North Shore News Hour

 This April, Dockside Fish Market in Grand Marais changed hands. Longtime owners Shele and Harley Tofte retired and a new family took over operations of the market. The market was closed at the time and the news owners reopened for the season a short time later.

The new owners report that things are going well. Well enough that there is a change in operations for the winter season. WTIP’s Rhonda Silence learns more in this interview.

WTIP likes to share news of local businesses -- new businesses, new owners, milestone achievements. If you know of North Shore business owners who should be featured, contact [email protected]. We would love to tell their story! 
 

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) is returning to Grand Marais on Thursday, November 7 with the latest—and final—version of the Highway 61 re-design through the city of Grand Marais. 

This latest meeting is a continuation of the work begun in February 2016 when a MnDOT design team, including consultants CJ Fernandez, a highway architect and Jason Aune of Aune Fernandez Landscape Architects and Mike Fischer of LHB, Inc., shared concept designs. 

There was a large turnout for a February 2018 public meeting with MnDOT, at which the agency presented plans for what Fernandez described as the “geometric plan” for the highway corridor. At a city council meeting at that time, Fernandez said the geometric plan was the “core” or the “spine” of the project. 

MnDOT officials and city representatives hope for a large turnout at this meeting as well. Citizens and business owners are encouraged to attend the meeting at City Hall, Wednesday, November 7 from 6 to 8 p.m. 

MnDOT staff will share details about the project, construction phasing, traffic control and will provide an opportunity for attendees to ask questions and learn how to stay informed/involved with the project. Anyone with questions for MnDOT about the plan may call  (218)-725-2708. 

To see the MnDOT project page, click here. 

To see a MnDOT concept video of the project going through the city, click here. 

More information on the project also available from Patrick at [email protected] or (218)-387-1848.

If you are unable to attend this meeting, the plans are available for viewing at City Hall anytime during normal business hours. 

WTIP's Rhonda Silence spoke with City Administrator Mike Roth and Visit Cook County Director Linda Jurek about the upcoming construction work and its impact on the city. 

Election season continues and so does campaigning. This week WTIP was visited by Paula Overby, the Green Party endorsed candidate.
The transgender Green Party candidate is challenging incumbent Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, and state Rep. Jim Newberger, a Republican from Becker, Minnesota.

Overby is from Eagan, Minnesota. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a degree in psychology and a second major in computer science. As a full time working mother of three, she had a successful career as a systems analyst with experience in quality assurance, data analysis and process design.

Overby is author of The Transgender Myth: Through the Gender Looking Glass.

In this interview, WTIP’s Rhonda Silence learns more about Paula, about the Green Party platform and the challenges faced by candidates not affiliated with either of the two major political parties.

The Cook County/Two Harbors cross country running team, North Shore Storm, followed up on their great showing at the Section 7A championship meet with a trip to the State Meet at St. Olaf College in Northfield on Saturday, November 3. Once again the Storm runners faced stiff competition and represented the North Shore well, with the boys’ team finishing 9th and the girls 16th.

Out of 175 runners at St. Olaf, the Storm girls finished strong with Autumn Smith finishing 40th with a time of 20.25.8, followed closely by Cedar Gordon, 44th at 20.38.4. Lamar Gordon was less than a second back, coming in 67th at 21.23.7. They were followed by Claire LaVigne in 69th with a time of 21.24.7, Louise Ramberg, 71st with 21.26.6; Kate Walsberg, 77th, at 21.36.8 and Malin Anderson, 90th with a time of 22.07.2.

The boys’ field included 176 runners. Finishing first for the Storm was Isaac Swanson, in 15th at 16.35.8. He was closely followed by Noah Smith in 23rd, 16.53.9 and Brenden Seipke, 28th at 16.57.9. The rest of the 9th place Storm were Will Surbaugh, 48th, 17.21.5; JC Holman, 101, 18.47.9; Tate Crawford, 104th, 19.02.5; and Kevin Viren, 106th, 19.05.0.

Congratulations to our State competitors and the entire team, as well as coaches April Wahlstrom, Dan Hebl and Sara Schiel.
 

A winter storm watch has been issued for Sunday morning through Monday, November 5. According to the National Weather Service, Cook County could see snow totals of 6 inches or more.

Duluth Meteorologist Dean Melde says the storm will likely occur over northern Wisconsin first with an estimated 2 to 5 inches, then move north along the north shore leaving 1 to 4 inches, with higher amounts over eastern Cook County. The worst conditions will likely be late Sunday afternoon and evening.

High winds may accompany the storm with gusts of 30 to 40 mph near Lake Superior.

Motorists are advised to expect slippery road conditions. Be sure to clear snow and ice from windows and lights. Brake early, leaving twice the normal amount of room for stopping. Don’t use cruise control in wintry conditions.
 

After every meeting of the Grand Marais City Council, WTIP invites Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux into the studio to hear his thoughts on what transpired in the meeting.

Here's WTIP's Rhonda Silence with Mayor DeCoux, talking about the Sawtooth Bluff (Old Ski Hill property) master plan; about the Grand Marais Municipal Liquor Store audit; about the city and county's shared operation of the Cook County YMCA building and finally, the "Oh Ole Night" holiday celebration in the city. 

