Box 276, 29 Lake Street South,

Big Lake, Minnesota 55309

Phone (320) 558-2037
Web Address:
clearwatertribune.net
E-Mail: westrib@sherbtel.net

Deadline for pickup is Tues., at 12 noon

Volume 28, Number 15

Friday, April 10, 2015

Remember to Recycle - New Date:

April 15, 2015

Use our convenient drop box

at Coborns Grocery.

Council awards bid; lowers assessments

By Ken Francis
Staff Writer
The Clearwater City
Council
accomplished
three necessary goals
regarding the North Area
Reconstruction
Project
during Mondays council
meeting.
They amended the citys
special assessment policy.
They awarded the bid to do
the project, and they passed
a resolution for the sale of
$2,555,000 in General
Obligation Improvements
bonds to finance the project.
Amending the citys special assessment policy was
the first step after some
residents had taken issue
with the councils intent to
award the bid last meeting
without knowing how
much they would be paying in assessments.
Council had already
agreed they would use general fund money and water
utility funding to supplement the cost and reduce
the assessments from 48%
to approximately 22% of
the project cost. That, and
the fact that bids had come
in well under the engineers estimate prompted
the council to move quickly to award the bid.
But at the last meeting in
March, resident Dan
Niehoff told the council
that according to the citys
assessment policy, they
couldnt award the bid
until the assessments were
determined.
After a discussion, the
council agreed to table the
bid vote until they could

get an opinion whether

they could award the bid or
were required to change
the policy first.
Monday, AdministratorIn-Training Kevin Kress
said he had contacted the
League of Minnesota
Cities.
I asked them do you
have to hold the assessment hearing and have the
assessments ready before
you award the bid, he
said, and they said generally speaking no, because
we can amend the special
assessment policy as we
see fit.
Policy
Kress presented the
council with a clause in the
assessment policy that supported that opinion.
The assessment policy is
intended to serve as a
guide for a systematic
assessment process in the
city. There may be exceptions to the policy or
unique circumstances or
situations which may
require special consideration and discretion by city
staff and the city council.
Mayor Pete Edmonson
acknowledged the council
had the authority to move
ahead with the bid and
amend the policy later.
So we could walk
through with awarding a
bid, amending our assessments and if by some circumstance, they could be
adjusted once again later,
he said.
Niehoff said he felt it
was still better to amend
the policy first.
I would like to encour-

age you to keep this (policy) ahead of the awarding

of the bid so the residents
know how much theyre
paying before this process
goes so far, he said. The
sooner you get that to
them, the sooner you can
put out some of these fires,
instead of having angry
people through the whole
project until you decide
when you want to let them
know how much the
assessments are.
Edmonson said he
understood Niehoffs concerns.
I certainly agree with
you, he said. Were looking to get the information
out just as we have in the
past here sooner rather than
later.
At that point the council
had the option of awarding
the bid first or amending
the assessment policy.
Kress
recommended
changing the policy first.
Actually, Id like to see
the special assessment policy motion go first, he
said. I think by having our
assessment policy changed
to the 22% it allows us to
do that, to give those numbers to the public more
efficiently.
Councilman
Rollie
Lange said he thought the
council did as well as they
could to reduce assessments.
We had to charge a minimum of 20%, he said.
Were only two points
over the minimum, so I
think the motion is very
fair for our taxpayers.
The council voted unani-

mously to change the policy to charge assessments at

22% of the project cost,
plus two percent over the
bond interest rate to cover
the bond issuance costs.
The Bid
Then the council voted
to award the bid for the
project to R.L. Larson
Excavating of St. Cloud at
$2,043,427. That amount
was well below the engineers estimate of $2.8
million. However, with
engineering costs and
bond issuance costs plus
interest, the total bond the
council approved was

tion is required. This program is funded in part with

money from Minnesotas
Arts and Cultural Heritage
Fund.
The library is offering a
Preschool Storytime for
children aged three to six
on Tue., April 21 from 11
to 11:30 a.m. The program
builds kindergarten readi-

ness by promoting early literacy skills.

The library Memory
Writers Group for adults
will meet on Thurs., April
23 from 10 to 11:30 a.m.
Local author Linda Marie
will facilitate the group to
inspire the recording of life
stories. Writing experience
is not required.

