Silver Bay police chief ready to hang up badge

Talk about it

Silver Bay City Council members on Monday accepted the retirement of Police Chief Ron Jonson. Jonson has served on the Silver Bay Police Department since 1993, starting as a part-time officer and eventually making his way up to assistant chief in 2009. Jonson says he is ready for some free time for hunting, camping, and fishing. “I just decided it was time to hang up the gun and badge,” he said.

Jonson said he is happy to have helped the community for so many years as well as help the police department develop into what it is today. He said a highlight for him was “being able to help the community and move forward with acquiring new equipment.”

Council members spoke highly of Jonson and the work he has done. “Ron’s tenure as chief has been more than we expected,” Mayor Scott Johnson said.

Jonson is a Silver Bay native. He graduated from William Kelley High School in 1980 and went to Vermillion Community College. Jonson says he has no plans to leave Silver Bay. “Maybe sometime down the road I’ll get tired of the winters and head south,” he said.

Greenhouse bids

Bids for the construction of the bio energy food greenhouse in the eco-business park were tabled after they came in much higher than expected. The low bid was for about $1,470,000, from Ray Riihiluoma Inc., but the city had expected the project to cost around $900,000. The bids were tabled so that construction costs could be evaluated again in hopes of getting a lower bid for the project.

City Administrator Lana Fralich theorized that the bids were high because the greenhouse is a new form of construction that not many people have worked on before.

Meter installation

City council members unanimously approved to have a water meter installed at the Mary MacDonald building to help with the city’s water conservation plan. The meter and installation process will cost around $4,000, which will come out of the budget for the building. Council member Carlene Perfetto said she’d like to see meters installed at each of the individual businesses, but realized the cost would be too high.

Community sign

A low bid of $35,945 from Lakehead Sign for a new community events electronic board was accepted by council members. The digital sign will be seven feet high and 11 feet wide and placed near the high school on Outer Drive, across from Rukavina Arena.

Tags: silver bay, two harbors, community, news, police, eco-park