“I had to clear trees to get to work today,” Cook County Highway Engineer David Betts told the county board on Tuesday, October 25, 2010 as the wind howled outside. “We had phone calls to clear trees first thing in the morning. Everybody’s hopping.” After four months on the job, Betts reviewed with the board his preliminary five-year plan for […]
Interactive county map coming online soon
Sometime in the first week or so of November, people will be able to log onto the Cook County website, access an interactive map, and zoom in on aerial photos of their properties. They will be able to find township grids and zoning boundaries and find road, stream, and lake names. At the Tuesday, October 26, 2010 county board meeting, […]
Sheriff’s Department buys local
The Sheriff ’s Department is buying two new snowmobiles, and it did its best to buy locally. On Tuesday, October 26, 2010 Sheriff Mark Falk presented a capital purchase request to the county board for two snowmobiles in the budget for a total of $20,000. His department went to Steve’s Sports to see about buying them there, and found that […]
Commissioners ponder top priorities
What are Cook County’s three most pressing issues? The Cook County Board of Commissioners has been asked to send the Arrowhead Counties Association a list of the three legislative priorities it believes are most important to Cook County. At the Tuesday, October 12, 2010 county board meeting, commissioners came up with the following ideas: Bruce Martinson considered bridge bonding to […]
County slightly over budget but expects equilibrium by year’s end
Three-quarters of the way through 2010, Cook County has spent 79% of its budget, which means it is about $250,000 over budget. That does not mean the budget has been disregarded, however. The overages were caused mostly by payments that have already been made for the entire year, and some of those costs will be reimbursed. The largest overages resulted […]
Park board talks solar power and seasonal rates
At the October 5, 2010 meeting of the Grand Marais Park Board, rec park manager Dave Tersteeg reported that five 4’x10’ solar panels would be installed in the bathhouse across from the ball field around the middle of this month. They will heat two water tanks totaling 170 gallons. The closed-loop system will be filled with an antifreeze compound that […]
Pool sees significant summertime business from rec park campers
Head Lifeguard Charles Christiansen reported to the Grand Marais Park Board October 5, 2010 that from May through September, 4,575 Grand Marais Rec Park campers used the pool, generating approximately $13,725 minus some discounts and membership rates, which would represent one third of the total amount of revenue during that time. Campers made up one third of the total number […]
City council hears plans for Boy Scout visit
The Oct. 13, 2010 Grand Marais City Council meeting began with a presentation by Steve Schug of the U.S. Forest Service. Schug, who works out of the Grand Marais and Tofte stations, said he has been talking with the Boy Scouts to prepare for an upcoming Order of the Arrow project scheduled for Cook County next June. Schug said there […]
25th anniversary gig for North Shore Music Association
The North Shore Music Association (NSMA) celebrated its 25th anniversary in a big way October 9 at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts. Featuring a concert by singer/ songwriter/guitarist/violinist Rachael Kilgour of Duluth, the evening also included a silent auction of merchandise from local businesses, a collection of goods and monetary donations for the Cook County Food Shelf, and birthday […]