Despite extraordinary hard work by a great many people, the Cook County Chamber’s 2018 effort at the Minnesota Legislature produced decidedly mixed results, Jim Boyd, Cook County Chamber executive director reports.
“Everyone worked very hard,” Boyd said, “but our efforts were overwhelmed by the Big Politics that dominated St. Paul this year. Not only is it an election year, but also the DFL governor and GOP Legislature had difficulty getting along. In the face of that dynamic, we are grateful for the efforts by Rep. Rob Ecklund, Sen. Tom Bakk and our St. Paul representative Judy Erickson, to achieve the outcome we did accomplish. ”
One bright spot came in the bonding bill passed in the Legislature’s last days and now signed by Gov. Mark Dayton. It includes $2 million for construction of a new public water access on the southwest corner of Grand Marais Harbor. This was a top priority for the Chamber and the city. The city of Grand Marais sought $2.3 million for the project, but as Erickson reports, “Every project that got funded got shaved.” Still, she says, chances are good that the project funds can be “topped up” next year, and Grand Marais should proceed with confidence that the water access will be fully funded.
“Our effort to secure badly needed funding for Cook County Higher Ed was not as successful,” Boyd reported. In repeated trips to St. Paul, Higher Ed Executive Director Karen Blackburn, with strong support from Erickson, Ecklund and Bakk, worked hard to press the case for an additional $150,000 that would bolster funding for nurses training and for a new culinary arts program scheduled to start in January 2019.
“Karen was extremely well spoken and very well received,” Boyd said, leading to inclusion of a $50,000 workforce development appropriation to Higher Ed that was included in the final supplemental spending bill that passed the Legislature. This 990-page bill included the majority of the work of the 2018 Legislature, and for many, all that hard work came to naught when Gov. Dayton vetoed the entire spending bill.
“We’re not giving up, though,” Boyd said. “Higher Ed really needs that funding. We will be looking for funds in other places to supplement the existing Higher Ed budget and ensure the workforce development programs in nursing and culinary arts do not languish.”
A third priority for the Chamber was securing bonding for the Gitchi Gami State Trail, the paved trail that eventually will run from Two Harbors to Grand Marais. The Gitchi Gami Trail Association asked for $3 million for the Gitchi Gami, Boyd said, including $1.5 million to complete a segment between Ski Hill Road and downtown Lutsen; $500,000 for a bridge over Silver Creek; $400,000 for engineering a seven-mile section between Silver Bay and Tettegouche State Park; plus $600,000 to design and engineer a four-mile segment between Cascade River State Park and Cutface Creek Wayside west of Grand Marais.
None of that funding was included in the bonding bill, Boyd said. But the Legislature did approve the 2018 recommended projects from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. This fund did include work on the Tofte section of the Gitchi Gami Trail. This week the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) will begin meeting to select projects to receive the approximately $120 million in trust fund revenue available for the 2020-21 biennium. The projects that successfully compete for that funding will be announced in July, and then submitted to the Legislature in 2019 for final approval. Rep. Rob Ecklund is a member of the LCCMR board. This may be an opportunity to address Gitchi Gami Trail needs outside of the bonding process.
“This year was a reminder that politics is complicated. You don’t put a coin in and get a prize. You work and work and hope you will get the breaks you need.” Boyd concluded. “We have a very good team supporting us in St. Paul. There are no finer legislators than Sen. Bakk and Rep. Ecklund, and Judy Erickson is the pro’s pro of governmental relations. Overall, we did well in a very difficult year. Onward.”
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