Some people in Cook County live on roads that are not officially kept open in the wintertime. That makes getting in and out a bit difficult.
Two Hovland residents asked the county board on October 9 to consider creating a subordinate service district (SSD) so that the county could collect money from property owners for regular plowing of 10-11 miles of road leading to 77 different parcels west of the Arrowhead Trail.
Steve Sopata and John Muhich requested an SSD on connected portions of the Irish Creek Road, the Tom Lake Road, and the Devilfish Tower Road. Muhich has been sharing snowplowing duties with another resident for the last 10 years but said it has been costing him a lot of money.
Sopata said the reasons for officially keeping the roads open are twofold: economics and safety. A lot of people along these roads need to be able to get out to go to work, and the property owners would appreciate being reachable in case of emergency.
Some but not all of the people along the proposed route live there full-time, and some of them own more than one parcel. Sopata said in the six years he has lived there, traffic has increased “amazingly.”
Muhich and Sopata had obtained 24 signatures from people supporting the SSD, although several of them were not property owners along the proposed route. They requested that property owners share the costs equally no matter how much land they have.
For an SSD to proceed, 10 percent of qualified voters would need to sign a petition in support of it, or in lieu of that, 5 percent could request a referendum vote. The county would need to hold a public hearing as well. County Engineer David Betts was unsure exactly which portions of the proposed route were under the jurisdiction of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources or the U.S. Forest Service, but he thought permits might need to be issued by those entities as well, and they would need to agree for some brushing to be done to accommodate snowplows.
A public hearing will be held on this matter at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, November 13 in the Cook County Courthouse Commissioners’ Room.
New assistant county engineer
Assistant County Engineer Sam Muntean has started his job and attended the county board meeting. The commissioners welcomed him aboard and approved the purchase of cubicle walls, a desktop and keyboard tray, shelving, and file cabinets for him at a cost of $2,914.64.
New assessor
Sometime between now and November 1, Betty Schultz, the new county assessor, will begin her duties. Schultz is coming from Crow Wing County, where she has worked as an assessor for eight years. Prior to that, she owned an appraisal company.
ATV ordinance review
Per the ATV ordinance, Sheriff Mark Falk gave an annual report on incidents related to ATV use throughout the county.
The Sheriff ’s Department received four calls in 2011. One was a report about drag racing down Hungry Jack Road and the other was about an ATV speeding in the 30 m.p.h. zone on County Road 7. The other two calls were from Grand Portage, one regarding driving without headlights on and the other regarding ATV noise.
The Sheriff ’s Department has received 13 calls regarding ATV use so far in 2012. One resulted in a citation for not having a valid driver’s license. The calls included complaints about driving on private property, driving on Highway 61 where ATV use is not allowed, driving on the beach, driving in an area in Grand Portage where ATVs are not allowed, driving all night long in the Grand Portage marina area, underage ATV use, reckless driving, finding an ATV in a ditch (it appeared to have fallen off a trailer), and two accidents, one involving a Lutsen Mountains employee operating an ATV on Lutsen Mountains property.
The current ATV ordinance will expire on July 2, 2013. Cook County ATV Club representative Rhonda Silence said the ATV Club would like the county to consider making it permanent now. The board considered setting a public hearing to review the ordinance, but Commissioner Fritz Sobanja objected, saying he thought setting a hearing date should be an agenda item so that members of the public would know ahead of time that it would be discussed. They need to keep people informed and give them a right to speak, he said.
Silence said the ATV Club would be willing to wait until next summer to discuss making the ordinance permanent. “I think the ATV Club has proven itself,” she said.
The board approved a motion to discuss at its October 23 regular meeting when to have a hearing regarding making the ATV ordinance permanent.
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