TOWER— The city council here, after considerable deliberation, voted unanimously to join the sprint medic pilot program being spearheaded by the Virginia ambulance service. City officials had appeared cool to the idea initially, but after a face-to-face meeting with the Virginia fire chief and assistant chief, Mayor Dave Setterberg and council member Kevin Norby said they felt more comfortable that the program would provide potential benefit without much downside risk.
Norby had previously expressed opposition to a $200 fee that Virginia will be assessing for those calls that require advanced life support level care. While that fee will remain, Norby said the Virginia officials stressed that the number of advanced life support, or ALS, interventions likely won’t change much once the program goes into effect. Currently, the Tower Area Ambulance Service, which provides basic life support care, pays Virginia $400 for ALS assists.
What’s more, said Norby, Virginia has also agreed to add a 60-day opt-out provision in the agreement, which would allow partners to withdraw if the costs increased too much.
Clerk-treasurer Michael Schultz said he had talked to ambulance personnel about the program and found some concern that the medics would potentially take charge of too many incidents, which could undermine morale among Tower staff. But he said the 60-day opt-out provision seemed to ease that concern.
The new pilot program is being funded by a $3 million state grant that is designed to determine the cost-effectiveness of using sprint medics to provide ALS care to rural areas. The program has shown viability in an urban setting, but the economic viability of the concept in a rural area is so far unproven.
Sprint medics will be deployed in vans and will remain on the move throughout their designated service area during scheduled hours to respond quickly in the event of a medical incident requiring ALS care.
Tower joins the Cook and Orr ambulance services as partners in the pilot program, which is scheduled to run at least two years.
In other action, the council approved a final 2025 levy of $423,030, a four-percent increase over this year, with virtually all of the increase going to pay the city’s share of stormwater and sanitary sewer improvements and repaving of S. Second and Third streets. “I feel comfortable going with the increase given that the work on Second and Third streets, will impact a lot of people in town,” said council member Joe Morin, who made the motion.
Council member Bob Anderson agreed, and noted that the proposed property tax statements that were recently mailed to property owners by St. Louis County, had shown that even with the levy increase, most residents had seen the city portion of their tax bills actually fall.
The levy reflects only a relatively small percentage of total city revenues and spending. The resolution adopting the 2025 levy also included the city’s 2025 budget, which calls for total anticipated revenues of $2.146 million and total expenditures of $2.007 million. The levy itself will provide $360,419 to the city’s general fund, $15,668 to harbor debt service, $14,593 to the airport special fund, $27,200 to TIF debt service, and $5,000 to TEDA.
At the same time, the council approved a $5 per month increase in the water and sewer rates to help cover higher billings from the Tower-Breitung Waste Water Board that are anticipated due to the higher debt service from the new drinking water treatment facility. The increase will bump the monthly cost for city utilities from the current $86.17 per month to $91.17 monthly.
Council members noted that even with the increase, the city’s assessments for water and sewer were still on the low end compared to other cities in the region. Other cities in the region range from $111.82 per month in Aurora to $74.39 per month in Silver Bay, according to data presented in the council’s meeting packet.
The council also approved a couple other budget adjustments, including refunding about $16,000 for workman’s compensation coverage for ambulance personnel that the city had paid for through the general fund. The council also opted not to hire a seasonal winter worker as they typically do each year to help with snow removal.
In other business, the council:
• Gave final approval to the city’s new short-term rental ordinance, after more than a year of work and considerable public input. The council did change the number of short-term rentals in the Harbor North zone district from four to unlimited, providing flexibility for new development currently underway on the Marjo Motel property. The city’s Main Street commercial district is also allowed an unlimited number of short-term rentals, while Lake Avenue and Northstar Addition would be allowed two apiece and the remainder of the city’s residential districts would be allowed a combined total of two.
The council also clarified that their definition of a “single vehicle” would include a vehicle and trailer, which could contain several recreational vehicles.
• Approved the 2025 police contract with Breitung Township, which includes a price increase from $78,187 in 2024 to $85,967 in the new year. Setterberg said he thought the city was getting a fair deal despite the increase, which mostly reflects higher labor costs.
“I feel that we’re getting very good service, probably the best we have ever,” said Setterberg.
Norby said he was concerned about the ten percent increase, but he noted that the city will be receiving about 50 more hours of coverage.
• Approved a resolution to pursue funding to complete the final segment of the Vermilion Loop Trail in cooperation with Breitung township.
• Approved a resolution authorizing a grant application to the Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation for funding for temporary water and sewer hookups for the Marjo RE development.
• Heard an update from Schultz and Setterberg about the installation of the Green Flush bathroom facility near the train depot, which encountered some hiccups. There was minor cosmetic damage to one portion of the outside of the building, which apparently occurred in transit. The city is still working with Minnesota Power on installing electricity and with the Department of Labor and Industry to approve the plumbing, which was initially rejected by an inspector.
• Heard from Schultz that the city should be able to close the deal on the county public works building by the end of the year.
• Approved pursuing a culvert replacement project along the city-owned portions of Second St. N, which would be done in conjunction with a similar project on the county-owned portion of the road. The estimated cost of $33,305 is currently unbudgeted but the council could approve it and pull funds from their capital reserve. St. Louis County would handle all the bidding and contractor payments for the entire project. The project is intended to repair all the culverts along the road that had heaved badly in the wake of the most recent repaving of the street.
• Approved the transfer of an airport hangar lease from Arden Niemi to his son Dale Niemi.