A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Sorted by date Results 426 - 450 of 484
The Cloquet city council voted 5-0 Tuesday to censure Ward 5 City councilor Steve Langley, after independent investigator Michelle Soldo found that Langley had sent an unwanted text message to former Cloquet police chief Wade Lamirande and contacted and complained to Lamirande’s current boss in Langley’s capacity as city councilor. Lamirande filed a series of complaints against city officials earlier this year, detailing eight issues each with Cloquet city councilor Steve Langley and Clo...
Now that summer has arrived, The Beach at Pinehurst Park is open and ready for swimmers. Or is it? The City of Cloquet spent millions to renovate Pinehurst Park to make a clean, safe swimming facility. It was a long, community-involved process. Consultants gave us three options for remodeling the old Pinehurst Pond and neighbors debated the merits of each option for months. It didn’t help much that the consultants labeled the options as “Good,” “Better” and “Best.” Those designations caused a lo...
With the Great Recession firmly in the rearview mirror, local governmental bodies are eyeing and undertaking building projects that many say are long overdue. In most cases, they're correct. Still, the question of how to fund a public building boom has elected officials scratching their heads, and taxpayers worried that property taxes are going to make their homes unaffordable. In Carlton County - and particularly Cloquet - there are so many big-dollar current and proposed projects, it can be...
Recently, newly elected Cloquet councilor Dakota Koski announced that he must resign his seat, as he is moving out of his ward and will no longer be eligible to serve. First, congratulations to Dakota, who is buying his first house. And cheers to him as well, for stepping up to run for council in the first place. We applaud his civic commitment and hope he stays involved as he has so far. But more cheers go to the Cloquet City Council for agreeing to hold an election for Koski’s replacement in Ward 3. In the 2018 election, three candidates file...
I was disheartened by the Cloquet City Council’s recent 5-1 vote to approve rezoning of the lot adjacent to Sammy’s Pizza from R-1 (single-family resident) to RC (highway commercial) in order for the owner to put a parking lot on a former residential lot. The planning commission, of which I am a member, had twice considered this issue, and twice rejected the change. Indeed, the council had considered it in their prior meeting but, after receiving erroneous information that the commission had rejected based on a misunderstanding, had sent it...
After sending rezoning and comprehensive plan change requests back to the Planning Commission and getting the same recommendation back — to deny the requests — the Cloquet City council voted 5-1 to approve the requests at its meeting June 4. The requests came from Sammy’s Pizza owner Mike Acheson, who wants to put a parking lot on a lot he owns at the end of Boulder Drive. Boulder Drive is a one-block, deadend street located between the Cloquet Chamber of Commerce building and Sammy’s. There a...
After deliberating behind closed doors for nearly 80 minutes, Cloquet City councilors fired longtime police sergeant Scott Holman by a 4-2 vote Tuesday night. Mayor Roger Maki and councilors Lara Wilkinson, Kerry Kolodge and Bunn Carlson voted in favor of dismissal, while councilors Dakota Koski and Steve Langley voted “nay.” Councilor Sheila Lamb was absent. Holman was a detective and K-9 officer, and had worked for the Cloquet police department for 22 years. In a written statement, his attorne...
Cloquet city administrator Aaron Reeves said the Minnesota Legislature and Gov. Tim Walz approved changes to the city’s existing half-cent sales tax legislation. The changes will allow the city to tap into funds that were originally earmarked for infrastructure for commercial development at Highway 33 and Interstate 35 that simply isn’t going to happen. Reeves said the city has already lined up about $4 million in projects for the newly available sales tax dollars, and the council would need to allocate another $1.5-$1.8 million, or it cou...
After discussion during Tuesday's meeting, Cloquet city councilors and Mayor Roger Maki voted unanimously to hold a special election to replace Ward 3 city councilor Dakota Koski, who purchased and is moving to a home in Ward 5. Koski said he regrets having to step down, but ultimately chose a home for life over a four-year council term. Although city administrator Aaron Reeves recommended the council appoint someone and hold a special election at the same time as the November 2020 election to...
The good news? Ward 3 Cloquet city councilor Dakota Koski just bought his first home. The bad news? It's not in Ward 3. That means Koski will have to step down from his council seat as soon as he makes the move from his current residence on Eighth Street to his new home in the Sunnyside neighborhood, which he expects to happen July 1. City administrator Aaron Reeves said the council will have a choice between setting a special election as soon as possible, or appointing someone to fill Koski's...
Since a resident broached the idea earlier this year, members of the Cloquet Planning Commission and Cloquet City Council had been pecking at the idea of changing city code to allow residents to keep chickens in certain residential neighborhoods with large enough lots. The draft ordinance would have allowed residents to keep up to five hens (no roosters) in the suburban residential or R1 districts on lots a minimum of half an acre. A previous attempt to change the law died for lack of a second in 2012, but would have allowed chickens on...
After some debate Tuesday, Cloquet city councilors unanimously approved a temporary pay raise for Cloquet police commander Carey Ferrell, who has been fulfilling the duties of police chief since Chief Jeff Palmer went on “voluntary paid leave” effective April 16. The increase will take Ferrell’s pay rate from $85,722 per year to $102,096 a year, prorated for each month. The raise will be backdated a month, and the council approved two additional months of extra pay but asked that the arrangement...
