Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen came before the county board on January 10 and asked for approval to move a part-time dispatcher to full-time. Currently, his office has five full-time and one-halftime dispatcher/jailers, but needs six full-time employees to cover all of the shifts and vacations, he said.
Problems arise when more than five people are in jail. At that time, said Eliasen, he is required to have two full-time dispatchers working. Dispatchers/ jailers check prisoners every 15 minutes, noted Eliasen, and when it is stormy out as it has been as of late, many more calls come into the law enforcement center than usual.
“I took money from several accounts and moved it around to account for the salary and benefits,” of the full-time position, Eliasen said.
After a brief discussion, the commissioners voted 4-0 to approve Sheriff Eliasen’s request.
Commissioners approved a Special Event Permit Application for the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon with a caveat, asking that any event application held on the Gunflint Trail include parking for that event on only one side of the Trail. Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk mentioned that she saw a vehicle mirror dinged due to the close proximity of vehicles while she was attending a race on the Trail.
The board approved by motion a letter setting forth the county’s understanding of what services the Office of the State Auditor will provide for the 2016 financial audit of Cook County.
The Office of the State Auditor will look at “the group financial statements of governmental activities, the discretely presented component unit, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information, including related notes to financial statements, which comprise the core financial statements of the county for the year ending December 31, 2016.”
Cook County Highway Engineer Dave Betts appeared before the board with a request to buy a 2017 Cat AWD Motor Grader for 2017 at the cost of $302,910. The grader was in the county highway budget and commissioners approved the purchase.
Carrie McHugh, Director of the Cook County Historical Society, came with a request for the board to approve payment of $12,700 to LHB, a Minneapolis-based company who proposed providing historical architectural, preservation, and engineering services for the structure of the Bill Bally Blacksmith Shop.
LHB will outline historical objectives and treatment approaches, cost estimates, wok recommendations and alternatives for the blacksmith shop. The company will also prepare and provide a Historic Structure Report, which includes the history of the blacksmith shop, an analysis of existing conditions and treatment recommendations.
The county board approved the request to hire LHB.
Max Gray Construction was hired to renovate the Cook County Airport Arrival Departure Building at the cost of $786,903.50. Doo-Kirk said the current building’s roof needs repair; windows need replacing, along with an addition to the facility.
To pay for the renovation/ expansion, the county will use $200,000 out of the airport fund, which has a balance of $300,000, to put towards the project. Other funds will come from the FAA ($180,435), the Iron Range Resources Rehabilitation Board ($200,000) and the Minnesota Department of Transportation ($150,00). A Minnesota Department of Employment and Economics (DEED) grant for $50,000 is pending but expected to be approved.
Dr. Sandra Lee Stover was appointed and authorized to be the Cook County coroner for the next four years. Dr. Stover is a longtime employee of the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic and has provided this service for the county in the past.
Former Cook County Commissioner Garry Gamble will be recommended through a letter signed by Cook County Board Chair Jan Sivertson to serve on the Arrowhead Regional Corrections Advisory Board. Cook County’s current representative is Janice Hall, but due to health reasons, she can’t attend the meetings. The county also lost another appointment to the board when after 23 years Warren Anderson, retired social services director for Cook County, had to resign from the board also for health reasons.
The Arrowhead Regional Corrections picks up the costs of the advisory board members, i.e. hotel, mileage, and meals.
Closed meeting
A closed meeting was held to discuss the county’s ongoing lawsuit against K Johnson Construction, the contractor who poured the failed cement for the ice hockey rink at the community center.
K Johnson completed pouring and finishing the cement on October 11, 2012.
An inspector was on hand to make sure the cement was poured correctly, but somewhere along the line the cement failed.
Not long after the job was completed the rink surface started to degrade, flaking and peeling. When notified, K Johnson said they could perform a surface grind and reseal the cement, but the county decided to hire a firm to test it to see if the problems ran deeper than first thought. When it was determined that the cement was bad from the top down—meaning all of it needs to be removed and replaced—K Johnson balked at returning to fix the problem.
Stephanie Ball, an attorney with Fryberger, Buchanan, Smith & Frederick, P.A. of Duluth, was hired to represent Cook County in the matter.
K Johnson was the low bidder at $117,590 and was hired by the county.
ORB Management was the county’s general project manager for all of the 1 percent local option sales tax funded projects, solicited and screened applicants. ORB then forwarded the bids to the Cook County Board of Commissioners for approval.
Funds to pay for the hockey rink came from the 1 percent sales tax money collected by the county and used to pay for construction improvements and additions to community centers and public recreation areas, including public areas, located in Grand Marais, Lutsen and Tofte. Notable among the projects were the building of the YMCA and expansion of the library in Grand Marais.
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