City councilor and Superior Cycling Association member Tim Kennedy invited the county board on Tuesday, March 8, 2011 to a meeting at Lutsen Resort at 2:00 p.m. March 15 to hear about the potential economic impact of developing “silent sports” trails in Cook County. Numerous experts will talk about trail development projects and how they can benefit area businesses.
A written invitation from the Superior Cycling Association to business and community leaders and interested citizens cites a major trail-building project the Boy Scouts Order of the Arrow will undertake this summer on U.S. Forest Service land near Pincushion Mountain and along the Sugar Bush Trail system in the West End. The invitation states, “This initial effort will mark the start of a much larger mountain bike trail network that is designed to draw a large number of off-road cycling enthusiasts of every skill level to enjoy the amenities and attractions of the Arrowhead region.”
Patty Johnson of the U.S. Forest
Service asked the board for its approval to use Title III funds — generated from payments in lieu of taxes on federally owned land in Cook County — to create and maintain a database on all land ownership and structures in the county for use in wildfire prevention and mitigation.
A description of the project states, “Currently there is fragmented, limited, or no spatial data to assist with emergency management activities across the county. In the age of technology we have entered, this type of information is critical to assisting emergency management personnel in coordinating emergency management activities.”
Use of the funds requires publishing a proposal and having a 45-day comment period, Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers said. The county’s Title III fund currently has $108,000 in it. County Assessor Mary Black said this money must be used within a certain time frame or it will be forfeited.
When asked what she thought of the project, Information Systems Director Danna MacKenzie said, “Absolutely we support this. This has been on our wish list since the Ham Lake fire. …It will definitely meet some county needs….”
With Commissioner Jim Johnson away at a National Association of Counties meeting, the board gave its approval for moving forward with the process of accessing Title III funds to create the database.
Several Highway Department capital purchase requests came in over budget after sales tax was figured in and because state bids were not in when the budget was created. The board approved purchase of two pickups and a couple of mowers at a total cost of $175,494.15, which is $19,650 more than the amount budgeted.
The difference will be made up with money from smaller culvert projects that will be postponed because some larger grant-funded projects will be done this summer instead.
Airport manager Rodney Roy went before the board with a capital purchase request, saying, “We have a lawn mower that is in terrible need of replacement.”
The board gave the Cook County Airport Commission approval to purchase a mower at $51,863.39 with a grant from the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). It requires a 34 percent match of $17,114.79. The commission was expecting toonlypaya5percentmatchbutfound out that the grant only covers 66 percent of the cost of mowers.
The money must used this month or it will have to be forfeited. The extra capital will be taken from the runway fund, but that project has been extended anyway, Roy said. They had thought they would be in the construction phase of the planned runway extension project, but they are actually still in the design phase.
Leave a Reply