The county board has come to a working agreement with the Duluth Area YMCA for management of the new community center that will be built onto the west wing of the Cook County Schools Complex. Signing the contract is Duluth Area YMCA Executive Director Chris Francis with County Board Chair Jan Hall seated beside him. (Standing, L-R) Commissioner Bruce Martinson, County Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers, Commissioner Fritz Sobanja, Commissioner Sue Hakes, and Commissioner Jim Johnson.
The county’s new community center will be quite a collaborative effort. Coming to agreements with Cook County Schools, the Grand Marais City Council, and the Duluth YMCA was a rather complicated process, but on November 13 the county board approved contracts with all three entities.
The school, the city, and the YMCA had all reviewed and made changes to contracts the county board had already approved. Under these agreements, the county will be buying the west wing of the school and leasing the ground under it, the city will help pay operating losses at the new community center, and the YMCA will manage the county’s recreation and community center programs.
Four of the five commissioners were ready to sign on the dotted lines, but Commissioner Bruce Martinson took issue with the city committing to a partnership of only 25 years. The board had originally asked the city to be its financial partner for 99 years, the length of the county’s lease of the ground the community center will be built on, but then agreed to reduce that to 49 years.
Commissioner Martinson said that if the city did not participate from years 26 to 49, the cost to the county could be $4-15 million, assuming consumer price index increases of 1.5-5 percent. “They have a lot to gain from this new facility being built,” he said.
Commissioner Fritz Sobanja said he could understand the city’s caution, since the city paid for losses at the Grand Marais Municipal Pool after the county and the school stopped paying the one-third share they each started out paying when the pool opened in 1977.
Commissioners Sue Hakes and Jim Johnson indicated they just wanted to get the project moving forward. “I think we’ve made huge strides in our partnership with the city and the school and the Y,” said Hakes. “We’re ready to cross the finish line.” With a low-interest bond sale to generate cash for construction expenses coming up on November 27, not moving forward could cost the county money, she said.
“It is major,” Martinson said of the change the city made in the contract the county had proposed. “I wouldn’t want to stick this with a future county board.”
“We can always renegotiate,” said Hakes.
“We have to put a little trust here,” said Johnson. “Let the future take care of itself.”
“We have a chance here to do something great,” Hakes said. “Let’s move it forward.”
“We can’t let the city take advantage of the situation,” said Martinson.
After a vote of four ayes and one nay by Commissioner Martinson, the contracts were approved. “I lived for all of it!” Commissioner Johnson said.
Tennis court problems at Birch Grove
Commissioner Martinson reported that the new asphalt tennis court at the Birch Grove Community Center was built improperly.
Cook County Tennis Association board member Rod Wannebo explained that U.S. Tennis Association standards allow tennis courts to be sloped on a plane but do not allow slopes between the net and the baseline. The court at Birch Grove slopes down from the net to both baselines.
The previous Birch Grove court, built many years ago, “was built completely wrong because nobody would listen to our advice,” Wannebo said. This time, he provided the architectural firm, The Meyers Group, with a book on proper tennis court design. At the event celebrating the completion of the outdoor improvements at Birch Grove, Wannebo noticed something was wrong with the court.
According to Wannebo, Tim Meyers of The Meyers Group argued that they were “just building a recreational court.” Wannebo said, “There is no such terminology in the tennis world.
“…We think this is a ridiculous expenditure of county money to build such a court,” Wannebo said. “I just don’t understand how an architectural firm could design such a court. …When you hire a designer to design something, he ought to follow the specifications.”
Both Commissioner Martinson and Tofte Township Supervisor Alan “D.C.” Olsen have talked to ORB, hired to oversee the project, and ORB has talked to The Myers Group. Martinson said ORB would be coming up with a plan of action.
“That’s why architects have E&O [error and omission] insurance,” said Commissioner Jim Johnson.
Most of the funding for the new outdoor amenities at Birch Grove came from the county’s 1 percent recreation and infrastructure sales tax.
Playground at Hovland town hall
Commissioner Bruce Martinson recommended using either 1 percent recreation and infrastructure sales tax revenue or proceeds from auctioning tax-forfeited land to fund new playground equipment at the Hovland town hall.
Commissioner Jan Hall asked why they would consider using anything other than 1 percent funds for this project. Jeanne Smith of the county attorney’s office said the referendum language that authorized the tax said it could be used for recreation facilities in Grand Marais, Tofte, or Lutsen, but it did not name Hovland. The language of the state statute authorizing the tax was more general and would have allowed this.
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