Melrose Board Orders Campground Electrical Equipment Ahead of Price Increases

MELROSE — February 17, 2022 — Melrose Select Board authorizes campground electrical order and clears slate of personnel and contract actions. The board voted unanimously February 17 to approve a just-under-$35,000 purchase order for electrical pedestals and conduit for an expanded Sock River Park campground, locking in pricing amid rising material costs ahead of an expected September delivery. The project, developed over two months by the park board, calls for 20 new 30-by-50-foot campsites with water and electric, at an estimated total project cost of roughly $300,000, with LCCMR and outdoor recreation grant applications pending; permitting for a required shower facility in the floodway remains unresolved. The board also declared roughly $400,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds as replacing lost public-sector revenue — the Treasury's cleanest accounting option — freeing the money for general infrastructure use with an obligation deadline of end of 2024. Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall, who serves as city attorney by contract, reported a record 1,200-plus felonies countywide in 2021, including eight homicides, while the city's own count stood at 21. The board approved backfilling a streets-and-parks position vacated by the retirement of Bob Beckerman and authorized tree-removal compensation payments not to exceed $1,500 for property owners along the RDB project corridor.