City Council approves new ambulance purchase
When Mayor Josh Carlson called the Monday, December 10 regular meeting of the Tower City Council to order at 5:30 p.m. the looming 7:15 p.m. kickoff of the Minnesota Vikings–Seattle Seahawks Monday Night football game was surely foremost in the minds of the soon to retire mayor and retiring Aldermen Lance Dougherty and Brad Matich. The lengthy agenda looked daunting, the city council chambers was packed with the usual suspects seeking handouts or attention and the air was thick with anticipation and one had to wonder if the city council could possibly clear all the business before it in time to catch the entire game?
The answer to that question became immediately apparent when, under public input, Marshall Helmberger spoke for nearly 40 minutes about his concerns in being called out for willfully deceiving the public on ambulance data by Ambulance Director Steve Altenburg. He prepared an 18 page document to argue that he was right and Altenburg was wrong when it came to the financial predictions for the ambulance service. He also claimed that “his reputation is the only thing he has” as an award winning journalist. Helmberger maintains he was defamed when he was accused of misleading the public and it almost seemed as if he was practicing for a lawsuit he intends to soon file. It is unclear what reputation Helmberger alleged was damaged because, as far as I am aware, he certainly does not experience a positive reputation among local residents who have followed his activities around Tower these past three decades.
Mayor-elect Orlyn Kringstad further added to the delay in conducting city business by constantly interrupting the mayor wanting the city to focus on his concerns over its methodical plod through the agenda detailing the business before the city.
By the end of the meeting visible frustration was clearly present in Carlson’s face, because of the constant interruptions he faced while attempting to conduct the city’s business, yet he never deviated from being the gentleman—patient statesman—that city residents have come to appreciate over his tenure on the city council.
The city council reviewed the two bids it received in response to its request to provide a new ambulance and Stryker cot for the city. A bid was received from 94 Services, partnered with Life Line Emergency Vehicles, to provide an ambulance and include the cot at a total cost of $243,994.00. Fire Safety U.S.A., Inc. bid $238,750 for an ambulance bringing the total cost to over $258,000 once a Stryker cot is purchased à la carte.
Following a discussion on the new ambulance, including noting the savings the city will realize in the future when it can move the ambulance “box” onto a new chassis when mechanical replacement become necessary, the city council unanimously decided it would accept the 94 Services, Inc. bid and order the new ambulance.
At its last meeting, November the Tower City Council and Tower Harbor Shores, LLC. Master Developer Jeremy Schoenfelder agreed to turn over final negotiations on a development contract for 20 town home units to be built on city-owned land on the harbor to its respective attorneys.
City Clerk-Treasurer Linda Keith reported that she had again been in contact with city attorney Christopher Virta regarding the development agreement and has yet to hear from Tower Harbor Shores regarding the identity of the developers attorney. (On Wednesday of this week, Keith reported that Kelly Klun, Klun Law, Ely, Minn. contacted the city attorney and negotiations between the parties commenced.) Keith admitted that some of what she told the city council previously was in error. The city can only take two actions, Keith told the city council she verified with the city attorney. The city can set its percentage of abated taxes and request an abatement from St. Louis County. It can also set a time period during which the abatement is in effect.
After thorough discussion the city council determined that it that the best the city could offer the developer, as well reasonably expect St. Louis County to seriously consider, is a 62.5 percent abatement from the City of Tower and a 75 percent abatement from the county. The city is proposing that each abatement run for a period of 10 years. This offer will be forwarded to both attorneys and the city hopes there can be resolution, and a signed development agreement soon.
The city council also discussed at great length a $126,000 loan made to Kringstad to spark development at the city harbor and decided that it expects, rather hopes, that Tower Harbor Shores, LLC will agree to accept responsibility for the loan. The loan itself, and how the city came to lend Kringstad money in the first place is worthy of further investigation and it is our hope will provide interesting holiday reading next week once all of our freedom of information requests are honored. “It’s a mess,” Mayor Carlson said acknowledging that the Tower Economic Development Association and its previous leadership left the city in a unsatisfactory position.
In the end, no one who attended the city council meeting was able to see the kick-off of the game. The meeting adjourned some minutes into the first period. Those who maintain a grudge with the city council wanted to reignite debate after the meeting and had to be asked to leave the council chambers. Mayor Carlson and Deputy Mayor Kevin Fitton went about the business of signing checks to pay the city’s bills. The media, audience, and other councilors drifted away, some in search of a television. The city council will reconvene sometime in the near future and soon the new mayor and new city council will take their oaths of office and their seats at the council table and experience what it is like to be confronted, often hostilely, on the receiving side of the city council table, when all they are trying to accomplish is to attempt to conduct the people’s business with dignity.
The Seahawks triumphed over the Vikings, 21-7.
The Mayor Carlson administration, Josh, Lance, Brad, Kevin and Brooke will assuredly be missed. They worked well together for the benefit of all of Tower’s residents, and have always kept a clear understanding of exactly what that means.
In other action, the Tower City Council:
• Set the 2019 budget at $1,910.587 reflecting a one-half-percent increase over 2018
• Certified the 2019 levy at $365,520 for the general fund and $5,000 for the Tower Economic Development Authority
• Acknowledged the December 13 hearing, on a proposed campground in Greenwood Township, being conducted by St. Louis County Planning and Zoning in Virginia
• Approved a $250 donation to the St. Louis County Fair
• Approved a change on the Low Impact Excavators demolition order at the Your Boat Club marina on the East Two River
• Decided it will seek bids on propane delivery for the new Lamppa Manufacturing plant and approved two pay orders for Lenci Construction for work now completed on the building
• Acknowledged correspondence from Vermilion Lake Township Supervisor Robert Pratt clarifying inaccurate reporting made by the Timberjay in its coverage of a recent Vermilion Lake town board meeting
• Set the 2019 sewer budget at $82,800 and the water budget at $140,770
• Established a $70 per quarter sewer charge for airport leases connected to the airport drainfield
• Re-established the Ventures Seaplanes aviation fuel discount for the commercial account
• Designated the Herbert R. Lamppa Civic Center as the city’s official polling place for all precincts
• Passed resolution 2018-20 to support ”using local financial resources as a part of a broadband deployment” and seeking leadership from St. Louis County in “developing regional broadband deployment.”