Progress report on town office project given at council meeting

At the June 10 meeting of the Superior Town Council, a report was given to councilors on the current status of the new town office project by Town Clerk Brenda Schneider.

Schneider reported to the council that the framing has been completed and wiring has been pulled into place with windows expected to arrive this week.

“The change orders for the dirt removal, the dry wall for the one-hour fire rating and the spray foam has been approved,” Schneider reported. “Foam insulation will be sprayed next week.”

Vinyl Composition tile needs to be installed in the hallway, both bathrooms and kitchen of the fire hall, which is attached to the new town offices. The VCT tile was not installed at the time of the fire hall construction due to budget issues and Schneider requested approval to complete the installation.

Councilor Kelly Dillon made a motion to approve the installation, which was approved unanimously by the four council members present at the meeting.

In other town office proceedings, Mayor Mike Wood read Resolution 380, which amends the town budget to receive and expend proceeds from an Intercap loan that was given to the town for the offices.

After the reading, Councilor Dillon made a motion to adopt the resolution and expend the funds for the town office project. The motion passed unanimously.

With summer here, the town pool was a topic of concern at the meeting. Roger Wasley reported to the council that the pool heaters are “working but the circulation pump which is over 15-years old is unable to keep up with the heaters.”

Wasley said he is researching a replacement pump and that the pool is losing water making it necessary to pump in water to the pool “non-stop.”

Councilor Denyse Traeder brought forward a request to hire an assistant pool manager this year. The request was made since current pool manager Brian Labbe will “be working a lot at the school this summer as well as the pool.”

Councilor Traeder added that having an assistant manager would ensure someone is accountable and in charge while the pool is open and the position would be filled by one of the current pool employees. A motion was made to establish the position and it was approved unanimously.

Mineral County Relay for Life Representative Mikkie Tourtelotte was unable to attend the meeting to discuss the relay that will take place on June 28. However Mayor Wood reported their will once again be a proclamation establishing a “Paint the Town Purple” effort similar to last year.

Mayor Wood also read the May report from Superior Volunteer Fire Chief John Woodland, which began by going over the five emergency calls responded too by the agency during the month.

One of the calls took place at 2:30 pm on May 20 for an escaped burn in the Sloway area.

“On arrival we found individual trees torching and the fire making a fast run up a steep slope,” Mayor Wood read. “We were able to catch the fire at a scree field before it made its way into some dead timber.”

In addition to the eight members of the SVFD who responded the St. Regis Volunteer Fire Department as well as the Forest Service were also present at the scene.

“Each department took a flank with the Forest Service coming in on the head,” Mayor Wood read.

At approximately 4:45 on May 24 the SVFD responded to reports of a downed power line on Southside Road.

“On arrival, we found wind had taken the top out of a tree which in turn brought down a high voltage wire and started a fire,” Mayor Wood read. “The fire was between the railroad and Southside Road so travel was limited in two directions. The wire remained live on our arrival so we had to limit our attack until Northwest Energy arrived and could shut down the power.”

While waiting for the power company, the 10 SVFD members who responded to the page cut line on the south side of the road and then completed cutting line on the north side after the power was successfully shut down.

Chief Woodland as well as members of various other county emergency agencies participated in a wildlands fire tabletop exercise on May 2.

The exercise was conducted by the Mineral County Local Emergency Planning Committee and dealt with the first four hours of a hypothetical wildlands incident in the West End involving structures threatened, evacuations and road closures.

A ground exercise will be conducted by the Forest Service in June as a follow-up to the tabletop exercise.

The next meeting of the Superior Town Council will take place on July 8.