For additional information,

contact
the
Clearwater Public Library
at 320-558-6001.
Public
Clearwater
Library hours are: Mon.,
closed; Tues., 10 a.m. to 1
p.m. and 3-6 p.m.; Wed., 38 p.m.; Thur., 10 a.m. to 1
p.m.; Fri., 3-6 p.m. and
Sat., 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

April programs at the CW Library

By David Hannula,
Contributing Writer
The Clearwater Public
Librarys book club for
adults and teens will meet
Wed., April 15 from 6:30
to 8 p.m. Call the library at
320-558-6001 to find out
what the months read is,
and join the group to enjoy
conversations about books.
All newcomers are always
welcome.
Teens and kids of all
ages are invited to a program presented by Bruce
the Bug Guy at the library
Sat., April 18 from 10:30
to 11:30 a.m. Bruce has a
doctorate in entomology
and is a former university
instructor. He enjoys
teaching children about
insects in ways that are fun
and non-threatening. His
programs include displays
of unusual and spectacular
insects from around the
world as well as a variety
of live insects, spiders and
other bugs. Attendance is
limited and pre-registra-

Between now and May

4, the underwriting community will be alerted that
you have a bond sale pending. Theyll be preparing
bids and submitting bids
on May 4, he said. Then
it will come back to the
council and you award the
bid to the lowest bidder.
Bids Continued On Page 2

City wont vacate

part of Bluff Street

By Ken Francis
Staff Writer
of
the
Members
Clearwater City Council
agreed Monday it was not
in anyones best interest to
vacate the portion of Bluff
Street between Ash and
Elm streets.
During the last council
meeting in March, a number of residents made the
suggestion to vacate the
street because it was not
frequently used and was
very narrow.
But after researching the
proposal and meeting with
residents at the site,
Administrator-In-Training
Kevin Kress and Interim

Administrator Derus recommended the street is not

a candidate for vacation for
a few reasons:
* There are five driveways in the area serving
the properties between Ash
and Elm
* Vacating the street
would land-lock at least
one property;
* The street offers additional access for parking
for an apartment building
and emergency vehicles;
* It is a through street;
* There is a historic
church on that segment of
Bluff Street.
Members of the council

Cheers for the

hometown kids

Book sale
at Library
this week

The Clearwater Area

Friends of the Library
bookstore, Chapter Two,
will celebrate Library
Week, April 13-18, with a
book sale during library
hours.
Our shelves need some
spring cleaning as they
have runneth over.
Paperbacks will be priced
at 5/$1, hardbounds at $2,
and childrens at 25 cents.
Paperbacks will be displayed on tables behind the
childrens area. All others
will also be for sale in the
Chapter Two Bookstore
located at the rear of the
library.
All proceeds are used to
enhance your library experience.

$2,555,000 still about

$300,000 less that the project might have cost.
The $2,555,000 General
Obligation Bonds will be
20-year term with an average interest rate of 2.97%.
Monte Eastvold of
Northland Securities said
the sale date for the bonds
is May 4.

THE EASTER BUNNY WAS WAY BEHIND schedule, so it made a

few adjustments last week to speed up its visit to Clearwater. (Submitted
Photo.)

I know there are a lot of

college basketball fans in
Minnesota who were disappointed that Wisconsin
lost in the NCAA
Championship game to
Duke Monday night.
I wasnt one of them.
Its not that I have anything against the Badgers.
In fact, if they played anyone else in the finals I
would probably have been
rooting for them.
But Im a Duke fan.
I have been since the late
70s when one of the players on my high school basketball team was recruited
by Duke.
His name was Jim
Spanarkel, and for those
who watched some of the
March Madness games, he
was one of the sports analysts.
He was our high school
(Hudson Catholic) all-time
point scorer. He won the
Duke MVP in 1977-78-79
and was the schools first
2,000 point scorer. He was
inducted into Dukes Hall
of Fame in 1990.
He was selected in the
first round of the 1979
draft by the Philadelphia
76ers and was traded to the
Dallas Mavericks in 1980
and played there for five
years.

Bluff Continued On Page 2

Ken
Francis

He was the first player I

knew personally from my
hometown, Jersey City, to
become
a
nationally
known college player. And
it paved the way for other
players in Jersey City to be
recognized and recruited
later.
Bobby Hurley, another
high school standout from
St. Anthonys in Jersey
City, was recruited by
Duke Head Coach Mike
Krzyzewski and played
point guard for the Blue
Devils from 1989-1993.
He helped the team to
the Final Four three times
and helped lead the Blue
Devils to back-to-back
national championships in
1991 and 1992 with All
American
teammates
Christian Laettner and
Grant Hill, earning Final
Four Most Outstanding
Player honors in 1992.
Hurley remains the NCAA
all-time assists leader with
1,076 assists.
I remember going to a
few of our high school basketball games. At the time I
Cheers Continued On Page 2