Under an agreement reached between Cook and Lake counties, Krysten Foster, the Lake County highway engineer, will also serve as the Cook County highway engineer.
The agreement began Feb. 14, 2018, and will run to December 31, 2019, where it can be reviewed if necessary.
Cook County sought to fill the highway engineer position following the resignation of Dave Betts in July 2017, but couldn’t find a replacement. Betts left his post to accept another job out of the county.
Through the length of this contract, Foster will remain an employee of Lake County.
Lake County agreed to assign Foster to spend approximately 20-25 hours per week to perform the engineering duties for Cook County.
Foster is no stranger to working with the Cook County Highway Department staff. She filled in for several months following Betts’ departure, providing engineering services for the County Road 7 project.
An advisory committee consisting of two representatives appointed by the Lake County board and two representatives appointed by the Cook County board and Cook County administrator will review and make recommendations back to the county boards. At the county board’s Tuesday, Feb. 13 meeting commissioner Bobby Deschampe and commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk were appointed to serve on the joint advisory committee.
The advisory committee will have no authority over employment, performance management, or discipline of the highway engineer.
Cook County has agreed to pay $9,339.33 per month for 2018 and $9,643.17 per month for 2019 for the services of Foster.
In other county matters:
. Commissioners voted to reappoint Scott Harrison to a second six-year term on the Cook County/Grand Marais EDA board, but before the vote was taken, commissioner Deshampe asked if the position had been advertised.
County administrator Jeff Cadwell told Deschampe that there wasn’t a requirement to advertise the position, and commissioner Doo-Kirk said it was hard to get anyone to sign to volunteer for openings on boards.
“If it’s not advertised, how would people know if there was an opening?” questioned Deschampe. Ginny Storlie, board chair, said that in the future commissioners would try to be more proactive to let the public know about openings on boards.
. Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers brought a request from the Cook County Revolving Loan Fund for $70,000 from Jeremy and Kate Keeble who would use the money to help purchase Hughie’s Tacos. The loan is contingent upon the Keebles acquiring bank financing and a final review of their business plan.
. Cook County Community Center & Extension Director Diane Booth requested to have the lighting at the Community Center updated at an estimated cost of $16,000.
Booth said she had made this request since 2015. By replacing the current lights with LED lights, the Community Center will save money over the long haul.
. The commissioners approved an out-of-state trip for Ginny Storlie so she could attend the National Association of Counties (NACo) Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. on March 18. NACo is the only national organization that represents county governments in the United States. Its motto is Stronger Counties, Stronger America.
. Commissioners approved the 2018 solid waste haulers permits to North Shore Waste and Nelson Machine Products.
. Up to $1,000 was approved to be spent on a March 9 land use legal workshop that will be held with Cook and Lake County at Schroeder Town Hall.
Cook County Land Services Director Tim Nelson will organize the workshop. In the past, Nelson said employees would travel to attend a land use legal workshop, which cost the county far more money. . Jerry Hiniker was reappointed to a second three-year term on the planning commission.
. Gary Maciejewski was appointed to serve a second three-year term with the Cook County Water Management Plan Advisory Committee.
. Rena Rogers, the IT director, requested $27,200 to replace workstations, laptops and accessories that are due to be replaced. The funds were in the budget. Next Rogers requested $24,984 to pay for the license fees for Office365, which is used for email, and MS Office and Share Point, which is used for the Internet. The license fees cover 2018.
Last, Rogers requested and was granted permission to spend $11,198.58 to replace two file servers and $7,505.76 to replace three network switches.
. Depending on whether she can find housing, Sara Schoonerer was approved to be hired as an office support/case aide for Public Health and Human Services. Sara will replace a worker who transitioned to another job in the department.
. Veteran Services officer Pat Strand gave a year-end report and current update about veteran services in Cook County.
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