In a nod to the 21st century, Cook County Commissioners agreed to expend $245 to pay for phone service to be installed at the Hovland Town Hall for the summer.
This will allow credit cards to be processed for events like the Hovland Art Fair that are held there during the brief, warm, mosquito-swatting straw-hat season.
Fighting dust and road rehab planning
EnviroTech Services, Inc. was awarded the bid of $135,648.10 to supply the Cook County Highway Department with 144,000 gallons of liquid calcium chloride, which is used primarily to keep the dust down on gravel roads.
Cook County Highway Engineer Dave Betts asked commissioners to approve two Geotechnical Services contracts. One was to American Engineering Testing (AET) to perform geotechnical borings and evaluations for the 2018 pavement rehabilitation project scheduled for County Road 18 (South Shore Drive).
Improvements to South Shore Drive will include removal and replacement of existing bituminous surface, limited subgrade corrections, as well as replacing culverts and damaged curb and gutter. The new pavement will be designed to handle 10-ton loads.
The second contract to Braun Intertec is to perform the same service for the Gunflint Trail between 100 feet south of the U.S. Forest Service Road 140 (Trout Lake Road) and USFS Road 1310.
In its bid Braun Intertec said, “The purpose of our geotechnical evaluation will be to characterize subsurface geological conditions at selected exploration locations and evaluate their impact on the design and construction of the roadway pavements.”
The board approved the contract of $14,500 to hire AET as well as approved to pay Braun Intertec $26,917 to perform similar services.
Home business approved for E.R. Perry Signs & Engraving
Cook County Zoning Administrator Bill Lane brought a conditional use permit request from Elizabeth Perry to the board for their approval. Perry was requesting to move her E.R. Perry Signs & Engraving business to her home on Cardinal Lane.
Lane said Perry lived at the end of Cardinal Lane on 120 acres and her nearest neighbor was one-quarter mile away. “She is a very well intended business applicant,” Lane said, adding, “After reviewing the request the planning commission saw no conflict with the ordinance restraints and unanimously approved the request.”
After a short discussion a motion for support was made, seconded and approved by all five commissioners.
Radios and recording considered
Management Information Systems (MIS) Director Rena Rogers made a request to purchase a digital radio test set and associated software for $31,044, which was approved.
The equipment will be used to tune Allied Radio Matrix Emergency Response (ARMER) radios used by the sheriff ’s department, highway department and search and rescue squads throughout Cook County.
Most of the money to pay for the equipment will come from $26,517 left over in the Information Technology (IT) equipment bond fund and $4,527 will be used from the MIS capital fund. The $4,270 will be paid back to the MIS budget through sales of outdated page system equipment that will be sold on the Internet, said Rogers.
Next Rogers asked the board to approve a video service contract with Good Measure Media and end its contract with Boreal.TV on June 1, 2016.
Rogers said she had discussed having Boreal.TV put the county board meetings on the county’s soon to be completed YouTube site but Boreal’s new administrator indicated that Boreal Access was heading in a different direction. Meanwhile, said Rogers, Good Measures Media President Patrick Knight said he would make the recordings available to the county for its YouTube site.
The board approved paying Good Measures Media $50 per hour to record the county board meetings which is estimated to cost about $600 per month.
In other business
. The board approved the annual contract for $80 per week for cleaning/maintenance of Clearwater and Leo lake landings.
. A new contract to hire temporary employees to inspect watercraft for aquatic invasive species was approved with a few clarifications in wording to be changed/added to the contract by county attorney Molly Hicken.
. An event permit on county right of way was granted to the Grand Marais Arts Festival from noon Friday, July 8 to 5 p.m. Sunday, July 10. . Commissioner Garry Gamble presented the annual request for $300 that is used to purchase flags and markers for the Memorial Day celebration. Board Chair Heidi Doo-Kirk requested that County Administrator Jeff Cadwell look at making this a line item in the county’s 2017 budget so it would be granted automatically, which he agreed to do.
. Assessor Betty Schultz presented eight abatements and one tax court settlement to the board for approval. Many of the abatements were old and had occurred because of clerical errors. Commissioner Gamble thanked Schultz and her staff for their work in clearing up their files.
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