Duluth City Council Meeting April 14, 2025: Personnel Interviews, Spirit Mountain Budget, and Public Comments
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Duluth City Council Meeting April 14, 2025
The Duluth City Council met on Monday, April 14, 2025, at 6:00 PM in the Council Chamber. Prior to the regular meeting, the Personnel Committee conducted interviews for the Library Board and Parks and Recreation Commission. The regular meeting included a presentation of the Spirit Mountain Recreation Area Authority's FY26 operating budget, public comments on a range of issues, unanimous approval of a 33-item consent agenda, and councilor updates.
Personnel Committee Interviews (Pre-Meeting)
- Library Board: Interviewed Sarah Kessler (21, accountant, Girl Scouts) and Carly Bladel (24, special education teacher). Both expressed interest in serving, citing backgrounds in advocacy, education, and library use. They answered questions about the library's role, the downtown library's future, and equity work.
- Parks and Recreation Commission (District 5): Interviewed Constance Cummins (retired U.S. Forest Service supervisor with 42 years of experience). She discussed her passion for outdoor recreation, accessibility, and collaboration with partners. Answered questions on forest management, the city's natural resources plan, and equity. Appointments for these positions will be considered in the next council cycle.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Mary Kersling (3023 Palisade Drive) advocated for maintaining library services, especially at the West Duluth branch. She detailed the branch's resources (6 internet computers, 14 computers, 3 laptops, 2 kids' game computers, 418 children's programs, 58 teen programs, 138 adult programs) and urged no cuts.
- Cheyenne Payan (Lakeside) spoke about physiological arousal states (hyperarousal, hypoarousal, window of tolerance) and how fear can be used to manipulate political action or inaction. She urged the council to prioritize community care over criminalization and provided resources on nervous system regulation.
- Brandon Parker (621 Atlantic Avenue) criticized TIFF subsidies for the Lakeview 333 project (citing lack of contractual obligations) and the Sofidel expansion ($14 million TIFF over nine years). He argued these subsidies burden taxpayers and urged holding developers accountable. He also urged the council to push the Planning Commission to expedite the Safe Bay application for a parking lot at Vineyard Church.
- Richard Kronzer (2135 Woodland Avenue) spoke against a proposed 60-condo project on Woodland Avenue, arguing it would harm the neighborhood and violate existing codes. He asked the council to vote against exceptions to the code.
- Lauren Martell (623 East 7th) criticized the demolition of the former STC building (a 30-year-old, 52,775-square-foot school) as wasteful and environmentally harmful, noting it adds to nearly one million square feet of building space already hauled to landfills from the Red Plan. She expressed disappointment in Democratic leaders for allowing the demolition.
Discussion Items
- Spirit Mountain FY26 Operating Budget: Executive Director Ann Glumack presented the proposed budget of $7,905,574 for fiscal year May 1, 2025 to April 30, 2026. She reviewed recent financial performance: a strong FY23, a $92,000 loss in FY24 (due to poor winter weather), and a solid operating profit expected for FY25. Key points included:
- The economic impact of Spirit Mountain is estimated at $27.5 million annually (adjusted for inflation from a 2018-19 study).
- Season pass sales for the upcoming year exceeded targets by 14% over last year, raising slightly over $1 million.
- Goals for FY26 include covering operating expenses with revenue, continuing capital investments (new lift installation, groomer lease, snowmaking infrastructure), and preparing for Chalet construction starting in spring 2026.
- The budget assumes no summer banquet revenue due to construction disruption.
- Councilors thanked the team for their work, especially during tough winters, and asked about construction timelines, off-season events (e.g., Snowcross, community picnics), and mountain biking trail access.
- Consent Agenda: The council approved 33 resolutions unanimously (9-0) without discussion. Items included:
- Confirming assessment roll for sidewalk repairs at eight locations (25-0280R)
- Approving Spirit Mountain FY26 budget
- Issuing temporary liquor licenses
- Approving premise permits and temporary expansions
- Confirming appointments to boards and commissions
- Authorizing joint powers agreements, contracts, purchases (e.g., gas meters, excavator, patch and sidewalk project, lead service line replacement projects, railroad crossing agreement)
- Establishing a no-parking zone on Railroad Street
- Authorizing applications for forgivable loans from the Drinking Water Revolving Fund for multiple lead service line replacement projects (Lincoln Park, Central Hillside, Fairmount, London Road)
- Accepting water lines and easements from Western Lake Superior Sanitary District
- Authorizing operations and maintenance agreement with Rice Lake
- Transferring a fire engine to Lake Superior College in exchange for training
- Entering joint powers agreement for human trafficking task force
- Authorizing engineering services for storm damage repairs
- Host site agreement with True North AmeriCorps for the library
Key Outcomes
- The consent agenda was approved 9-0.
