With the presidential election just around the corner, Cook County Auditor/Treasurer Braidy Powers told commissioners that because of the interest among local voters, “It was determined that additional election judges may be needed for the upcoming General Election.”
Powers’ Auditor’s Office trained nine people to fill the role of election judges and on Tuesday, October 11 the county board appointed the following people to serve in that capacity: Ethel Johnson, Joan Hall, Linda Waterhouse, Sue Futterer, Dale S. Petersen, William J. Peterson, Vera Schumann, Krista Mixdorf, and Jan Parish.
Election judges are responsible for the conduct of the election in the precinct place they work. Judges set up the polling place and set up voting equipment. They must conduct a fair, impartial and secure election in the precinct polling place where they are assigned and then tabulate the votes and transmit the results to the county, which sends the information to the office of the Minnesota Secretary of State.
In other matters the county board approved a three-year lease agreement between the Curling Club and Cook County Community Center Board of Trustees. The term of the lease is for 5½ months starting October 15, 2016 and ending March 31, 2017 each year.
The curling club pays $13,750 for the 5½ months, with each monthly payment totaling $2,500.
With a recommendation by the planning commission, commissioners approved a conditional use permit for Points Unknown LLC to establish a hostel and private recreational facility on their property, which is adjacent to Irish Creek Road and the Arrowhead Road.
Commissioner Frank Moe voiced his strong support for Linda Newman and Neil Slaughter, owners of Points Unknown. The couple currently offers dogsledding and other recreational activities to their clients. The couple is planning to build a rustic hostel/bunkhouse for overnight guest accommodations and expand the site resources to include breakfast with lodging, and provide two yurts on the 40-acre Points Unknown property. Linda Newman appeared before the board and told commissioners Points Unknown LLC was in the formative stages of developing an outdoor educational/ adventure facility, with a focus on dogsledding and other wilderness trips.
Commissioners approved an amended Management Agreement between Cook County and the Duluth Area YMCA.
The new contract eliminates the county’s responsibility to provide annual financial support to make up the difference from operations and a 10 percent allowance for maintenance, said county administrator Jeff Cadwell. In return the county will assume direct responsibility for the maintenance budget including staff, utilities and supplies as outlined in the maintenance budget detail.
Under this amendment the County’s financial support of the YMCA building and operations will remain approximately the same as the previous commitments and will include any additional expense already authorized by the hiring of a custodian specifically for the YMCA.
Because the county owns the YMCA building, commissioners felt it prudent for the county to have direct control of the day-to-day cleanliness and maintenance of the Y.
Board chair Heidi Doo-Kirk reminded commissioners that real estate taxes for the first half of the year were due on October 17. Payments can be mailed to Cook county Auditor-Treasurer 411 W 2nd St, Grand Marais, MN. 55604 or paid in person at the courthouse, and tax payments can now be made online by going to the cook. county@co.cook.mn.us.
Leave a Reply