The Bemidji City Council held a listening session last night during their work session. The listening session was designed to gather input on a food and beverage tax to offset the operating deficit of the Sanford Center. The brief listening session included the reading of a letter from the Bemidji Alliance, read by Bemidji Chamber…
The Bemidji City Council will hold a community listening session during their work session Monday. The meeting will be held at the Sanford Center Ballroom beginning at 5:30 p.m. The council is seeking feedback on a hospitality tax, a concept discussed for years as a means of offsetting the operating losses of the Sanford Center….
Beltrami County offices will close early next week for County Staff Appreciation Day. According to a release, the buildings will be closed at 3 p.m. July 27, with signs posted at office locations. The day comes after a proclamation from Gov. Tim Walz and the Beltrami County Board of Commissioners to recognize and celebrate staff…
MDVA officials recently visited city and county leaders on the future Bemidji Veterans Home. The home will sit on 15 acres donated by Sanford Health on their campus. More than $10 million in state funding was allocated toward three new Minnesota Veterans homes, one each in Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston, three years ago. Earlier this…
More than 400 community members provided feedback on the proposed Highway 197 corridor project. The Minnesota Department of Transportation, the Headwaters Regional Development Commission, and a panel of stakeholders have been meeting for more than a year, as MnDOT plans reconstruction of the corridor in about six years when the pavement reaches the end of…
The Bemidji School District will go forward with a referendum election. This would be a special election, and all voters within the district will receive a notification, according to district staffer Krissi Fenner. Fenner said the district receives about 60 percent of its revenue from the state, 4 percent from the federal government, and the…
In response to the state’s drought management plan, the City of Bemidji passed a resolution further restricting water use. City Engineer Craig Gray said the odd/even sprinkling ban, in effect since early June, was not as effective at reducing water use as he hoped. Commercial irrigation is the largest use of the city’s water supply,…
Minnesota is now in a “drought warning” phase, with 52 percent of the state in “severe drought” and four percent rated “extreme.” The DNR is notifying those with water-use permits that they should follow conservation measures such as reducing landscape irrigation, using more efficient equipment and repairing leaks. Public water suppliers are being told that…
The Bemidji School Board will further explore an operating referendum request during their meeting Monday. According to the results of a community-wide survey, the district is fairly confident that a referendum would pass. The last operating referendum that was approved was in 2014, which was a $180 per pupil, 10-year levy that supports day-to-day operations…
The City of Bemidji will work over the next month to determine the viability of a wellness complex at the rail corridor site. The city has already invested around $225,000 in professional engineering and consulting services through the St. Paul Port Authority. Port Authority Director Monte Hillman assured the council that the money already invested…
