Town council passed a resolution Monday night officially requesting the state, province, and possibly the government of Canada pursue buying the international bridge here and doing away with the tolls.
Mayor Onichuk said Monday evening the motion isn’t so much new as simply reinforcing council’s stance, as well as the position of the Canadian American Border Communities Organization (CABCO), since the bridge was announced for sale back in November.
The mayor noted copies of the resolution will be sent forward to the senior levels of government, as well local MP Ken Boshcoff and MPP Howard Hampton “so that they can help us carry the ball on this.”
Back in November, CABCO, and then the respective councils of the City of International Falls and Town of Fort Frances, passed resolutions to petition the provincial and federal governments to investigate doing a feasibility study regarding the purchase of the international bridge here, with the aim to get it in public hands.
While the financial data on the bridge was not available (and still isn’t until the bridge’s current owners retain a broker), the Minnesota Department of Transportation and Ontario Ministry of Transportation collaborated on a structural analysis of the bridge.
That analysis—revealed Jan. 31 at a public meeting in the Falls—showed the railroad bridge built back in 1908 only has 15-20 years left in it before it needs to be replaced at a cost of $8 million.
< *c>Business licensing
In other news from Monday night’s meeting, businesses—local and otherwise—all will be required to get licences after council passed a revised bylaw to licence and regulate businesses, taxis, and trades carried on within Fort Frances.
The new bylaw won’t come into effect until May 1 in order to give council time to amend its current fee schedule to correspond with any fee revisions in the business licence bylaw.
The only person on the agenda to speak to the proposed bylaw was Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce president Gary Rogozinski, who said the changes to the bylaw “have been positive.”
But he also indicated the Chamber would like to be involved in setting the licence fee schedule when it is revised.
Also at Monday night’s meeting, council:
•heard a report from OFSAA hockey tourney co-chairs Terry Ogden and Greg Ste. Croix on last week’s event, at which time they thanked the town and community for their support of the successful event;
•agreed to a request from the Canadian Cancer Society to proclaim April as “Cancer Month” in the Town of Fort Frances;
•agreed to a request from the Salvation Army to proclaim May as “The Salvation Army Red Shield Month” in the Town of Fort Frances (not April as was incorrectly stated in yesterday’s Daily Bulletin);
•referred a request from Pitch-In Canada regarding membership renewal to the Operations and Facilities executive committee for its recommendation; and
•referred a municipal planner’s memo regarding Minor Variance A6/2006 (Kevin Anderson) to the Planning and Development executive committee for its recommendation.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
