Cook County Deputy Court Administrator Kim Shepard administered the oath of office to Myron Bursheim and Heidi Doo-Kirk at the county board’s first meeting of 2017 held on Tuesday, January 3. This is Bursheim’s first stint as a county commissioner while Doo-Kirk ran unopposed to claim her second term in office.
On the third day of January 2017, the Cook County Board of Commissioners was busy planning its assignments for the upcoming year. With the recent resignation of District One Commissioner Frank Moe who resigned due to health concerns, board members graciously agreed to take on numerous extra tasks until a replacement is elected to fill his term.
Jan Sivertson was elected the board chair, with Heidi Doo-Kirk designated vice-chair. The four commissioners at the meeting divided up representation on over 90 boards and committees that meet at various locations inside and outside Cook County. Commissioners also parceled times and dates each could meet for the 2017 interview schedule with WTIP Radio.
Once again, the board designated its website, www.co.cook.mn.us/, as the county’s official website.
The Grand Marais State Bank was named the county’s official depository. Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers said the local financial institutions have the opportunity to bid on the county’s accounts every three years.
The mileage reimbursement rate will be the IRS rate of 53.5 cents per mile. Meal per diems will remain the same as they have been for at least the last couple of years: $10 for breakfast, $12 for lunch, and $15 for supper.
Cook County Highway Engineer David Betts was once again designated the county’s agriculture inspector.
A resolution was called to select a time for a special election to find a replacement for Commissioner Frank Moe, who had two years left on his term. The primary will be held April 4, and the election will be held on June 6, 2017. Interested candidates can file from January 16 to January 30 at the courthouse.
The board also certified the following levies for 2017: Grand Marais, $909,994; Schroeder Township, $50,000; Tofte Township, $236,497; and Lutsen Township, $56,900.
Special taxing districts the county levies for include the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission, $29,202; Cook County/ Grand Marais EDA, $386,290; and the Cook County Hospital District, $800,000.
Fire levies include Maple Hill, $71,000; Hovland, $79,000; Grand Marais Extension $47,902; Gunflint Trail, $80,000; and Colvill, $42,000.
Commissioner Doo- Kirk asked Powers why the Maple Hill fire levy was so high. She also questioned why the levy had gone up for Lutsen’s fire department. Powers explained Lutsen firefighters covered not only the township but also unorganized territory including the Cascade Beach Road and the Pike Lake area. He said the formula used to set the Lutsen fire levy was the same one the county had been using for the last couple of years.
As to why the Maple Hill fire levy had gone up, Powers called in Steve Ortmann, the secretary/ treasurer for Maple Hill Fire Department to answer questions posed by Doo- Kirk and the county board.
Ortmann said there were two reasons for a larger levy request this year.
The first had to do with repairing the quarter mile road going into the fire hall. Ortmann said it was in rough shape, filled with ruts and needed upgrading. Dave Betts, the county highway engineer, looked at the road and the $9,200 estimated cost to repair it and said the bid looked about right. The biggest cost of the repair was the 20 loads of class 5 gravel which, said Ortmann, the fire department asked the county to donate. But Betts told Maple Hill there wasn’t any gravel in the county highway budget to give away, so the department included the full amount of the cost to fix the road in the levy.
Next, Ortmann said Maple Hill has a Stop Team which gets called to all parts of the county. “The Stop Team is larger than our fire department,” Ortmann said. These people aren’t firefighters, said Ortmann, but they go anywhere in the county to assist with fires, accidents, or emergencies of any kind. They do traffic control, put up barricades, or help rescue workers by making sure they are safe. Ortmann said he could fundraise $9,000 (out of the $12,000 request) to give the Stop Team members a small stipend for each call they responded to at the end of the year. That would bring down the initial $80,000 levy request to $71,000, which the county board agreed to.
Commissioners certified the voter-approved 2017 levy for Cook County School District I.S.D. 166, which is $1,742,873.
Also approved was the 2017 Cook County operating budget of $18,758,335 and levy totaling $7,863,947.
Newly elected Cook County Commissioner Myron Bursheim took the oath of office administered by Cook County Deputy Court Administrator Kim Shepard and began his four-year term of duties. Shepard also administered an oath of office to Cook County Assessor Todd Smith, who was also sworn in for four years.
The board approved the same meeting schedule for 2017, as it had been following, meeting the second, third, and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 8:30 a.m. Agendas and meeting notices for all meetings at which a quorum of county commissioners who might be in attendance are posted on the bulletin board in the courthouse, on the county website (wwwco.cook.mn.us), and are usually posted on Boreal calendar as well.
Citizens can also call the County Administrator’s Office at (218) 378-3602 and request to be placed on the list to receive copies of county board agendas via U.S. mail or can go to the county website to obtain a copy via email.
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