Agenda Session of the Duluth City Council - March 19, 2026
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Agenda Session of the Duluth City Council - March 19, 2026
This was an agenda session of the Duluth City Council held on March 19, 2026, at 11:15 AM. The council reviewed several resolutions and ordinances, identified items to be pulled from the consent agenda for further discussion, and made procedural decisions regarding scheduling of interviews and public hearings.
Items Pulled from Consent Calendar
- Resolution 231 (confirming appointments to City of Duluth Boards and Commissions) and Resolution 232 (confirming appointments to the Duluth Planning Commission, Transit Authority, and Spirit Mountain Recreation Area Authority) were pulled. Councilor Forsman recommended tabling Resolution 232 until after interviews scheduled for April 9, 2026.
- Resolution 201 (calling a public hearing on the proposed Orchards of Morgan Park Tax Increment Financing district) was pulled by Councilor Kennedy.
- Resolutions 184 (authorizing purchase of five Ford Transit T250 utility vans for $272,552.50) and 185 (authorizing purchase of three Ford F-250 crew cab pickups for $160,921.11) were pulled by Councilor Desatel.
- Resolutions 192 (authorizing agreement with Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center for a facility conditions assessment in the amount of $150,000) and 193 (authorizing a 10-year limited use permit for a portion of the Lakewalk Trail along Trunk Highway 35) were pulled by Councilor Derwachter.
Discussion Items
- Resolution 201 (Orchards of Morgan Park TIF District): Director Van Tassel explained the resolution merely calls for a public hearing, with full details to come in April. Attachments had a duplication issue; one map showed the entire city of Duluth instead of a call-out of the Orchards location. The city will correct the attachment.
- Resolution 192 (DECC Facility Assessment): Councilor Tomonic stated the assessment, costing $150,000, is long overdue and needed to prioritize repairs. The city will pay $75,000 up front, with St. Louis County reimbursing $75,000. Councilor Derwachter sought more details from the DECC executive director before the next meeting.
- Informational Report on Grants, Gifts, and Donations: Councilor Klana requested that the report separate out grants, gifts, and donations by funding source. Director Salinas agreed to work with budget manager Harold to provide finer detail.
Key Outcomes
- Resolution 232 was tabled until after interviews on April 9, 2026.
- Resolutions 184, 185, 192, 193, 201, 231, and 232 were all pulled from the consent agenda for further review at the next regular meeting.
- No formal votes were taken; actions were procedural in nature. The next meeting is scheduled for the following Monday.
Meeting Transcript
Thank you, President Nephew. Item number three, resolution two twelve, approving applications for lawful gambling. Item number four, resolution two thirteen, approving the issuance of various liquor licensees. Do we have any questions on items three and four? Seeing none, we will move on to counselor Forsman with personnel. Thank you, President Nephew. Resolution 231 confirming appointments and reappointments to City of Duluth Boards and Commissions and Resolution 232 confirming the appointment of members to the Duluth Planning Commission, Transit Authority, and Spirit Mount Recreation Area Authority, if I may. Yes, go ahead. Thank you, President Nephew. So I worked with uh both Clerk Denham as well as Mr. Dukich on this. We split this intentionally because the first resolution, uh, those are not boards or commissions that we are going to require interviews for, however, for 232. Um traditionally, we have had authorities as well as boards like the planning commission and um I guess that's just the only other city one we have on the dock at this time. We have required interviews in advance of voting, so what I would recommend council do is that we would uh table 232 until we have the interviews, which are currently scheduled for April 9th, I believe. Is that right, Clerk Denham? Yep. And so we will try to pack those five interviews in that night, and then we could vote on it at our next meeting. So happy to take any questions, but that's the plan. All right, thank you, Councilor Forsman. Is there any other questions on that? Um seeing none. Uh Planning and Economic Development. Um item number seven, resolution two oh one. Resolution calling uh public calling public hearing on the proposed establishment of the orchards of Morgan Park tax increment financing district within the project area number one and the proposed adoption of the tax increment financing plan relating there to as proposed by the housing and redevelopment authority of Duluth, Minnesota. Um questions on that, or actually, I'm gonna ask Director Van Tassel to come up. I know there's some confusion on the attachments, and I'm wondering if you can give clarification and just some further explanations on this. Council President Nephew, yes, we are um uh taking a look at those attachments, making sure uh we have the right ones on there. I think we had a duplication issue. Uh just to give a brief overview of of what this is. Um it it is merely the announcement and the calling for a public hearing um of this TIFF district later in April. At that time, you will also see the uh the details of the TIFF TIFF plan and district um come forward in a separate resolution. So whenever uh the HRA establishes uh TIFF district, we go through this kind of this extra process to call for that public hearing. So that's that's what this item does tonight is call for the hearing. More details will come uh at that meeting in April. So I do have a quick question and I'll move on to others. Um I know Counselor Kennedy, who cannot be here tonight, her question was um the same as mine. There's one map that shows an outline of the entire city of Duluth, and then there is also the platted with the orchards. Um I know I said on HRA, and I do know that the plat that's there, but can you explain why the entire map of the city of Duluth was included in that? Uh President Nephew, I believe uh the map of the entire city of Duluth was supposed to have a call out of where the orchard is located within the city, simply so people could locate it within the city uh out in Morgan Park. So we'll go we'll we'll figure out that attachment and label it correctly. All right, thank you. Uh Counselor Derwachter Oh uh thank you, President Nephew. I I actually just want to pull items 231 and 232 from consent. Okay. All right, thank you. Are there any other questions on item number seven? Um I do know that that one also is going to be pulled by um counselor Kennedy. So pull resolution 201 as well. Um next we go on to public works and utilities. Counselor Randorf, would you mind reading in for Counselor Desatel?
openpublica.com