In the first of two special meetings Monday, Nov. 15, the Breezy Point City Council voted to accept the resignation of City Administrator/Clerk Patrick Wussow.
He agreed to remain in his position while the city searches for a new administrator. In that regard, the council also voted to enter into an agreement with David Drown Associates to help with the search for a new administrator.
"This is very similar to what we did previously, when we actually hired Patrick," said council member Tom Lillehei, who served as mayor when Wussow was hired in 2018. "David Drown does an excellent job of screening candidates and bringing forth qualified applicants."
In a written statement, Wussow simply said he wants "to concentrate on personal projects that have been on the back burner."
"My time working for the City of Breezy Point has been rewarding," the statement read. "The city has accomplished numerous of their identified goals and is on its way to completing others.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I have enjoyed meeting the residents and property owners of the community."
Wussow served as a city administrator in Brainerd, Big Lake and Tonka Bay - as well as a county administrator in Aitkin and city planner in North Mankato - before retiring in 2015 and then coming out of retirement in 2018 to work in Breezy Point.
Council moves road discussion back to committee
In the second special meeting of the night, the council - along with roughly 20 residents - heard a presentation from Jacob Bongard, of Bolton & Menk engineering firm, regarding potential improvements to Buschmann Road and Ranchette Drive. Buschmann Road improvements are part of a cooperative road study with Breezy Point, Pequot Lakes, Ideal Township and Jenkins Township.
Bongard presented the study to the Pequot Lakes City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 2. The Breezy Point council, like their neighbors to the west, agreed option B - the county standard - was better than option A, but voted to send the topic back to the road committee for further study.
The county standard for either option A or option B would cost the city an estimated $7,415,000 for Buschmann Road.
For Pequot Lakes, the option A price was drastically higher than option B for the county standard - $13,050,000 vs. $3,030,000 - because of roads involved for that city.
The goal of the road study was to identify issues along the corridor and solutions for safety. The idea is to use the road corridor to connect to County Roads 16 and 112 in the west and to County Road 11 in the east.
ADVERTISEMENT
Total estimated costs range from $9,670 to $22,245 for option A and $8,380 to $15,375 for Option B. Cost estimates depend on whether the corridor would be built to local, state aid or county standards.
Council member Rebecca Ball was not in attendance Monday.
Dan Determan may be reached at 218-855-5879 or dan.determan@pineandlakes.com. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@PEJ_Dan.
