The county board has exercised its authority to accept – or reject – recommendations from the committee working on a design for the new community center.
On June 14, 2011, commissioners authorized ORB Management, the project’s builder’s rep, to come up with cost estimates on researching the financial ramifications of three possible locations for the new center: between the current Community Center and the school (requiring relocation of the new tennis courts), between the current Community Center and the tennis courts (requiring reconfiguring the design and repositioning the building away from a primarily south-facing orientation), and on the corner of the New Gunflint Trail and Creechville Road.
On Friday, June 10 the Community Center Steering Committee engaged in a spirited discussion of where the new facility should be located. The committee passed a motion to recommend three options including the one requiring relocation of the tennis courts, the one on the corner, and one attached to the west wing of the Cook County Schools complex.
The county board decided not to consider the option of attaching the facility to the school and to pursue the one that would be east of the current Community Center but not require moving the tennis courts, despite the fact that the committee had not recommended that option.
Commissioners Bruce Martinson, Fritz Sobanja, and Sue Hakes recommended against attaching the facility to the school because of the cost of demolition, disruption to the school, and abatement, security, and access issues.
Hakes, the steering committee chair, said she has been receiving a lot of comments and questions from the public regarding the community center project. These are available to the public for review in Community Center Director Diane Booth’s office, and new submissions will be included in the packet of materials available at county board meetings.
Regarding the cost of exploring the financial ramifications of various site options, ORB President Tom Wachholz said, “Sometimes you need to spend a little money to make a good decision… and keep from making a bad decision.”
Birch Grove Community Center design
“Birch Grove is located on one of the most beautiful sites in Minnesota,” said Egle Vanagaite, University of Minnesota Center for Changing Landscapes designer. With its accessibility to hiking and biking trails, it has the potential to be a vital recreational area along the North Shore, she said.
The plan includes a playground, a tennis court, a hockey rink and basketball court with a nearby warming hut, an environmental learning trail, sitting walls for “wetland learning,” a rain garden, a plaza, a picnic table, a resting bench, an observation deck overlooking Lake Superior, walkways, a parking area, a possible future pavilion with a restroom, and lots of landscaping – balsam fir, dogwood, birch, mountain ash, and spruce trees, and winterberry.
Tom Wachholz, president of ORB management, which is overseeing the project, said cost estimates will be done soon. The designers were aware of what the budget was, he said. The project will include a “menu” of items that can be chosen or put off for the future.
In light of the dying off of birch trees along the North Shore due to the natural aging of the forest, Commissioner Jim Johnson said, “I know the idea of Birch Grove almost cries out for birch trees!” He said it could be hard to reestablish birch groves but they could consult the experts just down the road – the U.S. Forest Service Tofte District office.
Bonding options
Accountants Carolyn Drude and Bruce Kimmel of Ehlers & Associates presented a possible scenario for the process of funding and bonding for the 1 percent projects.
They suggested the possibility of taking out three bonds totaling $17,000,000, with the county using $1,000,000 directly from 1 percent revenues to pay for project costs and “loaning” the projects $2,000,000 as needed.
Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers said the tax brought in $1.1 million in its first year. When the county had a 1 percent tax for hospital improvements, every year generated more revenue than the year before. “It’s a different economy now,” Powers said, but added that he thinks more revenue will be brought in each year with this tax as well. A financial cushion will be built into the bonding projections to handle fluctuations in revenue from year to year.
Commissioner Fritz Sobanja said a cushion would help if something really unexpected happened, such as if a volcano “blew up” in Lake Superior. Commissioner Jim Johnson asked the accountants what the crystal ball showed, and Accountant Drude walked up to him and gave him a tiny little crystal ball.
Drude said the recommendations they were making were conservative enough that they would make Cook County a safe risk for investors.
The 1 percent tax will be collected until the bonds are paid off. The accountants estimated that the county would start making bond payments in 2012 and finish in 2034. The county would have the option of saving interest and sunsetting the tax early by prepaying bonds starting in 2022 or 2023. They estimated the total cost of the projects, including bonding, could be about $30.4 million.
Powers said the county has enough cash on hand to pay directly for project costs until it is ready to bond.
“This is just meant to be preliminary,” said Drude.
1% not for library lease
Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers reported that the county’s bond attorney has advised him that the 1% sales and use tax cannot be used to pay the cost of leasing space in the Cook County Schools complex for the Grand Marais Public Library while the library building is being expanded. The tax revenue can be used for moving expenses, however.
The library board voted to use some of the funds it has available to pay the cost of leasing space, Powers said.
1% for pool in city rec park
Contrary to what has been bandied about in conversation, Commission er Martinson said he believed the 1 percent tax revenue could be used for a stand-alone pool in the Grand Marais Recreation Area.
Commissioner Sobanja said Senator Bakk had told him the Minnesota House wouldn’t have passed the legislation if it had allowed such a use.
Commissioner Hakes said Bakk had emailed her that morning reiterating that the county has discretion within the bounds of the legislative language, which does not specifically prohibit using the revenue for a standalone pool. She indicated she believed the most efficient use of the tax revenue was to combine a pool with the new community center.
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