Northern Minnesota city lands in contempt of court over bids for city garage

PROCTOR, MINN. - A year after this city put out a call for construction bids for a modest Public Works garage, the building stands half-finished - the subject of an unprecedented tangle that at one point landed Proctor in a rare legal position: in contempt of court.

The dispute over the $700,000 garage includes a contested bid process, a court-ordered work stoppage that didn't immediately stop work and claims of a construction company's incompetence answered with claims of ongoing harassment from members of the carpenters' union.

Now the garage, which is meant to hold equipment, stands roofless on a dirt plot off Kirkus Street near Proctor's sand-and-salt operation. And the case between Nordic Underwater Services and this 3-square-mile city of 3,100 on the southwest border of Duluth is winding its way through the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

https://www.startribune.com/northern-minnesota-city-lands-in-contempt-of-court-over-bids-for-city-garage/600355296/