The county budget was right on track during the first quarter of 2010. A review of the general fund by Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers revealed that the county used 24.8% of its 2010 budget between January and March.
Some line-item expenses, such as insurance payments, tapped half or all of their funds for the year because they are only disbursed once or twice a year, but the average of all expenses stayed under one quarter of the year’s budget.
In other county news:
Personnel Director Janet Simonen reported to the county board Tuesday, April 20, 2010 that four licensed civil engineers have applied for the county engineer position. All of them have “some familiarity” with government processes, she said. Three are living in the Twin Cities area and one is in another part of the state.
Simonen said Highway Department Maintenance Supervisor Russell Klegstad and Engineering/Office Supervisor Bill Parish have taken on some of the highway engineer duties as current Highway Engineer Shae Kosmalski prepares to vacate her position. Her last day will be April 28.
Simonen is trying to schedule interviews with the four applicants, and the county board tentatively cleared their
2010 schedules so they could conduct the interviews the afternoon of May 11.
On behalf of Russell Klegstad, who could not attend the April 20 board meeting, Bill Parish requested permission to purchase four 50-watt mobile radios that would comply with the federal government’s requirement that systems formerly operating on bandwidths of 25 kHz move to 12.5 kHz or less by 2013.
In his purchase request, Klegstad had written that the department’s old units require a lot of maintenance and recommended that the county slowly begin to transition to the narrow bandwidth equipment.
The commissioners decided to hold off a decision on the request until they know whether grant funds would cover the cost of the new radios, priced at $539 each, or a total of $2,156. Commissioner Bob Fenwick said he would investigate this.
The board approved purchase of a self-retracting lifeline for the Highway Department at a cost of $666.02. It is a longer line than the one currently in use, which must be unhooked and rehooked in a new spot when workers change location in a hoist area.
The new line will bring the county into compliance with OSHA regulations, which require that an employee working in a hoist area be protected from fall hazards by a personal fall arrest system if they must lean through an access opening or over the edge of an access opening in order to guide equipment and materials that are being hoisted.
The board followed suit with a recommendation by the Cook County Planning Commission to approve a conditional use permit for Hilja Iverson, who will operate a greenhouse business from the property she recently purchased on Wahlstrom Road on Maple Hill. She formerly operated the business from another Maple Hill location.
Solid Waste Officer Tim Nelson announced this year’s household hazardous waste and waste electronics collection dates:
May 22 and August 28
at the Grand Marais Recycling Center:
electronics waste
June 5
at the Tofte Transfer Station
on the Sawbill Trail:
electronics waste
June 12 and September 18
at the Grand Marais Recycling Center:
household hazardous waste
The cost of these collections has been decreasing from its former cost of $1,000 a time, Nelson said. Last year, the total cost of three collections was less than $1,500.
Leave a Reply