WTIP local news briefs for Grand Marais, EDA, Cook County

News from the City of Grand Marais…

Motorists driving by the former Tomteboda Resort property in Grand Marais can now see evidence that the City of Grand Marais’s public works facility is becoming a reality.

A house-moving company, H.J. McGregor of Mountain Iron, Minnesota is on-site, lifting cabins and preparing for their removal.
The removal of the buildings means the city’s public works facility will proceed soon.

The City of Grand Marais has hired McGough Construction to serve as the construction manager for the city’s Public Works Facility. When the City Council finalized its agreement with McGough in March, the estimated cost had risen to $4.7 million.

However, at the March 29 city council meeting, City Administrator Mike Roth told the council that the $4.7 million price tag does not include an estimated $100,000 for in-floor heat in the building. The estimate also does not cover design fees of the city’s engineering firm, LHB, or a contingency fund for changes the city may make.

To fund the public works facility, the city plans to use $1.5 million of existing cash reserves and $3.5 million of general obligation capital improvement and utility revenue bonds.

 Members of the Cook County Chamber attended the last Cook County/Grand Marais Economic Development Authority meeting in March to share chamber concerns about the 2019 Highway 61 reconstruction project.

Director Jim Boyd and Chamber Member Jennifer Stoltz shared information on the process that took place to develop a community vision for the highway corridor as it passes through the city of Grand Marais. Meetings began in late 2014 to identify community priorities for Highway 61.

Boyd said the work of the parties involved resulted in the receipt of a $750,000 federal Transportation Alternatives Program grant for highway improvements in the city.

However, Boyd told the EDA board that the proposal recently shared by the Minnesota Department of Transportation does not “clearly express the desires of the city and its residents.”

Boyd explained that instead of a streetscape design, which would integrate improvements “curb to curb,” MnDOT is simply planning a trunk highway reconstruction.

Boyd told the EDA that the chamber is asking MnDOT for a:

• Streetscape design process
• A realistic schedule for design work to be completed
• And a funding plan for the design work.

The matter will be on upcoming meeting agendas for the Chamber and the EDA, which meets next Tuesday at 4 p.m. in Grand Marais City Hall.

Cook County Courthouse News
Also next week, Kirk Lee Bigby of Finland, Minnesota, will be back before Judge Eric Hylden in Grand Marais on a 1 p.m. on Friday, April 14.

It has more than a year since Bigby, then 62, was arrested for allegedly shooting and killing Marcus Lee Roberts of Bloomington, Minnesota at Bluefin Bay Resort in Tofte.

A trial was set for mid-January, but a motion from Bigby to change counsel delayed that trial. Public Defense attorney Brent R. Olson has been replaced by attorneys from Halberg Criminal Defense of Minneapolis.

A jury trial is scheduled to begin on June 5 and it is anticipated that the trial could take up to two weeks.

Bigby’s arrest followed a 9-1-1 call reporting gunshots fired in the parking lot of Bluefin Bay Resort’s Bluefin Grille at 12:12 a.m. on December 9, 2015. Sheriff Deputies arrived to find Roberts on the ground, bleeding and unresponsive. He was declared deceased shortly after. Witnesses who were at the Bluefin Bay Resort employee holiday party identified Bigby, a resort staff member, as the alleged shooter. He was arrested and booked into the Cook County Jail on the charge of 2nd degree murder. Bigby remains in custody at the Lake County Jail.