Andy Hubley is no stranger to Cook County. As the Division Director of the Regional Planning Division for the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission (ARDC), Hubley has spent lots of time in the county working on a myriad of projects, including the current long-range plan for Tofte Township and the Gitchi Gami State Trail.
Hubley appeared before the Cook County commissioners on Tuesday, November 24 with two members of the ARDC, Sara Prosen, who works with the Regional Aging Services, and Charlie Moore, who does interactive mapping throughout the region. The three came at the request of West End Commissioner Ginny Storlie to give an overview of the services provided by the seven-county, quasi-governmental agency.
Begun in 1969, ARDC was the first of 11 multi-county regional development organizations created by the Minnesota Legislature following the Regional Development Act of 1969, said Hubley.
The Regional Planning Division focuses on helping communities with community planning, from developing comprehensive planning and zoning ordinances to planning for specific community improvements, said Hubley.
The agency is funded in small part by a $2 per person levy for every person in the seven-county areas, said Hubley. Larger funding is sought through state and federal dollars, grants, and fees paid for services. Those funds make up most of the agency’s $5 to $10 million annual budget, he said.
Besides helping towns, townships, and cities with planning of improvements, ARDC also helps secure financing for those projects by assisting in finding grant money, bonds, or loans for civic projects. ARDC also has a revolving loan fund it uses to assist communities and private business to complete projects, said Hubley.
Currently two businesses in Cook County, Lutsen Mountains Corp. and Three Families Brewing (Voyageur Brewing) have revolving loans through the ARDC Revolving Loan Fund totaling $1,171,173.
ARDC assistance for the elderly
Sara Prosen said ARDC’s Area Agency on Aging (AAA) serves as the designated Area Agency on aging for Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, Carlton, Aitkin, and St. Louis counties. The AAA helps network organizations, units of government and service providers work together to provide elderly services.
On average, said Prosen, AAA distributes approximately $1.6 million in Federal Older Americans Act (OAA) funding to 20 agencies that serve almost 10,000 people annually.
Last year AAA awarded 26 grants to 16 agencies under the Federal Title Three Older Americans Act totaling over $1.9 million. Those dollars helped coordinate community care, in-home services, caregiver support, health promotions, disease management, home delivered meals, congregate dining, legal aid etc.
Under that program Cook County received money for senior dining, Senior Linkage Line, home delivered meals, assisted transportation, counseling, legal aid, legal education, and self-directed services.
Other plans assisted by AAA include caregiver support programs: counseling, respite and support groups, programs that teach fall prevention, how to manage chronic conditions, and help for caregivers who are caring for a loved one with memory loss, to name a few.
Prosen said the Arrowhead Region is getting older. The median age in Cook County is 51, while 39 is the median age in the metro area. There are 1,799 people older than 60 in Cook County, 34.4 percent of the county’s 5,233 population. Only Aitkin County has a higher percentage of people six decades or older, with 39.5 percent, or 6,225 residents out of 15,771 at least 60 years of age. Carlton County has the fewest aging Baby Boomers, with 22.6 percent 60 or older.
ARDC on the move
Charlie Moore might have the most fun job of the three. He is a GIS specialist who helps lead, plan and create Story Maps by using online mapping tools.
Story Maps, said Moore, use geography as a means of organizing and presenting information. On the county board’s big screen Moore showed areas of the Gitchi Gami State Trail he had biked, filming as he went with a special camera that kept GIS locations. Next he showed the Skyline Parkway Byway which he and Hubley filmed together in Hubley’s car using a camera taped to the front of the car, and then he showed the Regional Sidewalk Inventory map that showcases sidewalk data collected by ARDC from around the Arrowhead region.
“We have 24 cities with 188 miles of sidewalk data collected over two summers,” said Moore.
During bad weather—say cold and icy—people can go online and check out the conditions of the sidewalks they are planning to use, said Moore.
Story Maps, said Moore, tell the story of a place, event, issue, trend or pattern in a geographic context by combining interactive maps with other content—text, photos, video, and audio.
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