(Arnolds Park)– Meeting in special session Tuesday, the Arnolds Park City Council voted 5-0 to approve a bid of nearly $204,000 to demolish and remove the city’s old pump house on Pillsbury Point. The bid from Midwest Lake Service of Spirit Lake, the same contractor doing a shoreline restoration project in that same area, came in over the engineer’s estimate of $184,000.
The council also gave the go-ahead to search for a firm or entity to conduct a parking study in the city. Council member Matt Richter…
“They might be able to identify specific areas. One that I can think of just off the top of my head is where The Inn Hotel is, the city owns the ground right across the street and there might be a possibility of some diagonal parking there on what is right now it’s grass. I think they would be able to identify spots in the community that if this becomes available this would be ideal for parking.”
Fellow council member Jamie Smith said such a study could also be part of a long-term comprehensive plan for the city of Arnolds Park…
“I also think, you know, we’ve been doing some things with the planning and zoning group on looking at changing ordinances for the benefit of density and I’m wondering if we should be also thinking about a long range plan for the city of Arnolds Park. We had one in 2006, it’s probably outdated, but I mean it’s a different component but it kind of all still goes together.”
In other business, the council approved a proposal for staffing once the new library opens in the new civic center complex. Librarian Kara Rice presented the proposal to the council…
“What the library was requesting was to have an additional fulltime employee. Staff who is currently fulltime with the city does police and library and she would move over to a fulltime position and then we would like to re-hire the already budgeted shared position.”
Rice says it will be important to have the additional staffing once the new, larger library opens, in anticipation of more patrons also using the facility.
The council then went into a closed session to discuss pending litigation.
