City of Tower moves Lamppa project and harbor plat forward
Back to the drawing board on marina demolition
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2018 — The Tower Planning and Zoning Commission and the Tower City Council met in back-to-back sessions Monday, February 12. The planning and zoning commission held a special session immediately before the council meeting to give its final approval of the proposed Tower Harbor Plat and the proposed site and building plans for the new Lamppa Manufacturing facility, which the city hopes to build and then lease to Lamppa. The planning commission also gave approval on business park design standards which it drafted, and gave its approval to the Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) submitted by Dave Rose in support of his proposed East Two River campground.
All three projects and the design standards were moved forward by the planning and zoning commission and the city council.
The city council gave its unanimous approval to the proposed Tower Harbor Plat, publishing the Rose campground EAW in next week’s issue of The Tower News, the Lamppa Manufacturing facility site plan and building specifications, and the business park design standards.
The city council also gave approval to Resolution 2018-002, authorizing application for funding to build the 9,000 square foot building to the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB). It is expected that Lamppa Manufacturing will immediately occupy 1/2 half of the building with the city seeking potential tenants for the other half. The building will feature a metal roof and metal siding, however the front will be sided with an attractive manufactured wood siding and stone wainscoting.
The city also established a committee which will consist of Mayor Josh Carlson, City Clerk-Treasurer Linda Keith and Joan Broten to begin lease negotiations with Lamppa Manufacturing.
Luke Kujawa was on hand at the council meeting to watch the city open bids on demolition projects at the Tower Marina. Kujawa is a principle in Your Boat Club which purchased the marina this past November. He hopes to utilize IRRRB demolition funding, working through the City of Tower, to start renovations at the marina this late winter.
The city received two bids to complete the demolition work proposed. Dave Rose, Power Sports of Minnesota, submitted a bid of $32,100 and C. C. Winger, Embarrass, submitted a bid of $251,000. Needless to say, the city council was shocked by the wide cost differences between the two bids. C. C. Winger is a company well known in Tower and has worked with the city in the past. Rose, however, is an unknown entity, the city having never had any experience with him other than his land-use application to develop his proposed campground.
Clerk Keith told the city council that it was her understanding that Rose intended to accomplish the work by utilizing another construction contractor’s license and that she still needed to get insurance bonding information from Rose as none was supplied with his bid.
City Engineer Matt Bolf told the city council that he did not feel as if the specifications in the bid were adequately defined. “I talked with another contractor last week, and they declined to bid because the scope was vague,” Bolf told the council. ““If you are going to get state dollars, follow the rules, so you don’t have to give them back,” Bolf cautioned.
Mayor Carlson called for a motion to reject both bids and set a meeting between SEH, Inc., the city’s engineers, Kujawa and representatives of the city to finalize a second call for bids.
It is hoped that the city can ready the specifications and call for bids at its next meeting, February 26. Kujawa was excited about starting on his marina project. “I just ordered 50 slips and need to complete demolition so that there is a place to put them,” Kujawa said. He expected that bids would come in somewhere between $70,000 and $110,000 according to conversations he had with his marina managers and Marine Dock and Lift, Center City, Minnesota.
The city council unanimously rejected both bids and will work together, with Kujawa and the city engineers to be ready to again call for bids at the next meeting.
In other action, the Tower City Council:
• Approved moving forward with the city engineers on the airport wastewater tank project discussed at length by the city council in January
• Approved Ordinance 81B annexing specific city owned land currently located in Kugler Township into Tower’s corporate limits. It is expected that the second reading of the proposed ordinance will be held at the city’s Februry 26 meeting
• Gave its final approval on commission and city committees job descriptions as reviewed by the city council in January
• Approved the minutes of its January 8 regular meeting, January 22 regular meeting and January 29 special meeting
• Learned that the city will conduct its Board of Appeal and Equalization hearing on Tuesday, May 8, between 5:00 o’clock and 6 o’clock in the evening
• Learned that SEH engineering will set up a meeting between city officials and the Minnesota Department of Transportation to conduct the final site reviews on the proposed new Highway 169 City of Tower welcome signs
• Established and approved a new fee schedule for all services, leases, permits, applications and dog licenses. Clerk Keith reported that she recommends increasing the dog license from five dollars annually, to a lifetime license at a cost of $10. People often buy a dog license but neglect to renew it, Keith reported. Her proposal would simplify things and hopefully increase the number of dog licenses the city issues, Keith reported
• Approved a letter of intercept agreement between the Tower Ambulance Service and the Hoyt Lakes Fire Department Ambulance. Hoyt Lakes is expanding its services to include advanced life support service and with the intercept agreement Tower Ambulance will be prepared to offer its patients these services through Hoyt Lakes.