The weather finally turned and started warming up just as the concrete wall panels of the Cook County Community YMCA started going up. The new facility is expected to be ready for use in December 2013.
As the walls of the new portion of the Cook County Family YMCA facility were going up, on May 14, 2013 the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted to change its name to the Cook County Community YMCA.
Commissioner Sue Hakes brought a request for the name change from the Community Center Steering Committee, some of whose members thought the word “community” sounded more inclusive than “family.”
In a memo asking Board Secretary Janet Simonen and Board Chair Jan Hall to add the request to the May 14 county board agenda, Commissioner Hakes said the Duluth Area YMCA, of which this is a branch, wanted to retain the right to change the name “should they acquire a naming-right-level gift.”
Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he was disappointed that the name did not include the words “community center.”
If it did, current Community Center Director Diane Booth said, they would need to rename the current building and pay for a new sign.
It would be nice to see the word “family” on the facility for people who are looking for family-friendly services in Cook County, Commissioner Garry Gamble said.
Regarding the two names, Commissioner Hakes said, “Personally, I love them both” but added that she wanted to respect the wishes of the steering committee.
Commissioner Jan Hall said she was getting a lot of phone calls from people with questions about what the functions of the current Community Center would be once the new facility is in operation.
Commissioner Gamble pointed out that Community Center Director Booth’s job would need to be discussed. The board will take this up at a future meeting.
Cost approvals
The board was asked to approve numerous expenditures for the new facility, such as a bid of $90,405 from Northern Painting & Drywall Inc. It was one of four bids received, all from companies outside the county. The board approved it by a vote of 4-1, with Commissioner Gamble voting no.
The board had previously approved an expense of $10,000 to reinstall locker room fixtures that had previously been removed from a locker room off the Sawtooth Elementary gym that has recently been used for storage. When the boys’ locker room off the old Cook County High School gym was taken out to be repurposed as a weight room for the new Y, the county agreed to pay up to $10,000 to turn the room off the elementary gym back into a locker room.
Related to this was a request for the county to pay approximately $6,000 for security doors that the school wanted in order to separate the Sawtooth gym hallway, and that locker room, from the rest of the elementary school. The 1 percent sales tax revenue that is funding the YMCA project cannot legally cover the cost of the doors, however.
A motion to authorize a cost of $6,000 from county funds for the doors failed by a vote of 1-4, with Commissioner Hakes casting the only yes vote. She told Commissioner Bruce Martinson that he had assured the school board that he would work to convince the county board to pay for the doors.
Commissioner Hakes said that the school did not want the locker room in the elementary gym if security doors didn’t come with it and that the school board was expecting the county to cover this cost.
“Everything is subject to approval at various levels,” Commissioner Gamble said. One board’s decisions do not trump another board’s decisions, he said.
Project Manager Wade Cole of ORB Management said that the school had expressed interest in paying for an additional set of bleachers in order to double the seating in the newly refurbished gym in the Y to accommodate 200 instead of 100 spectators. This did not sweeten the pie for the county board, however.
The board authorized a payment of $67,763 to the state for a plan review ($28,887) and a building permit ($38,876.65). A state official had told ORB that a building permit would not be required, but his decision was then overruled. Cole said County Attorney Tim Scannell was looking into what state statute has to say about the matter. The payment was authorized by a vote of 3-2, with Commissioners Heidi Doo-Kirk and Gamble voting no.
The board also voted to hire the mechanical and electrical engineering firm of Foster, Jacobs and Johnson Inc. of Duluth to commission the HVAC system at a cost of $7,900. Two other companies said they would do the work for $15,000 and $29,000. Foster, Jacobs and Johnson will inspect the plans and oversee installation of the system.
The board approved changing the architect of record for the HVAC system from Dunham of Minneapolis, hired by the project’s lead architectural firm, JLG, to the team of The Design Group Inc. of Hibbing and Shannon’s Inc. of International Falls. Shannon’s will be installing the system, and when they were asked to reduce costs from what they had bid, they asked The Design Group to suggest changes. According to Wade Cole, The Design Group has a lot of experience with the North Shore climate. Dunham would not sign off on The Design Group’s changes.
The board approved the change by a vote of 4-1, with Commissioner Gamble casting the no vote.
Cook County YMCA board
The board unanimously passed a motion authorizing Commissioner Hakes to sit on the Cook County Community Center YMCA board. Hakes said Duluth Area YMCA Executive Director Chris Francis asked her to serve in this capacity. The local Y board will have representation from the ISD 166 school district, the city of Grand Marais, the county, and the Duluth Area YMCA.
The county representative does not have to be a county commissioner.
“I expect you in every case to represent the interests of the county,” Commissioner Martinson said to Hakes.
“I will obviously do my best to be fiscally responsible, and I already think I’ve demonstrated this, and I will be fair to all partners,” Hakes said. “I will be fair and that’s the best you’re going to get.”
Electrical and broadband lines
The board approved an expenditure of $2,425 to relocate and bury electrical lines on county property from the west side of the skate park outside the current Community Center down to 5th Street, where it will lead to the school property. That would be easier to access than the overhead lines now situated on the north side of the skate park and playground and on the east side of the playground and hockey rink.
The city will pay for the electric line at a cost of $3,300, but the county and Arrowhead Electric Cooperative Inc., which is installing broadband lines at the same time, will each pay half of the $3,850 cost of the trench work. The county will also pay $500 for restoration, leading to a total cost to the county of $2,425.
As part of the same city project, a total of $5,102.25 will come out of the Cook County Community YMCA construction budget for trench work, electric line, and conduit leading from the street to the new facility. Arrowhead Electric is paying $1,312.50, half the cost of the trench work, and the city is paying for the first 50 feet of underground wire per its regular policy.
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