Fond du Lac flag now flies at Cloquet City Hall

The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa flag now flies in the Cloquet City Council chambers, a reminder to those who do business there that the borders of the Fond du Lac Reservation and Cloquet overlap and the two entities cannot thrive separately.

Charlie Smith, or "Nenaaw" in Anishinaabe, offered tobacco to everyone in the room, as well as to the drum itself, after the Cedar Creek drum group finished two songs and the flag was placed behind the council dais.

They presented the flag so the council would remember the Fond du Lac Band is here and part of the community, Smith said after first addressing the room in Ojibwe, pointing out that when Leroy Defoe made the FDL flag, he placed all four colors of man: red, white, yellow and black. "As Anishinaabe people, we remember not just ourselves but everybody, no matter what color they are," he said.

Smith reiterated what Fond du Lac Chairman Kevin Dupuis had said before the drum songs.

"I hope the flag is going to be here so we can work together," he said.

Ward 2 Councilor and FDL Band member Sheila Lamb gave tobacco to each member of the Fond du Lac Honor guard and Dupuis during the ceremony.

"Miigwech for coming," Maki said to Dupuis and the other Band members at the meeting. "I have made it a priority for myself to work together. We want to do more of that. I take it seriously. We want to improve relations and we will work hard to do that."

Dupuis said it is the same for the RBC (Reservation Business Committee).

"We need to talk about what you guys were talking about earlier, at another time - I think there's a place for all of us," the chairman said.

Following the meeting, Dupuis said he is encouraged that the FDL flag now flies in the Carlton County courthouse, in the Cloquet school district and now at Cloquet ("Bapashkominitig" in Ojibwe) City Hall.

"It's about recognition - we're here," Dupuis said. "It's also about doing the best we can to live in harmony with each other."

Dupuis said he hopes to continue to work with other local government entities to maximize opportunities for everyone who lives here.

Library bids are high

There was no vote by the council following a public hearing on bonds for the proposed Cloquet public library expansion, because bids for the project came in substantially over budget. Rather than the originally anticipated $2.2 million project, the bids put the cost at closer to $3 million.

As originally planned, $784,000 of the costs would be covered by a state grant, with $275,000 (for fixtures and equipment) by the Cloquet Shaw Memorial Library Foundation; the city council originally indicated its willingness to cover approximately $1.25 million, $1.5 million max. Foundation treasurer Larry Anderson said the Foundation is trying to raise another $250,000 through a capital campaign.

Raising the city's planned contributed by $30,000 would result in a 1-percent levy increase for the next 20 years, city administrator Aaron Reeves told the council.

It's not a done deal, however. Reeves said the plan was to rebid parts of the project that came in with higher than expected costs.

There are places that could be cut, Tim Meyer of Meyer Group Architecture in Duluth, told the council, sharing that the low bid was $2,407,000, from Johnson Wilson Constructors in Duluth. The high bids were above $2.6 million.

"As typically happens, as the project developed in more detail we're thinking it became more elaborate in the development of some of the systems in the building," Meyer said.

The bids did include four different alternates that could be taken out of the plans to reduce costs, including baseboard heat in the addition as a redundant heating system, plus some decorative work, an office for the assistant director, a drinking fountain in the lobby and new carpet in the current library.

Removing those would save $135,000 in costs.

Meyer said the project also included some improvements to the existing building that were not part of the project as originally proposed.

He said changing the project start time so it didn't happen during the coldest months of winter could save costs - but it could also add costs if it meant delay.

New bids could come back in two weeks, he said, giving the council more options to work with.

Sean Morrissey of Johnson Wilson Constructors, the low bidder on the project, said he would like to work with the city to "value engineer" the project, as an alternative to the rebid and as a way to get things moving more quickly so they could start the project before winter.

"We did that with Hermantown Community Ed:worked with them to get costs back down so we could start on time and not shift into winter conditions," he said.

The council voted to table any vote on the library.

Levy vote delayed

Councilors also chose to table a vote on the preliminary tax levy Tuesday, because they wanted more solid financial numbers regarding the library. Additionally, at-large councilor Lara Wilkinson said she would like to wait until the police study - a first draft is expected next week - came in so they would know the recommendations it contained.

The council is required to adopt a preliminary tax levy in September. On Tuesday, they were looking at as much as a 5-percent increase in the levy if the city adds a parks director position and has to bond for more money for the library expansion. Without those items, the levy increase could be closer to 1-2 percent.

"I was hoping with the additional $188,000 in (aid) from the state that we'd get a flat levy, but I think there's too many things unknown now," Ward 4 councilor Kerry Kolodge said.

CAT-7 is back

CAT-7 coordinator Eric Lipponen reported to the council that the cable access television channel is up and running again, although there are still "dark" times between shows that he is working to correct as he rebuilds the CAT-7 library following a somewhat disastrous move from the longtime studio at Cloquet High School to the basement of City Hall.

Things should be getting back to normal soon, he said, noting that he shot the Labor Day festivities Monday and "Harry's Gang" will restart soon. He's also looking at new programming ideas.

Lipponen said fixes would come more quickly if he is returned to full-time status, as he's been part-time since January. He also explained how many hours some of the current programming takes, noting that each Wilderness hockey game is a 5-6 hour commitment.

Councilors voted to table a resolution that would have undone a 2016 council resolution to delete the section of the city code related to the cable TV commission. Wilkinson said she would like to wait to vote until the cable commission meets again and she can hear more from the other communities that are part of the cable commission. Reeves said that wasn't a problem, since the city has essentially been operating under the old ordinance since 2016 anyway.

In other matters:

• Tuesday was the last Cloquet City Council meeting for outgoing city administrator Aaron Reeves, who spent the last two weeks before his departure on vacation. Councilors voted unanimously to appoint assistant city administrator and human resources director James Barclay as interim administrator while the city searches for Reeves' replacement.

The vote did not pass without comment.

"I don't want to hold up the process," Kolodge said. "But I'd like to have a sit-down with James and city staff and go over some things moving forward as far as the position goes and our expectations. We've come through a rotten time in the city's history and I don't want to see anything repeated that we had happen the last time that we were between administrators."

Maki concurred and Barclay said he would sit down with the mayor and Kolodge soon.

Ideally, the city will be able to hire a new city administrator by sometime in November.

• Also Tuesday, the council accepted a $5,000 donation from Enbridge Energy to help with construction of phase two of the Pine Valley mountain bike trail. The city opened 2.5 miles of single-track mountain bike trail at Pine Valley in 2018; plans are to complete a total of 5 miles of bike trails there.

• Lamb said the council should look into moving the public comment period to the beginning of the meeting, rather than the end, so people will feel like their voices have been heard before votes.