Gunflint Trail volunteer firefighter Rick Johnson asked the county board on Tuesday, August 25, 2009 to designate $50,000 from Title III Secure Rural Schools (SRS) funding for communication upgrades for the Gunflint Trail Fire Department. The department has been making numerous capital improvements over the last year, Johnson said.
Since 1967, Johnson said, 16 fires of over 100 acres each have occurred in Cook County, all in the Gunflint Trail fire district.
The county receives SRS funding from the federal government to compensate for federal land that does not generate property taxes. Title III allows counties to designate 7% of their SRS funding for programs such as wildfire protection plans or emergency services on federal land. Cook County received a little over $50,000 for Title III projects this year.
Communication improvements for the Gunflint Trail fire district are already on a list of county priorities, Commissioner Fenwick said. The board passed a motion to advertise a notice of its intent to designate $50,000 of its Title III funding to the Gunflint Trail Fire Department. The notice will begin a 45-day comment period.
2010 budget
The county’s state-imposed levy limit of $5,678,614 is 12.7% higher than last year’s limit, Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers reported to the board.
Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he would like to see next year’s state and federal payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILT) funding put into the Building Fund and the Highway Department Equipment Fund. The Highway Department has been trying to replace its old equipment to save on repair costs.
Commissioner Fritz Sobanja thought the idea needed further discussion.
“I really think we need to make a commitment to the highway Equipment Fund and the Building Fund,” Martinson said.
Commissioner Fenwick agreed but urged that they be cautious about dedicating funds into the future.
An August 19 memo from Highway Engineer Shae Kosmalski states that the Highway Department spent $39,395 less than was budgeted for 2008. Figures for the first half of 2009 show that during the first six months of 2009, the department had spent only 37% of its annual shop budget, 6% of its construction budget, 46% of its maintenance budget, and 51% of its administration budget.
New well for Tofte highway garage
Maintenance Director Brian Silence reported that a new well is being drilled at the Tofte highway garage. The water in the current well was contaminated 15 years ago by a ruptured underground diesel tank, Silence said, and has not been drinkable since then. Clean water is required for the garage’s emergency eye wash station and emergency shower.
The last well was 191 feet, and McKeever Well Drilling expects this one to be about the same depth.
Tower ordinance hearing
The board authorized Planning & Zoning Director Tim Nelson to set up a public hearing to review a proposed amendment to the county tower ordinance.
The amendment would bring the ordinance more in line with state statutes that expand grandfathering laws by allowing existing structures that do not conform to land use ordinances to be repaired or replaced if damaged as long as they are not expanded. If a tower were destroyed or significantly damaged, a tower owner could restore the tower to its former use, location, and physical dimensions as long as a land use permit was obtained and application for a building permit were made within six months.
The public hearing will take place at a Planning Commission meeting at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, October 14 in the Cook County Courthouse.
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