Sam Easter, Grand Forks Herald
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Judy’s Tavern has seen visits from the Stanley Cup, countless pints of beer and steady ownership from Gary Rogalla and his wife for nearly 30 years. But soon, it’ll be time for Rogalla to hand over the keys.
City Council members are people, too, with busy lives and careers. Sometimes, they miss meetings. But when you're on the City Council, handling millions in public dollars—and making big decisions on a community's future—how often should you be expected to show up for the weekly meeting?
With testimony finished and attorneys' closing arguments filed, all that's left in a court case on Grand Forks' Arbor Park is a judge's ruling: Will the June 20 election on the park's future be valid or void?
After a second day of witness' testimony, a lawsuit on Arbor Park moves from the courtroom to chambers, with written arguments due to District Judge Steven Marquart by 5 p.m. on Aug. 16. The move brings the case closer to a resolution that could come before the end of next week.
Mark your calendars. Almost a year to the day after the last vote on a sales tax hike, Grand Forks will head to the polls once again—this time, to vote on a more modest increase, but one city leaders still say is sorely needed for local streets and water projects.
A new city sales tax bump is racing down City Hall's back stretch toward a finish line at the ballot box before the end of the year—and on Monday evening, it was once again approved by members of the Grand Forks Committee of the Whole who nearly all seemed to have a different take on its future.
On June 19, the eve of the citywide election that would decide the future of Arbor Park, City Council member Bret Weber texted one of the leaders of the drive to preserve it -- a man who had stood against the city to force the park's future to a vote.
City leaders reimagined Grand Forks' DeMers Avenue on Monday evening, reviewing ideas for a street renovation that could happen as soon as 2019.
Diane Knauf will soon be a former Grand Forks County commissioner. But is she a future commissioner, too? Knauf, first elected in 2006, is set to step down from the board July 31. She's retiring from a social services position with the state of North Dakota, and pension rules are forcing her to leave the commission as well. Her departure was announced last month, and set up a process to appoint a replacement that likely would begin in August.
Arbor Park backers pulled their second surprise move in as many weeks on Monday night, offering the City Council property to relocate the condo building that's set to replace the Grand Forks pocket park. Mary Weaver, an outspoken park proponent, asked the council to consider moving the condo project to 425 Kittson Ave. That's about a block to the south on a grassy field next to Centennial Park—the modest space with a clock tower on the corner of Kittson Avenue and South Fifth Street.