The city and county will sit down Friday, November 9 at a place to be determined to talk more about the YMCA. 

The Grand Marais City Council met Tuesday, October 30, and had discussion on a number of ongoing matters.

The council heard from County Land Commissioner Lisa Kerr about the Sawtooth Bluffs Master Plan. Kerr distributed a copy of the draft plan and told the council that she and the plan facilitators, the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission, wants some direction. She said she would come back at the end of November to see if the city wanted to approve the plan.

The council asked what would happen if it agrees to adopt the plan. Kerr said the next step would be to create a joint powers board to manage the Sawtooth Bluff area amenities. And, she said, the city and county would have to decide what the make-up of that joint powers board would be—just city and county officials or user group representatives. And, Kerr asked the board to decide if it wanted an at-large representative of some sort, not affiliated with trails groups at all.  

***
The council had discussion of YMCA financials on its agenda, along with a spreadsheet detailing Y program revenue and expenses. Councilor Kelly Swearingen, the city’s YMCA representative, said that the Y hopes to have a profit of about $30,000 at the end of the year.

Swearingen pointed out the membership numbers—in September 2017, there were 1,679 members. In September 2018, 1,801.

Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux asked for the definition of membership and there was discussion of memberships versus program fees. There were also questions about what those membership and program fees are used for.
County Administrator Jeff Cadwell was at the council meeting, following up on a county request to meet with the city to discuss possible changes to the city/county joint agreement on funding the YMCA. Cadwell suggested the council direct its questions to YMCA Director Emily Marshall.

But, he added that the agreement between the city and the county regarding operations of the building were not related to the YMCA’s programming.

City Administrator Mike Roth disagreed and said the current agreement spells out the city, county and YMCA responsibilities. He said it makes sense to make changes, but to do so, the city needs to understand its current commitment.

The council agreed it needed more information to proceed. Swearingen asked her colleagues to give them her questions about YMCA operations. She will gather that information. The city council also asked Cadwell for copies of the current county/city contract; the county’s new contract with the YMCA and what the county has spent in maintenance at the YMCA.

Cadwell said he would get that documentation to the city and that he would include the county’s budget for the YMCA costs for the last five years.

The council and the city will meet on Friday, October 9 at 10 a.m., at a location to be determined.

*****
In other business, the council heard an update from Grand Marais Liquor Store Manager Chris LaVigne who answered questions that had been raised by the city’s recent audit about store inventory and how price changes are handled.

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Administrator Roth also shared information on the city’s proposed change to the employee health insurance plan from the Northeast Service Co-op to the Public Employees plan. Roth said the city will save over $10,000 with this change.
Roth said there had been discussion with employees about increased out-of-pocket costs versus lower premiums and increased contributions to individual health savings accounts. He said he appreciated the interaction with employees to figure out the best plan.
The city union voted to accept the change in plans, which Administrator Roth called a “win-win.”

*****
Councilor Swearingen noted that the city administrator does not get an employee review. She asked her colleagues if they were interested in conducting a review. She suggested the current board get this in motion as the makeup of the council could change after the November election.
Swearingen said she could bring in some sample evaluation forms. Roth said he would appreciate a review. He said he also has some staff review templates. They will bring those to the next council meeting for consideration.

*****
The council also approved the hiring of a new volunteer firefighter, Elizabeth Fragale.
And in a light-hearted piece of business, the council approved a street use permit and fireworks permit for the “Oh Ole Night” celebration on Friday, November 23.

Click below to hear some of the council's discussion about the county/city YMCA contract. 
 

The North Shore community has been watching One Roof Community Housing and the Cook County/Grand Marais Economic Development Authority (EDA) work together on housing projects for several years now.
 
One of the projects is the Nordic Star development in Grand Marais, which features four single-family homes in phase one, completed late this summer.
 
The homes feature vaulted, chalet style ceilings, three bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and living room. The houses will be owner-occupied as a principal residence and cannot be used as vacation rental property. All four of the phase one homes have been spoken for, but WTIP recently learned that there were some deficiencies found during the required home inspection.
 
A home inspector expressed concern about the possibility of mold in the crawlspace of one structure, about improper installation of siding, about placement of a shed too close to the house and a few other things.  
 
WTIP’s Rhonda Silence checked in with EDA Executive Director Mary Somnis and One Roof Housing’s Julie Petrusha to ask about the items that concerned the home inspector—and about what One Roof Housing was doing about it all. Petrusha said she was pleased to explain the process to remedy such concerns and assured the community that the home sales are moving ahead. 

Here's that conversation. 
 

For more years than community members can remember, there has been a Halloween Carnvival at Birch Grove Community Center. This year's event, on Sunday, October 28, attendance was on par with previous years. There were plenty of super hero characters, witches, vampires, dinosaurs, princesses and more. 

Volunteers hosted games ranging from a "Lucky Duck Pond" and "Fishing Hole" to golf and bean toss games. There was a nice lunch and cotton candy. There was cookie decorating and a cake walk. 

And to top it all off, Chaz the Magician performed throughout the carnival. 

WTIP's Rhonda Silence was on the scene and shares this report. 

And visit our WTIP Facebook page for lots more pictures!