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HOUGHTON - Sigma Pi's annual haunted house is anything but a fright for fire victims.

The Houghton City Council recognized the Michigan Technological University fraternity Sigma Pi Monday night for their $5,000 donation to Pigs-n-Heat.

The fraternity made the donation after its haunted house won a $5,000- prize from the Web site fearnet.com.

Council member Eric Peterson said his children have grown up going to the haunted house.

"I just want to thank you for doing a good job scaring the bejesus out of them," he said.

Also Monday, the council heard a report on this year's operations at the RV Park. The park made $61,440 this year, a $8,985 increase over 2008. The site had a 72 percent occupancy rate.

At $17,650, August was the biggest month for the park this year, followed by July, September and June.

MacInnes said two more sites with utilities would be added.

The recommendations for next year include keeping the same base rate, but increasing the rate for 30-amp service or more, as well as for groups of four or more people.

In other action, the council:

heard a report from Portage Lake District Library Director Shawn Leche. He said the library would be reaching out to the community, including visits to schools in Houghton and Chassell.

heard a report from Director of Public Works Mark Zenner. The department finished paving on the end of Birch Street, the shoulder of Sharon Avenue and the bottom block of Portage Street.

Zenner said the paving on west Sharon Avenue was the last to be done with the city's stimulus money. The last paving on the street had lasted for 15 years.

"I think we got our useful life," he said.

The council discussed lighting along College Avenue. The council will decide on lighting at the next meeting, following an inspection by police and a cost study.

heard a report from Police Chief John Donnelly. There have been 120 complaints since Sept. 8. Of those, 21 were accidents, six came in a construction zone. Donnelly said several motorists have been caught going the wrong way on Shelden Avenue. Homecoming weekend produced few issues, due to inclement weather, Donnelly said.

approved a marketing contribution of $5,000 from the TV franchise fund.

MacInnes said Houghton, Hancock, the two universities and hospitals in the area, as well as the Keweenaw Convention and Visitors Bureau and Keweenaw Peninsula Chamber of Commerce have been working together on how to market the area.

"If you don't know the area at all, there's really nothing that tells the story of what's going on," he said.

MacInnes said four or five short videos are being worked on for a Web site: one with a brief overview of the area, then issue-specific videos on educational, recreation and more.

"This would be an ongoing project that we would keep up," he said.

The effort is being modeled on Bozeman, Mont.'s site, which MacInnes called "the Cadillac of sites." The total budget would be about $30,000 to $40,000, MacInnes said.

"These young professionals we're trying to recruit, this is the area where they're getting their information," he said.

passed a resolution authorizing MacInnes to assist the Treehouse: A Keweenaw Family Resource Center Indoor Playground with future grant applications when feasible.

approved payment of $265,746.02 in invoices from Rural Development funds.

approved transit agreements between the city and Vocational Strategies and B-H-K Community Action Agency.

Garrett Neese can be reached at gneese@mininggazette.com.