The International Falls City Council on Tuesday is expected to discuss a letter requesting a meeting with Rainy Lake Medical Center and Essentia Health leaders.

The issue is scheduled to be discussed at the council’s regular meeting beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the council chamber. In a letter dated Aug. 22 to RLMC Chief Executive Officer Bob Haley, RLMC board chair Charles Helleloid, and Essentia Health East Region president and Chief Medical Officer Dan Nikcevich, the council asked for a meeting to discuss the medical center’s “role in our residents’ health,” wrote Tim “Chopper” McBride, Falls mayor.

“Recently, our community has been abuzz with stories about the hospital,” McBride stated in the letter. “As you are aware, health care is literally ‘the lifeblood’ of a community and when major developments regarding health care are occurring, we hope to hear about it directly rather than through possibly unreliable second-hand accounts.”

McBride added in the letter that the city is installing a sewer lift station to service a new hospital and nursing home for an integrated health care campus.

In other meeting business, the city council is expected to receive a letter from the mayor to Koochiching County Commissioner Brian McBride, requesting a jointly orderly annexation agreement for the property the city plans to use as a multi-modal facility district. The city’s Economic Development Authority is in the process of acquiring the land from Boise.

“Obviously, both the county and the city will benefit by the jobs and tax base created by this effort,” McBride stated in the letter.

The council’s finance and legislation committee is also expected to make a recommendation on recruiting members to be part of the rental licensing task force.

The council is expected to vote on the acceptance of a state grant from the Minnesota Department of Transportation for use in the airport improvement excluding land acquisition at Falls International Airport.

The meeting also includes a report from the city EDA regarding advisory board membership.