Tied council race settled by a card draw in Kettle River

Laura Simi and Patricia Lund shuffled to a table decked with cards that would be the final arbiter of who would spend the next four years on Kettle River's city council. City officials at Kettle River's council meeting Tuesday viewed this quirky procedure - prescribed by state statute in the event of a tied election - with some humor as candidates Simi and Lund drew their lots.

Lund expressed disappointment as she picked the winning number. Lund joined the race to give voters options. That was before she knew Simi was also running, at which point she said it was no longer necessary for her to run.

"I feel that Laura and Marcia [Sarvela] have been here for almost all the meetings. I did for some but not a lot. So they are more knowledgeable at this point."

After the meeting, reelected mayor David Lucas told Lund she can give the council position a couple months to see if she likes it. If she doesn't, she has the option to resign, and the city would post a vacancy and fill the open seat.

Sarvela, the other councilor-elect, ran specifically to unseat incumbent Monique Doward.

Tuesday's meeting saw its share of heated spats between Doward and Lucas. After one such quarrel Doward said, "Hey, I've got one more month and you're through with me, so just chill."

The new councilors will take over at the January meeting. With the departure of councilor Guy Collier, Kettle River will have an all-women city council with the exception of the mayor.

Doward told the Pine Knot her tenure was challenging at times, but she learned how small government operates. "And then sometimes it's not run the way we want it to, we still have to work together," she said.

Doward said she thinks she'll run for office again but wouldn't say which.

In other business Tuesday, Kettle River property owners will see their taxes go up in 2025 as the council approved a total levy of $97,000 - a 3-percent increase from 2024.

The council also voted to write off an outstanding water bill with Doward as the lone no-vote. Lucas told the Pine Knot previous lessees of Tower Tap bar left it unpaid, leaving the current owners saddled with a bill they want taken care of before selling the bar.

At October's meeting, the council said they would work with the business on the issue. Now they had to debate whether that meant setting up a payment plan or writing off the remaining balance.

Doward argued waiving the bill would signal to other businesses that they can get away with not paying similar amounts, and taxpayers would ultimately eat the cost. On the other side, councilor Miya Kohmetscher said she doesn't want the city to look unfriendly to business, and Collier said the owners already paid about $300 of the roughly $500 bill.

Lucas said both sides had good points, and agreed that going forward they could have a policy requiring a show of hardship before writing off bills.