TOWER- Contrary to the reporting aired by Twin Cities KSTP television this past week, work on Tower’s new harbor is moving forward almost on schedule.

City engineer Matt Bolf updated the council at their regular meeting on June 9. The DNR and Army Corps had requested one additional study of water flow and sedimentation modeling on the East Two River, which had been delayed due to high water levels.

Bolf said the work, which would take a day to complete, was scheduled to be completed this week.

Once this analysis is completed, the city will be able to submit all the required information for final permitting, Bolf said.

“No deal-breakers have come up,” said Bolf, who expected permits to be issued sometime in July, which would allow dredging to be done in August. The city had originally planned to start the work in mid-July.

Bolf went over the history of the project, noting that it was always a long-term project, and that the initial funding was just enough to cover the costs for the construction of the new bridge and highway.

“That first four million was never going to build the harbor,” Bolf said. “We knew that.”

The headline of the sensationalized report stated “Minnesota taxpayers spent $4 million on a harbor that doesn’t exist.”

Tower Mayor Steve Abrahamson said the reporter from KSTP television contacted him to set up an interview, but then never showed or called to explain why he had cancelled the interview. The reporter eventually did contact him to reschedule, but then never followed up to find a suitable time.

“It’s not the doings of the city or SEH Engineering that it hasn’t gone as fast as we wanted it to go,” said Council Member Josh Carlson.

A second television report from the Northland News Center of Duluth presented a more balanced picture of the project, and did include interviews with the Mayor and two local business owners.

In other harbor-related news, the city’s harbor committee is working on reaching an agreement with a company interested in building a hotel at the site. City officials hoped to have a signed agreement in place later this month.

The city has about $1 million to spend on the dredging and harbor development this year.

The city’s harbor committee will be meeting on June 16 to finalize plans for the harbor.

There is not enough funding available to create the entire harbor as originally envisioned. The committee will need to either scale back the plans for the harbor itself, including dockage, or make the decision to commit additional city resources to the project this year.

Options discussed have included scaling back on the amount of dock space put in, with the option of adding more in future years, and leaving some edges of the harbor, those furthest away from the potential hotel development site, unfinished.

Dredging will include clearing out the sandbars at the mouth of the river, as well as some high spots in the river channel and beneath the bridge, as well as the excavation of the harbor area.

Current plans call for leaving the culverts of the old Highway 135 bridge in place, because it is valuable fish breeding habitat, and removing the existing pavement to turn the bridge into a pedestrian pathway.