The city of Park Rapids will eat most of the money it staked on the now-defunct Wine Not?.
The city council on Tuesday, Feb. 24 authorized city officials to sign the satisfaction of mortgage for the former wine bar at 110 4th St. W.
According to the resolution, the city had extended a revolving loan to then-business owner Karen Acker in 2021. However, the business failed, leaving the building vacant with an outstanding loan balance of $29,869.
A promissory note to the city is recorded as a secondary mortgage, following the bank that holds the primary mortgage, the resolution states.
The property now has a purchase agreement, and the bank is prepared to finalize the sale, the resolution states. But first the city needs to provide a satisfaction of mortgage.
The city’s loan committee recommended on Feb. 24 that the council approve signing the satisfaction of mortgage, the resolution states. Upon the sale of the property, the city will receive $9,586 and will write off the remaining balance of $20,283.
Council member Joe Christensen’s motion to authorize this passed unanimously.
Redoing parks-urban forestry merger
Work continues to combine the city’s parks and beautification board and urban forestry commission into one body.
The council also held a hearing, but received no public comment, about an ordinance rescinding and amending a previous city code amendment that merged the two groups into the parks, beautification and urban forestry board.
Weasner said a legal review of the previous ordinance found issues with how the code regarding the two boards was combined, noting that staff initially “took the easy way and just chopped something off, and it didn’t work.”
She said they are still combining the two boards into one, “however, we cannot just rescind the Urban Forestry (ordinance). In order for us to get our Tree City USA designation, we have to have all those items listed.”
Weasner said the revised ordinance regarding the combined parks-urban forestry board will still reference the existing urban forestry ordinance.
Council member Liz Stone made a motion to approve the first reading of the ordinance, which passed unanimously.
In consent items and general business, the council:
Authorized staff to submit a 2026 Outdoor Recreation Program grant to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for Red Bridge Park improvements, and to apply to the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority for an estimated $950,000 from the Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund for lead service line replacements. Paid AgSense, LLC $1,800 for five annual Monitor & Control Pro subscriptions for controlling irrigators, an increase of $100 over last year’s price.Paid American Legal Publishing $3,022 for uploading ordinance changes to the city website’s code book.Paid Century Concrete and Masonry, LLC $1,813 to repair and replace a city sidewalk and a pedestrian ramp panel and haul away demolition debris.Paid Hawkins, Inc. $1,588 for water treatment chemicals.Paid Network Center, Inc. $1,601 for technical support, a cybersecurity app subscription and hosted audiovisual, web filtering and breach detection services.Paid TKDA $6,285 for engineering work on the municipal airport master plan update.Appointed council member Jeremy Engholm as a resident member of the Park Rapids Planning Commission, not as the required city council representative.Approved public facilities use permits for the Chamber of Commerce’s July 4 parade and Nov. 27 Christmas tree lighting ceremony and Yuletide Sampler. Approved two temporary on-sale liquor licenses, an on-sale/Sunday liquor license, a plumber’s permit, a lawful gambling application and a multi-vendor license.Acknowledged a $1,000 donation from Edoma Ranson, Jr. to the Park Rapids Library.Approved payables totaling $29,034 and prepaids totaling $1,486,428.
The city council’s next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 10 at city hall.
Robin Fish is a staff reporter at the Park Rapids Enterprise. Contact him at rfish@parkrapidsenterprise.com or 218-252-3053.
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