Steve Shermoen
International Falls city officials may add land to a plan calling for a joint agreement with Koochiching County to annex into the city limits a portion of the property east of the city known as the multimodal district.
Or, it may consider an option foregoing county participation.
City Attorney Steve Shermoen told the Falls City Council this week an attempt to work through a joint annexation agreement with county officials has fallen short when county officials asked for a “change or nuance that prevents agreement.”
As the agreement has been considered, Shermoen said he’s been notified of 40 acres adjacent to the city limits owned by the city that could be included in the agreement. The council could add another nearby property, owned by Wagner Construction, for which the council has approved water connection. City officials have said city services may only be provided to property within its limits, but the Wagner property has not been annexed.
Shermoen said the city could add the the two additional properties to the original annexation agreement he is attempting to complete with the county.
Or he said the city could pursue another option on the two city-owned properties that would not require participation by the county. Under that option, he said the city could petition the state to add the properties to the city limits.
“It’s a simple process, absent strong objections that would prompt the state to have a public hearing,” Shermoen told the council.
Some councilors, including Pete Kalar, voiced frustration with the county’s input into the agreement. County officials have been concerned about the Renewable Energy Clean Air Project, or RECAP gasification proposed facility, or other waste facilities being located there. City officials have said under county zoning of the area, county officials would have say in the location of the county’s RECAP or other garbage facilities.
In addition, county officials have voiced a need to include into the agreement protections for Second Creek.
Councilor Cynthia Jaksa, too, said she was concerned about the county’s input.
She said the agreement would provide protection of Second Creek by ensuring the land is managed properly. Now, Shermoen has noted, there are no protections for Second Creek under county regulations.
Jaksa and Shermoen reiterated their belief Second Creek is an issue to be handled separate from annexation. The city has already added a sentence about Second Creek to the agreement in an attempt to satisfy the concerns of county officials, they have noted.
Mayor Bob Anderson suggested continuing to meet with county officials toward an agreement. He said a member of a citizens committee has not been able to be involved because of a medical concern, which should be soon resolved.
“This won’t hold up anything,” he said of waiting for county participation in the agreement.
In the meantime, Anderson asked Shermoen to provide maps and descriptions of the other properties to establish whether rail lines run through them.
Other business
The council Monday also set in motion, following a public hearing, the application process for a Small Cities Development Program grant for rental and commercial rehabilitation.
The goal of the grant, which would provide forgivable loans to successful applicants within a prescribed area of the city, is to assist in removing blighted conditions in rental stock and to improve the quality and look of businesses.
The council also approved three-year labor agreements, pending ratification by the Woodworkers Lodge W-33 and the organizations representing police and firefighter engineers and paramedics. Each of the agreements call for salary increases of 1.5 percent in 2015; 2 percent in 2016, and 2.25 percent in 2017.
Dixie Kalstad, right, goes over the basics of the Rural Rides program with the program’s coordinator, Marcia Mehle, left.
When temperatures dip to 20 degrees below zero with snow whipping all around you, and you don’t have a car or a job, it can be hard to make it to an interview.
To help Borderland residents get back to work by getting to work, an Arrowhead region program is making its debut in Koochiching County.
The Rural Rides program from the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency made its debut in Koochiching County last month, and has already started providing rides for people who don’t have their own transportation to work.
The program’s coordinator, Marcia Mehle, said there have already been 100 rides provided locally through the program to four different people. To qualify for the program, applicants must be living at 150 percent or below of the poverty level and be at risk of losing a job or be unable to attend job training or interviews because of a lack of transportation.
Employers often struggle to find employees who are dependable, Mehle said, and complain about employees who can’t find reliable transportation to get to work.
“Transportation isn’t a sexy issue, it’s not going to make the headlines like homelessness or some other issue,” Mehle said. “But sometimes not having transportation is the core problem because it causes a loss of employment.”
To apply for transportation assistance, contact Dixie Kalstad at the International Falls Workforce Center at 218-285-3654. Mehle said they conduct an intake interview with each applicant where they identify their specific needs.
“Every situation is unique,” Mehle said.
Because of that complexity, the program offers a variety of solutions, including taxi vouchers, bus tickets, volunteer drivers and a buddy driver program. If the program can’t provide a volunteer driver or other long-term solution, Mehle said, they ask the user to try and find someone at work to carpool with, who would qualify for reimbursement from the program.
