Much to the delight of many, soon there will be expanded hours at the Cook County Recycling Center in Grand Marais. There will be expanded hours on Tuesday morning due to citizens’ requests. Drop offs can be made at 9 a.m. on a trial basis on Tuesdays.
Users of the county recycling facility will notice a change beginning this week – expanded hours of operation on Tuesdays.
Cook County Planning Director Tim Nelson came before the county commissioners March 11 with the new plan and several other items.
Nelson, who also serves as solid waste officer, said he has been hearing comments and complaints for nearly as long as he’s been here (10- plus years) about the fact that the Recycling Center does not open to the public until 11 a.m. In response to those requests, Nelson said he is willing to implement a pilot program on a trial basis.
Effective immediately, the center will now open at 9 a.m. on Tuesdays until further notice.
Nelson explained that the reason the center has never been open between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. is to allow employees time to process materials that have come in either from the drop-off boxes at the center or those from remote trailers in other locations throughout the county. Nelson said if the expanded morning hours on Tuesday prove successful and don’t interfere with the work routine, morning hours on other days will be added.
Hours of operation for the Recycling Center are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, except for Thursday (open until 6 p.m.) and Tuesday (open at 9 a.m.), and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
Nelson also said there will be some changes this year with the electronics waste collection program. The Retrofit Companies of Owatonna contacted the county asking to handle the collections, which occur three times per year. Unlike in the past, when the county had to pay an administrative fee to the collector and customers were also charged a fee when they dropped off their materials, Retrofit will do the collections at no cost to the customers. They will also accept a wider variety of materials than in the past.
Nelson said that since the county is also a customer, the new deal would save the county disposal costs, too. In fairness to the existing vendor, Nelson said he gave them a chance to match Retrofit’s proposal, but they were unable to do so. Thus Retrofit will be given a chance to operate the e-waste recycling on a one-year trial basis. Dates for the collections are May 17 and Aug. 23 in Grand Marais, and July 19 in Tofte.
Other items brought to the board by Nelson and approved included final adoption of the septic ordinance; authorization to move forward with a work plan and development of a budget for updating the county’s Comprehensive Land Use Guide Plan; and annual renewals of solid waste hauler’s licenses.
In other business:
. The board authorized Sheriff Mark Falk to purchase two new replacement squad cars and equipment at a total cost of about $95,000, which was budgeted for. Bruce Martinson voted against the purchase, saying there was not enough information provided, such as the account balance or mileage on the vehicles to be replaced.
. Maintenance Director Brian Silence was given the go-ahead to seek quotes for a new vehicle to be used by the assessor, and to look at alternatives for more efficient use of the vehicles in the county fleet.
• On the recommendation of Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers, the board approved the hiring of Karen Blackburn to fill the position of financial coordinator, which will be vacated by John Peterson next month. In all, six candidates were interviewed, the auditor said.
. The board denied a request from George Wilkes and Virginia Danfelt of the Cook County Local Energy Project for $4,000 to support a part-time coordinator. After the request was denied, with only Hakes supporting the contribution, Hakes made a motion to contribute $2,000 instead. That motion also failed, with Hakes and Jan Hall in favor of the lesser contribution. The board, which did give CCLEP $4,000 last year, said the donation was not budgeted for and it wouldn’t be fair to other non-mandated organizations who have been instructed to plan for a 5 percent reduction.
. Jim Boyd of the Chamber of Commerce was joined by lodging owners Dennis Rysdahl and Bill Hubbard in asking for board support with changing the statutory language defining class 4c (seasonal recreational) properties in Minnesota. The request was sparked by a recent administrative change which moved seven county lodging properties from class 4c to class 3 (commercial), resulting in significantly higher taxes for the owners. The board gave its support for the property tax code changes by a 4-1 vote with Sue Hakes voting no, stating that a reduction in the lodging taxes would result in an equivalent increase in property taxes by all other property owners, and city of Grand Marais taxpayers would bear the brunt of the shift the most. “I’m not okay with that,” she said.
. Forest Service personnel Nancy Larson, Kurt Steele and John Olson gave an informational presentation on the federal agency’s maintenance of its 2,500 miles of roads and 19 bridges throughout the county. In a nutshell, Olson said the condition of the roads and their funding have been in a steady spiral of deterioration over the past 15 years, falling from $1.8 million annually to just $454,000 this year. The roads are being lost, Olson said, and there are but four options: do nothing, acquire more funds for upkeep, decommission the roads, or transfer maintenance responsibility to other agencies. The board voted to send a letter to Forest Service headquarters asking that the road budget be restored to former levels.
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