Plans set to reopen City Hall in May

Cloquet City Hall and the Cloquet Police Department will reopen to the public on May 1, after limited access because of the pandemic since mid-November.

City administrator Tim Peterson told council members Tuesday that he'd like to bring all of the staff back into the building effective next month.

"Our goal for the last couple months here was to attempt to wait until vaccines were available to everybody," Peterson said in response to a question from Ward 3 councilor Chris Swanson. "Now that that is an option, we thought we'd give everybody a month to attempt to get their first and second shot."

The Cloquet city offices and police department are both housed at City Hall. Both have large protective plexiglass barriers dividing staff from members of the public, which predated the pandemic. Since the building has been closed, people were asked to go online for permits or to schedule times to consult with city staff. People can access the drop box on the U.S. Bank frontage road to pay bills. Utility bills can be paid online at cloquetmn.gov or by phone at 877-885-7968.

Swanson's question about a timeline for holding council meetings in person got a more guarded response from councilors, although Peterson was in support of moving away from the online meetings that have been the norm for the past year.

"I think we have enough room to host council meetings in person," Peterson said, suggesting a start date of May 1.

He said asking the public to call in to council meetings for input has been largely unsuccessful. "I don't think we get very good communication with the public via Zoom meetings. I don't think there's a lot of participation. In the entire time I think we've had maybe one or two people comment during the public comment portion, so I would certainly like to see us move back to meetings held in person."

Swanson said he favored in-person meetings, as long as people wore masks and followed social distancing recommendations and are vaccinated, if they want to be.

Lyz Jaakola asked if the city would consider hybrid meetings, meaning councilors could choose to attend in person or online.

Peterson said that would likely cause technical difficulties. Only one microphone can be live in the council chambers when there are Zoom meetings - otherwise, it causes feedback and is disruptive, he said. They could explore trying to fix that problem, he said.

Mayor Roger Maki expressed concern about increasing Covid-19 rates across the country because of Covid variants.

"I'd like to see what happens in April," Maki said. "If it looks good, I'm all for it. If we're going backward [regarding Covid cases], then I'm not so sure."

Sheila Lamb said she would like to consult with doctors at Community Memorial Hospital or on the Fond du Lac reservation. "I'd like to get back to meetings and human contact, but let's protect the staff, the council and the public."

Park plans

Parks were on the agenda Tuesday, with councilors unanimously approving the purchase of new playground equipment for Braun Park at a cost of $45,000. Another $15,000 was reserved for concrete footings, playground chips and edger. The Braun Park playground is in the worst condition of the five playgrounds the city plans to renovate over the next 10 years. Members of the Cloquet Youth Baseball and Softball Association, city staff and volunteers will install the playground equipment.

Councilors also approved a proposal from Short Elliott Hendrickson for completion of a master plan for Pine Valley Park (the woodland park) at a cost of $24,500. The master plan must be completed before the city and parks commission can advance the Pine Valley application for a regional parks designation. As part of the master plan process, SEH will also work through a public engagement process that will include meeting the park board three times (in April, June and August), holding a virtual open house for visioning and input in May, and administering an online survey to gather additional input. The final draft would be presented in September.

Lawsuit

The council and city staff closed the meeting at 6:45 p.m. to discuss strategy in pending litigation. As reported in the Pine Knot News March 19, the cities of Cloquet, Duluth and Two Harbors are being sued because of their project labor agreements, or PLAs. The civil lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court on Jan. 28 on behalf of an independent labor union, two union contractors, a non-union contractor and two individuals: one a union member, the other a non-union construction crew member.

According to court documents, there have been no hearings or new court filings since the last council meeting, when the council voted unanimously to remove language that required all employees covered by the agreement to "remain members of good standing in their respective Unions" or "become members of the respective Unions within seven days after their employment." They also added language to the Cloquet PLA stating that "nothing in this agreement" requires employees to join a union or pay fees to a union.

Other matters

• The council authorized bidding on a project to rehabilitate the first of two in-ground concrete reservoirs at the city's Spring Lake pump station. The two tanks are part of the potable water system at the pump station behind Pine Valley, and were constructed around 100 years ago. A natural spring flows into the reservoirs at a rate of about 200 gallons per minute. "That is part of our potable water supply in addition to our other wells," public works director Caleb Peterson said. "They also supply 'on demand' pumping capacity, which we need to meet standards, you need to have so much storage depending on the size of your system," Peterson said.

Both are showing signs of significant deterioration, the public works director said, adding that the project is focusing on rehab in the hopes of getting another 30 years or so out of the reservoirs. The city has budgeted $100,000 this year and another $100,000 for the entire project. If the bids come back too high, they could wait until fall and request bids for 2022 construction, Peterson suggested.

• The council approved a comprehensive plan amendment and rezoning for property south of 1514 Highway 33 South. The land use changed from "rural residential" to "highway commercial." The zoning changed from "farm residential" to "regional commercial."