Working through a busy agenda, Cook County commissioners spent about six hours dealing with a wide array of subjects on March 24, 2015.
Highlighting the meeting was the announcement by Jared Beldez of the Arrowhead Regional Development Council (ARDC) who said out of eight grant requests totaling $2.8 million that the Northeast Minnesota Area Transportation Partnership (TAP) received, it recommended awarding $600,000 to the Grand Marais Highway 61 redesign project.
Beldez said that TAP only had $900,000 to grant this year, and only one other project, the St. Louis Trail Project, was selected to receive $300,000.
The Highway 61 Redesign project has been getting suggestions from citizens through meetings and online about ways to improve safety and enhance the main corridor through the city. Part of that goal is to build a continuous pedestrian and bike path in the highway corridor along with making storm water improvements.
Although the two grants haven’t been formally approved, Beldez said a board would review requests on April 9, with announcements coming on April 15.
ARMER tower update
Three people, Mike Schelmeske, Tonia Kittelson, a representative of the Friends of the Boundary Waters, and James Raml spoke during the public comment period. All expressed an interest in keeping the ARMER towers as short as possible and as far as the proposed tower at the end of the Gunflint Trail, putting no tower there at all.
Kittelson said that the Friends had hired a local surveyor to discover just how far away a 180-foot tower could be seen from inside the BWCAW. She said that a 180-foot tower could be seen from near Clark Island, six miles away, and because it will take 80 to 100 years for trees to grow back in that burned area, a tower will be visible for a long time to come.
MnDOT representative Shane Chatleain said the state was open to the idea of a 180-foot tower at the proposed site near Cascade River. Originally MnDOT suggested installing a 330-foot tower there, but the county board asked MnDOT to instead consider a shorter tower at that site.
“We have determined that a 180- foot tower will work at that site,” said Chatleain.
The issue all along for MnDOT is that they want the towers to provide redundancy.
Rowan Watkins said redundancy occurs when there is more area that a tower can receive or send a signal.
Chatleain was asked if cell phone providers were driving the building of a tower at the end of the trail. He said it was illegal for MnDOT to solicit any business for its towers, but it can accept offers to install cell phone equipment on them for a price once they are up.
Commissioner Frank Moe said he didn’t want commercialism to drive the height of the towers and Commissioner Garry Gamble worried that if down the line the state was pinched for revenue, would cell phone providers be allowed to put their equipment on the towers? “Incrementally, we will destroy the environment,” he said.
Chatleain said although MnDOT appreciates revenue derived from shared towers, there has been no discussion with cell phone carriers. “Commercialism is not the driving force in building these towers,” Chatleain said.
Chatleain said that the county would have over the 95 percent coverage for the ARMER system when the towers—excluding the one at the end of the trail—are put up.
Sheriff Pat Eliasen said he would like to see some kind of relay system for radios put up at the Trail’s end, but he didn’t express any desire to see a tower put there either.
MnDOT update
Todd Campbell, MnDOT District l assistant district engineer, gave an update on future Cook County road projects.
Campbell said in the fall of 2016 bridges would replace cement culverts at Devil Track River and Cutface Creek. Bridges, said Campbell, present easier access for fish and there would be less chance for debris to plug the openings as is the case with culverts.
With no road overlay scheduled until 2022 for the Grand Portage area, commissioners recently wrote to MnDOT requesting that it review that deteriorating section of Highway 61.
Campbell said he had taken a ride to Grand Portage on March 6 for a meeting and he saw and felt the bumpy road. “While traveling to and from the meeting, I saw first hand the tenting that has impacted the ride of the pavement along Highway 61 from Grand Marais to the Canadian border,” he said.
Tenting occurs when water freezes in cracks, lifting the pavement. This phenomenon doesn’t happen every winter, said Campbell, but occurs in warmer years when there are more rain events or freeze thaw cycles.
To alleviate some of the deterioration, Campbell said this summer MnDOT would lay a thin coating of tar [called micro-surfacing] from near Reservation River to the Canadian border, a stretch of five miles that is in especially bad shape. That work should help smooth the ride and alleviate the tenting until an overlay project is done in 2022, he said.
“Additionally, MnDOT maintenance crews from Grand Marais have patching and joint mastic sealing on their work plan for the corridor between Grand Marais and the Canadian border,” said Campbell.
A mill and overlay project from 8th Avenue in Grand Marais to County Road 14 will take place in 2020, Campbell said.
Gunflint striping scheduled
County Highway Engineer Dave Betts told commissioners that the striping project for the Gunflint Trail would be done this summer. It will end at Cross River, about 48 miles up the trail. It was supposed to be done last year but Betts said the county couldn’t get the reflective paint it needed.
Betts said the paint will cost $350,000 to $400,000 and was in the budget last year.
Betts also told commissioners that two lights would be installed on the four corners intersection of County Road 8 and County Road 12 (Devil Track Road). He said LED lights will be installed and the light poles should be shorter than the tree line, keeping the light as muted as possible while still being effective for drivers.
MnDOT land transfer
It’s taken 16 years of negotiations, but 85 acres owned by MnDOT located along Highway 61 in the Colvill area will be transferred to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), said Amber VanNingen, a DNR employee. The DNR will split the parcels into three management units, she said.
Anna Hess, of the DNR Two Harbors office, joined VanNingen in the presentation.
The Division of Parks and Trails will manage the water access campsites while the Division of Ecological and Water Resources will manage the scientific and natural area that has at least two endangered or rare species of plants. A third section located above Highway 61 near East Colvill will be managed for wildlife.
Law enforcement grievance continues
At County Attorney Molly Hicken’s request, the board agreed to hire Dyan Ebert to represent the county in the grievance filed by Law Enforcement Labor Services (LELS) for law enforcement personnel who feel that two employees—Leif Lunde and Ben Hallberg—should not get seniority credit for the time they served in administrative roles.
Newly-elected Sheriff Pat Eliasen first denied the union’s request, which then went to Hicken, who also denied it. In Step 3, the grievance was brought before the county commissioners who also denied it because past practices have allowed a county employee to return to the labor pool from a management position without losing time.
Hicken said it has been 24 years since the county faced a grievance and she felt that Ebert, who has a lot of expertise in handling such cases, would be best able to handle the matter.
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