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After a somewhat rancorous debate Cook County Commissioners voted 5-0 to set the 2023 levy at 5.5 percent over last year’s levy. This is a $604,541 increase over the 2022 levy.
The vote came at the board’s Tuesday, December 13 meeting.
Mills called for a motion to set the 2023 levy at 6 percent based on the compensation study that showed that Cook County employees are being paid less than their counterparts. The study is calling for the county to ante up more than one million dollars in raises for 2023 and Mills said, “We all saw the pain coming” but his argument didn’t persuade anyone, and his motion died for lack of second.
Commissioner Stacy Hawkins argued that the board should be looking out for people with limited incomes or fixed incomes. “I know families who are struggling,” Hawkins said, adding “we just can’t advocate for spending, think about people who are struggling to pay their bills.” She added that at earlier budget discussions she called for the board to look at not filling some new positions and added that the board should be looking for ways to make cuts or hold the line on spending, and not always look to spend more.
Board Chair Ann Sullivan weighed in, saying she thought the commissioners were “all thinking about people. We are doing the hard work,” she noted, and then cited some of the services the county provides to the public through the levy like making sure the roads are plowed…
Commissioner Dave Mills took umbrage at Hawkins statements. He said his primary focus was on people who were on fixed or lower incomes. “It’s not the first time you said this and it’s not fair and it’s just not right.” He added that the county could potentially levy more than 6 percent so it could further help people on limited or fixed incomes.
Hawkins apologized to Mills and before the meeting ended Mills said he wanted the public to know both he and Hawkins are friends and work well together. Hawkins smiled and nodded her head in agreement.
Compensation study
Administrator James Joerke led a discussion about the recently completed compensation study. Joerke said the compensation study showed that Cook County’s pay structure is only 84 percent of benchmark minimums and 80 percent of benchmark maximums when compared to the 20 counties used in the comparison in the study.
“Without adjustments to pay rates, the county will struggle to recruit and keep employees,” said Joerke. “This has significant implications for the county’s ability to provide essential services such as public safety, emergency response, maintenance to families in crisis, road maintenance, among others.
The Compensation Study Working Group recommended that pay levels be raised to 95 percent of the average market minimums and maximums of the counties selected for comparison. The CSWG also asked for the raises to be given January 1, 2023. The cost of those hikes in pay will be over one million dollars, Joerke said, adding the money could come from $187,618 of contingency funds in the 2023 budget which would leave an unbudgeted balance of $820,111 which could come from the fund balance or from the American Rescue Plan Act in 2023.
The commissioners will further discuss the compensation study at their next board meeting.
In other county board actions:
Commissioners accepted the resignation of Heather Wicklander, Cook County Sheriff ’s Office Public Safety Telecommunicator/Jailer, with regret.
John Spieker was hired as the Public Health and Human Services Behavioral Health Service Clinical Supervisor.
Approved was a request to approve the Highway Department Maintenance Supervisor job description to 180 and the Highway Maintenance Superintendent job description to 200.
Robbie Hass, the county engineer, told commissioners new job descriptions were created about six months ago for these positions to better reflect the day-to-day operational duties and responsibilities of these jobs. Hass said he hoped to stem the tide of the constant turnover in leadership at the Highway department. “We can’t keep turning over (people) every two to three years,” he said. Commissioner Mills told Hass he has heard a lot of positive feedback about the work from the highway department and he praised the process used to come up with new job descriptions.
The recommendation was reviewed and approved by the personnel committee and the job classification committee before going to the commissioners. Also approved was putting the Highway Department Maintenance Superintendent job description to a pay grade of 200.
A $1,000 donation from Marcia Lang to be used in the Cook County K9 program was accepted with thanks.
Commissioners approved a $27,000 loan from the Revolving Loan Fund to be used by the Norpine Trail Association for the purchases of a used Pisten Bully for grooming cross country ski trails.
Commissioners passed a resolution to apply for an Active Grant Transportation (AT) Program Grant that if received would pay up to $500,000 to make a walking, biking, rolling trail extending from the intersection of E. 5th Street and up and around the Law Enforcement Center and around the LEC, highway department, behind ISD 166 and turn down 5th Avenue West and end in front of the recycling center.
The design for the trail is being done by the Cook County Highway Department and is scheduled for 2024 construction. Highway Engineer Robbie Hass said the public would be involved in deciding how the trail would be built (width etc.).
The preliminary estimate to build the trail is $550,000, said Hass, who added his department has some additional funds to cover the extra cost to build the trail if it does cost $550,000. The trail is also part of the City of Grand Marais and county pedestrian plan, he noted.
Public hearing for changes to fees
A public hearing was held at 9:20 a.m. to discuss changes to several public fees. No members of the public spoke at the hearing.
The Community Center requested adding a $20 annual pass to rent skates for $20. The only option has been for people to rent skates for $1 per day. Commissioners passed a motion to support the change.
Land Commissioner Tim Nelson came before the board to talk about doubling the proposed annual fee for the Vacation Rental license. He said doubling the fee would put the county at a level to increase staff (one new position) and would be a self-sustaining position in the land services department.
By adding another staff member dedicated to the Vacation Rental program Nelson said the county could track down operations “that should be licensed but aren’t licensed and bring them into the fold.” He added there are estimated 358 vacation rentals in the county.
Nelson then went through a series of other fee changes, some of which haven’t been changed in more than ten years due to increases in complexity of review and costs of staff time. Fees were raised for small- and large-scale grade and fill stormwater permits. Resources should be increased to reflect the additional costs necessary to more accurately reflect the time spent to review projects, including driving to evaluate wetlands, stormwater projects etc., Nelson said. The raise in fees is to offset the additional work, not to make money, noted Commissioner Robert Svalseson.
Some fees weren’t included in the public hearing. Auditor/Treasurer Braidy Powers said the public could comment on those fees after the meeting as has been done in the past. Mills motioned and Svaleson seconded to accept the proposed fees as presented and commissioners passed the miscellaneous fee schedule
Commissioner salaries and per diems
A discussion was held about county commissioner salaries and per diems for commissioners.
Commissioners voted for a 2.5 cost of living raise in 2022 equal to the other county employees given in union contracts. If the board votes to raise their COLA to 3.5 percent for 2023 it would equal what the other county employees will receive. However, Commissioner David Mills called for a raise of $39,566 for the county chair and $36,566 for the vice chair. Currently the board chair receives $24,566 and the vice chair gets $23,566. The other three commissioners currently receive $23,873 annual and per diems are $100. Mills motion died for a lack of a second. Next Mills talked about raising the per diems from meetings from $100 to $150-$200 as a way to increase commissioners’ salaries. Hawkins said she would feel more comfortable taking about commissioner pay if it was known what commissioners receive from the 20 counties who were used in the wage comparison study. Sullivan concurred with Hawkins and the matter was tabled until the next meeting when comparisons can be made to other commissioner pay rates.
Ranked Choice voting resolution
Commissioner Mills talked about ranked choice voting, saying it practically eliminates negative campaigning, reduces the influence of outside money in campaigns, and, among other things, provides a viable path for more options outside of the major parties.
In a ranked choice voting system, voters rank candidates based on their preference on their ballots.
Mills than read a motion ending with, “we support the use of Ranked Choice Voting in all statewide elections in Minnesota” and asked the commissioners to pass it and send it to the state legislature for consideration. Commissioners voted in favor of forwarding Mills resolution with one minor word change.
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