- No votes were taken on public comments or personnel interviews.
- Councilors made announcements:
- Councilor Kennedy: West Duluth Reimagined Business Corridor meetings start April 16 (5:30-7 PM at Evergreen Senior Center) with consultant Michelle Reeves.
- Councilor Mayo: Chester Park Drive alley project (part of lead service line replacement) moving forward; LISC community development funds restored; Equilibrium 3 Earth Week events including Sip and Support event April 25 at Clyde Ironworks.
- Councilor Kennedy (update): Morgan Park Bridge repairs began April 7 on columns for outbound lane; concrete barriers to be installed to open one lane, pending railroad coordination.
- Councilor Awal: Encouraged applications to fill vacancies on boards and commissions; working to streamline the process; announced upcoming Vibrant Streets proposal next month.
- Preview of Upcoming Business: Pancake breakfast May 1; next agenda session April 24; next council meeting April 28 at 5:15 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Okay folks. Well, there's other stuff that I will is the other stuff yours or do you think I don't want to grab like a lot of things. Okay, folks. We're about to get started with the personnel committee meeting. Getting started with the personnel committee meeting. Today we'll be interviewing doing a group interview for the library board if one Sarah Kessler and Carly Bolt. Failed. Bladel, okay. Can come up to the table. Thank you so much. I'm gonna butcher both of your names. Um, but thank you for your patience with me. Um, thank you so much for applying to the library to be on the library board um and being willing to do this interview um and have some FaceTime with us and us allowing council to have some FaceTime with you. Um today we're going to be um doing the library board interview. The library board advises the director, city administration, city council on library policies, proposes new services, proposes new facilities, and on the deletion of services and facilities, aids and raising grants, gifts, donations, securing grants, and advises on the expenditure of trust funds. Um the library board is only Duluth Library Board is only served by um City Council um City, sorry, Duluth uh a residence and meets once a month. Thank you so much for being here. Um I will first just introduce myself. My name is Zaz Renal. I serve as an at-large city um counselor, um, and I will be conducting today's interview. To begin, can you just can both of you um we'll start with one and with every question, we'll kind of sneak back and forth so each person um has a chance to ask the question um hear the question answer. Um so first, who are you and why um yeah, if you can just uh who are you um as an just a general question about like tell us a little bit about yourself? I'm Sarah Kessler. Uh I'm 21 years old originally from Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Um I moved here just in September of 2024. I started going to the library board meetings in October. I really care about libraries. I was involved um as a teenager in the Grand Rapids area library a bit. Um I got my four-year degree from Amidji State University in accounting. Now I currently work with Girl Scouts uh in fundraising, grant writing, that sort of thing. Hi, my name is Carly Bladel, and I am 24 years old. I am a first year special education teacher here in Duluth. Um I'm not originally from Duluth. I'm from LaCrosse, Wisconsin, so about four hours away from here. And um I would say that I care deeply about the library and all the services that we offer, especially to all of the youth in our area. So a little bit about me. Thank you so much. Uh Ms. Bladel and Miss Kessler for your responses. Um I have a set of pre-written out questions I'll ask and then turn to counselor questions and then turn back to you for the last comment um to conclude your interview. Does that order sound good? Okay. First question. Why are you interested in serving on this particular board, the library board? So I'm very sure. Yeah. Um well, like I said, I've been involved with libraries a long time. My mom was originally involved uh in the Grand Rapids Library Library Board. So I kind of grew up in libraries and I really care about their programming. Especially to, you know, to you because you mentioned and the programming is really important, I think, because of the library's status overall as a really a cornerstone in my mind of community and healthy communities and you know open access to materials, but I think programming is a really big part of that because it gets you connected to community and experiences more than just you know the physical materials that libraries offer.
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