Duluth City Council considers $8.1M water note, multiple grants and Spirit Mountain design amendment; no vote recorded in transcript

The Duluth City Council on Monday considered a package of resolutions and ordinances covering utility financing, public‑safety grants, capital purchases and recreation agreements. Presentations and questions were recorded in the meeting transcript; no final votes are recorded in the transcript provided.

Finance presented Resolution 20, described as “authorizing the issuance and sale of an $8,116,359 general obligation water utility revenue note, series 2025A,” to finance work on the Woodland booster station. Kelsey Forsman introduced the item; a city official identified in the transcript as Mister Montgomery said the state Public Facilities Authority (PFA) will buy the bonds at a rate of 1.99 percent and that prior council approvals and project definitions are already in place. “The interest rate has been set. The repayment terms are set. It’s just the actual sale contract between us and the PFA that this is now authorizing us to enter into and complete,” Montgomery said.

In public safety items, the council reviewed multiple federal grants. Resolution 1 would accept $1,246,603 from the U.S. Department of Justice for a 2024 comprehensive opioid, stimulant and substance‑use site‑based program; the city would act as fiscal agent and the funding includes support for staffing and services in partnership with St. Louis County. A city official said the grant funds will support a social worker (likely employed by the county or a service provider), three peer recovery specialists employed by the city, a program coordinator funded from earlier opioid remediation dollars and a chemical assessor. “The social worker will largely work for St. Louis County and will be part of a jail reentry program to make sure that people are getting connected with services when they come out of a period of incarceration,” the official said.

Councilors also discussed a separate Justice Department grant for victim‑assistance work associated with sexual assault evidence kit processing. The transcript indicates the city has received grant funding and has invested in backlog work since about 2015; one official said the total invested on that project for the city is “well over $4,000,000” to date and that testing of kits completed around 2019–2020 with ongoing investigations and prosecutions.

Public‑works and fleet items included purchase authorizations for a Vector T880 truck for $638,260 and contract amendments for engineering services on the Chester Park Drive alley reconstruction (an increase of $90,600, bringing that contract to $156,340).

Recreation and authorities items included an amendment to an existing design agreement for Spirit Mountain Upper Chalet Phase 2 that increases the design contract by $52,000 to a new not‑to‑exceed amount of $2,299,710. City staff said the amendment restores design work for furniture, fixtures and equipment that had been inadvertently omitted from an earlier contract and is typical for a project of the stated scope.

The council also reviewed lease items, including a five‑year lease with the University of Minnesota for Park Point aquatic programming and other agreements with Arrowhead Youth Soccer for field operations and office space. Councilor Mayo said she will abstain from the university lease item because of her employment with the university; that item was pulled from consent for separate consideration.

An ordinance before the council would authorize the Duluth Airport Authority to accept federal and state grants for improvements at Duluth International Airport and Sky Harbor Airport for 2025; the ordinance language authorizes execution of grant documents on the city’s behalf.

Councilors asked procedural and scheduling questions about a lobbying update to follow the council meeting; staff said the update will likely take 15 to 30 minutes and suggested holding it in the same chamber.

The transcript records presentations and Q&A for the items listed on the committee‑of‑the‑whole agenda but does not record final roll‑call votes or recorded outcomes for the individual resolutions and ordinances.