The program started in 1998 in St. Louis and Lake counties, Mehle said, and has since expanded to cover the rest of the Arrowhead region including Carlton, Cook, Itasca and Koochiching counties.
Koochiching County has been very supportive in bringing the program here, Mehle said, especially County Commissioner Kevin Adee. Adee has served on the AEOA board during his time as a commissioner, he said, so he’s seen the success the program has had.
“I’ve seen the importance of the program and I know it,” Adee said. “It’s nice to see hopefully people will benefit from it.”
The Rural Rides program could help push the county in the right direction towards economic growth, Adee said.
“If people using the program find employment and use it to their benefit to get work, it’ll hopefully get them on the right track,” Adee said. “Once they get a job, hopefully they’ll continue to use it to get to and from work if they don’t have transportation.”
They’ve received “wonderful” feedback about the program over the years, Mehle said. There’s a participant in the Grand Rapids area who started by receiving rides from the program, and now works full-time while volunteering for the program.
The program currently needs volunteer drivers, Mehle said, and they reimburse volunteers at the federal mileage rate. To get involved as a volunteer driver, contact Martin Lepak at the Virginia Workforce Center at 218-410-9755.
Program representatives work with applicants to develop a plan to reach transportation self-sufficiency, Kalstad said, which is “the ultimate goal.”
The Voyage Forward initiative looks to build a stronger, more stable economy for Koochiching County moving forward, and getting people back to work is at the core of that, Kalstad said. Rural Rides helps provide transportation for people who can’t find their way to work, and ties into that movement.
“This is going to help people that have had financial struggles and now are unable to provide their own transportation,” Mehle said. “To help them get to a job until they can get back on their feet.”
From left, Greg Bannwarth, Shaun Johnson and Jared Dove of Tonic Sol-fa perform for area students at Falls Elementary School Thursday. The group’s fourth member, Mark McGowan was sick and unable to attend the performance.
Elementary students throw their hands toward members of Tonic Sol-fa Thursday.
The Falls High School choir performs and receives tips from members of Tonic Sol-fa.
Members of the a cappella group Tonic Sol-fa performed for area students Thursday at Falls Elementary School. The group, which held a community performance at Backus Community Center Thursday night, visited students around Koochiching County giving them tips on how to use their voices. The group was in town as part of the Backus Concert Series.
The Journal has two more plaques to hang on its wall after winning Better Newspaper Contest awards at the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s convention in Minneapolis last month.
Simply North, The Journal’s quarterly magazine, took second place in the best magazine category and a photo taken by Spenser Bickett took third place in the news photo category. The Journal competes with other newspapers that have a weekly circulation of 2,501 to 5,000.
“Simply North has offered a unique venue for presenting content that is more entertaining and our writers and contributors have excelled at it,” said Journal Editor Laurel Beager.
Contest judges agreed.
In a statement about the magazine, judges wrote, “Simply North is a quality publication that services its market on a regular basis. Good graphics on the cover as well inside. Stories are also well written and serves it market well.”
The magazine is an effort by the entire Journal staff and was created more than four years ago to correspond with Borderland’s four seasons. This is the first time the publication has won an award.
Bickett, a staff writer who has been with The Journal since 2013, received third place for a photo he took in April of a mock car accident at Littlefork-Big Falls School.
“I was honored and excited when I was notified I had won,” Bickett said. “It was reassuring to be recognized for my photography, because I don’t think of myself as a skilled photographer. In this situation, I knew the students realized it was a mock accident, so I wasn’t expecting to see the emotion I was able to capture in my photos. I was just glad to be in the right place at the right time.”
It’s the emotion that caught judges’ eyes and was noted in a description of why Bickett won the award.
“Bickett’s photos of the mock accident truly captured the emotion that participants used to make the simulation feel real to the teens it was intended to influence,” Beager said.
This is Bickett’s first MNA award.
The purpose of the annual contest is to recognize excellence in the various aspects of newspaper journalism so that the practice and profession in Minnesota may be advanced.
“Our first motivation will always be to offer valuable news and photos to our readers, but it’s always great to be recognized by your peers for doing a good job,” Beager concluded.
Steve Shermoen