Cloquet city council members had many questions at their Tuesday meeting, tabling two of five votes on the agenda because councilors wanted more time for research and more questions answered before voting. Tabled for now were requests for zoning changes for a proposed parking lot from Sammy's Pizza owner Mike Acheson, and for nearly $100,000 for three different police vehicle purchases. The most contentious issue was the parking lot request, as neighbors of Sammy's Pizza turned out to voice stro...
Residents who are missing the local CAT-7 cable access station should not give up hope. The station was shut down so the studio and all its equipment could be moved from its long-time home at Cloquet High School into the new city hall building. City administrator Aaron Reeves said he hopes the station will be back on the air next week, with even better equipment and the capability to livestream all meetings held in the new council chambers....
Well, it’s not exactly money well spent. But it’s essential to spend it. Our system depends on it. We’re talking about the money it costs the city of Cloquet to continually investigate complaints against city officials, police and councilors. We understand the frustration of taxpayers, who would prefer their funds be spent on roads, parks, protection and other essential city services. In recent years, the city has spent a significant amount of tax money investigating the former police chief, the current police chief, a council member and city...
Cloquet city councilors and administration agree: it’s time for another police study. While not referring directly to police and council actions that contributed to a rising tide of citizen mistrust and frustration over the previous two years, city administrator Aaron Reeves pointed out that the Cloquet police department was one of the issues that drove last year’s election. Councilors voted unanimously Tuesday to pay the Novak Consulting Group $48,800 to conduct a police department operations s...
The Cloquet City Council will meet in a special session with the Carlton County Board of Commissioners and Fond du Lac Reservation starting at 9 a.m. Monday, May 6, in the Lake Hall at the Black Bear Casino and Resort, to discuss mutual concerns facing Carlton County, Fond du Lac, and the City of Cloquet....
According to city administrator Aaron Reeves, Cloquet Police Chief Jeff Palmer was placed on "voluntary paid leave" effective April 16. Reeves said he could not elaborate on Palmer's absence, but said it wasn't a result of the investigation of former police chief Wade Lamirande's complaints about Palmer. Palmer has been cleared of all eight allegations contained in that complaint, according to Reeves and to a redacted copy of the investigative report shared last week by Teamsters Union 320 -...
According to city administrator Aaron Reeves, Cloquet police chief Jeff Palmer was placed on “voluntary paid leave” effective Tuesday, April 16. Reeves said he could not elaborate on Palmer’s absence, but said it was unrelated to any investigation of Palmer. “Because of the nature of this matter the City cannot provide any further comment at this time,” Reeves wrote in an email to the Pine Knot News. Palmer was appointed interim chief of police when the council placed former police chief Ste...
Cloquet city councilors voted unanimously Tuesday to exonerate two city employees — city administrator Aaron Reeves and human resources director James Barclay – on Tuesday, following investigations of allegations made by former Cloquet police chief Wade Lamirande. Lamirande emailed Cloquet city officials, councilors and local media a list of approximately eight complaints each about Cloquet city councilor Steve Langley and current police chief Jeff Palmer on Feb. 6; he also included one all...
By a vote of 5-1 (councilor Kerry Kolodge dissenting) on April 2, Cloquet City councilors approved a requested change to the city’s winter parking ordinance — which prohibit parking on the street 3-6 a.m. from Nov. 1 to March 31 — to allow police officers to tow vehicles that violate the law. It’s been five years since police have been able to enforce the ordinance, because of a change to state statute which required police to ticket, then wait four hours notice before towing. That four-hour limit has now been removed from state law, which m...
Members of the Cloquet Planning Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend approval by the Cloquet city council of a land sale from the city to 14th Street Apartments, LLC, for the development of Phase 3 of the 14th Street Apartments across the street from Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. City planner/zoning administrator Al Cottingham told commissioners that the two existing apartment buildings hold 18 and 22 apartments, and plans for a third building propose 36 units. Cottingham said the developer, David Chmielewski, hopes to...
After approving a conditional use permit to add two ground-floor apartments to the building at 120 Ave. C in the West End commercial district, the Cloquet Planning Commission is now taking another look at the West End. During the Cloquet city council work session March 18, city planning/zoning administrator Al Cottingham explained that the city attorney thought the conditional use permit granted for the apartments — allowing owners Ryan & Zach, LLC greater density than the 20 units per acre currently allowed — may have violated City Code. Cot...
Former Cloquet police chief Wade Lamirande has filed a new complaint against the department he used to oversee. On Friday, March 22 Lamirande emailed a complaint to Cloquet city councilors, city administrator Aaron Reeves, and local newspapers, along with a photograph of four uniformed Cloquet police officers posing for a photo with former Cloquet mayor Dave Hallback (also a retired Cloquet policeman), who is holding a “Re-elect Dave Hallback for Mayor” sign. Lamirande filed complaints aga...
Cloquet City Councilors voted to investigate one of their own with zero objections Tuesday, not even from the subject of the investigation, Steve Langley. "I welcome an investigation," the Ward 5 councilor said during the council meeting. "It will show these allegations are false." The action was taken in response to eight complaints about Langley submitted to the city on Jan. 30 by former police chief Wade Lamirande, who retired in 2014 after 24 years with the Cloquet police department....
