A month after County Commissioner Fritz Sobanja raised concerns over the workmanship on the Grand Marais Public Library addition, the county board continues to discuss how much oversight of the project they should be doing.
On September 27, 2011, Commissioner Sue Hakes said she had done a walk-through of progress the week before, and it appeared that Sobanja’s concerns were all being addressed.
Sobanja said he has spent “countless hours” dealing with the county’s construction manager, ORB Management, on quality concerns. County Attorney Tim Scannell suggested that they might not want to have Sobanja so involved in the project that future issues would go back to him instead of to ORB for resolution.
Sobanja indicated that he understands things get complicated if too many people are trying to be in charge. The problems he saw in August have all been corrected, he said, although who will pay for some of the corrections has not yet been ironed out.
Some things are unacceptable, Attorney Scannell said, and some are matters of opinion. The county should let those working on the project do things their way unless the work is unacceptable. “We don’t want to keep chafing,” he said. “It’s unproductive, I think.”
Sobanja asked fellow commissioners for clarification on what per diems he could claim for all the time he has spent dealing with issues at the library. Those issues have “totally ruined my life,” he said, causing him to lose a lot of sleep. “It’s worn me out.” Sobanja is the county board liaison to the library board and is also on the library construction committee.
Commissioner Hakes was not willing to authorize any per diems for Sobanja’s time meeting with people on construction issues. “I think it’s part of our job,” she said.
Commissioner Jan Hall said she checks on and cleans the Hovland town hall and doesn’t ask for per diems for her time.
Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he had voted at a previous meeting to grant Sobanja per diems for four days of his work because he had missed meetings for which he would otherwise have received per diems.
County Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers read an excerpt from the county board’s per diem policy. It allows the board discretion to approve per diems for specific activities.
Sobanja said ORB representatives had been calling him regarding construction issues, and the library board had thanked him profusely for being on top of those issues.
At the request of the board, Auditor-Treasurer Powers agreed to discuss the per diem policy with County Attorney Scannell.
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