the City for use of the Airport facilities for the Camp House fire response.

The next Two Harbors Coun­cil meeting will be held on June 9th at 5:30 PM.