Recap of January 27th Snowmobile/ATV Committee Meeting

Reminder –  Committee Meeting Tonight @ 7:00 PM.

Recap of the last meeting: 

Much discussion about snowmobile traffic and ATV’s.  Majority of committee members felt that the laws currently in place were sufficient and that an increased law enforcement presence in town would help immensely.  Also need to educate the ATV/snowmobile enthusiast with regards to the rules of operation in Burt Township/Alger County.  So for this next meeting we will try and focus on the following topics:

Education – distribute maps/bullet points of important rules for hand outs at all business and short term rentals.   Everyone in Grand Marais is a tour guide – make sure we are all giving the correct information.

Enforcement – Do you support the township paying extra funds to the sheriff for additional road patrol?   Where would you like to see the township direct the officers to get the most out of our money spent?

Additional regulations – Do we need to make any new and additional rules to control the ATV/Snowmobile traffic.  Most committee members felt the existing laws were sufficient for snowmobiles, I think more discussion regarding the ATV/ORV is necessary.

I would also like to discuss the parking on the green space problem.  The township is currently looking to add some landscaping and enhance the greenspace area and that would include some sort of fencing or enclosure to prevent driving/parking in the area.    What would that look like?  Can we provide another area for parking in town?  Possible staging area outside of town?

Also, with regard  to the issue of redaction of the names on the letters.  I have contacted MTA and the rules are that it is within the law to redact names and identifying features from correspondence that will be used in a presentation.  But Jack and Aleta are correct in saying that if there is a formal FOIA request for the unredacted information, we are required to provide it.  So that being said, please let me know if you would like copies of the letters without the names redacted.  I have attached a couple more letters that I have received since our last meeting.