Ranier — The Ranier City Council unanimously approved sending a letter to the U.S. Coast Guard supporting proposed regulations for the lift bridge at Ranier during the Tuesday meeting.
In October, preliminary results were provided to the council regarding the proposed rule. The proposed rule calls for the bridge between Rainy River and Rainy Lake to be manned by a drawtender and open on signal 24 hours a day, seven days a week from May 1 to Oct. 15 annually. The bridge is to be in the lifted position until rail traffic requires it to be dropped.
The proposed rules also require a permanent winter operating schedule, which would require vessels to provide at least 12 hours advance notice for a bridge opening between Oct. 16 and April 30 each year. Installation of a clearance gauge is also included in the proposed rules. The gauge would indicate to vessels the water levels and clearance while the bridge is in the closed position.
The proposed rules were added to the Federal Register, Vol. 75 Dec. 27 and the public now has another chance to provide comment about the proposed rules, according to Ranier Mayor Ed Oerichbauer and Raoul Lufbery, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and Voyageurs National Park facility manager.
“The Coast Guard is hoping to have this finalized by May 1 or shortly after,” Oerichbauer said.
“We’re very optimistic that good results will come out of this,” Lufbery said regarding the support of the project.
Should the project move forward, Canadian National Railway would fund the drawtender.
In other business, the council agreed to allow Midcontinent Communications to administer a survey to Ranier residents regarding their interest in adding a fee to the cable television portion of their bill to support an enhanced local access channel that would provide coverage of local events and public meetings.
The council also approved the purchase of a new beer cooler for the Ranier Liquor Store.
“We’d better approve it if it’s already on its way,” said Trustee John Walls, who had previously been asked to help install it today.
Gretchen Cole, the liquor store’s manager, informed the council that the cooler was indeed already purchased and will arrive this morning. The cost of the cooler totaled $1,633.
The year-to-date net profit for the liquor store is $60,698, which is up $4,909 from last year’s total of $55,789.
Thomas Hall addressed the council about his concern if the four light posts installed by CN Railway were legal and said that they “are causing an annoyance to so many people.”
Oerichbauer said the council would review and look into the issue and get back to Hall.
