Cook County Highway Department employees won’t have to walk around the maintenance building trying to find a signal when talking on their cell phones anymore. On Tuesday, September 28, 2010 the county board voted to allow the purchase of a dual band amplifier kit like one recently installed in the courthouse. The cost will be $599.95 plus tax.
“Are you 100% sure it will work?” Commissioner Jim Johnson asked computer technician Kevin Twiest.
“More than 100% sure,” Twiest answered. The new equipment is working “really well” in the courthouse, he said.
Highway Maintenance Director Russell Klegstad has an amplifier like this in his truck. He said it works to Pike Lake and a few miles up the Gunflint Trail. Such devices cost $300-400, he said.
Highway Department projects
Klegstad and County Engineer David Betts updated commissioners on projects the Highway Department has been working on. Theyreplaced a lot of culverts this summer and hope to replace still more this fall, Klegstad said. The crew discovered two culverts on Clearwater Road that they didn’t know were there, he said.
“We’ve been having a lot of beaver problems lately,” Klegstad said. “They’ve been all over the place, plugging things up.”
The crew has been putting gravel down where needed. Some walkers complained about loose gravel on Hungry Jack Road. Klegstad said “better material” would be laid there to alleviate the problem.
A couple of big bumps on the Gunflint Trail will be patched temporarily. Klegstad did not want to remove and replace the pavement at this time because they are not doing any work with “hot mix” right now, and that is what would be needed to remove the bumps properly.
Thehighway crew has been trying to finish projects in various places throughout the county. The excavator is being transported from one job to another, Klegstad said. “Hopefully we’ll do a bunch of shoulder work before winter,” he said. He expressed concern about drop-offs from the pavement to the shoulder along some county roads. Betts said a new trend is to put a 30% slope on the edge of asphalt instead of leaving a 90-degree drop-off.
Betts said the Highway Department is doing certain projects itself rather than contracting them out because the county gets funded for those projects at 80% of the cost for doing the work itself, whereas it would only get funded at 50% if it contracted out for the work. Thestaff “has been doing an excellent job,” Betts said.
Obtaining a right-of-way for a portion of the Devil Track Road by the airport is going to require an act of Congress, Betts said. The law requires the property to revert back to the U.S. Forest Service if it will no longer be used for the airport, and an act of Congress would be needed to get the property into the hands of the county. Betts is working with County Attorney Tim Scannell and Congressman Jim Oberstar’s office. Betts believes the act will be attached to a bill addressing other issues as well.
Betts has been working with Gunflint Trail residents on addressing the problem of people speeding along the busy mid-Trail stretch of road that intersects a lot of driveways and numerous roads. The Minnesota Department of Transportation will be conducting a speed study there the first week of October, Betts said.
The maintenance crew is preparing its equipment for winter. The county will salt, sand, blade, and wing the Onion River Road and bill the Lutsen-Tofte Tourism Association again this year. The U.S. Forest Service-owned road provides access to popular ski trails.
Betts is working on a five-year plan he will present to the county board later this fall. He said numerous bridge projects have been identified, but state money is needed for those projects to go forward.
Long flight for gravel permit
Seasonal resident John “Timmy” Mathisen took a red-eye flight from Phoenix in order to be at the county board meeting by 8:30 a.m.
Mathisen needed permission from the board to vary slightly from a conditional use permit (CUP) he has held since 1996 on a gravel pit he owns along Highway 61 seven miles east of Grand Marais.
Northland Construction will be crushing gravel and hauling it from the site for about seven or eight weekdays over a 15-day period between mid-October and mid-November. The request was to allow the work to be done between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., an expansion of the hours outlined in the CUP by half an hour in the morning and an hour and a half in the evening. The other 31 conditions will be followed per the CUP.
Northland Construction will be using the gravel for a project in Grand Portage.
The board approved the request and directed the Planning and Zoning Department to notify the 10 neighbors closest to the gravel pit.
When Mathisen was asked how he had fared on his red-eye flight, he said he was tired but considered the trip worthwhile, since he would be having coffee with friends while he was here.
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