County Assessor/Land Commissioner Mary Black reported back to the board on a survey she had conducted regarding Minnesota counties that had passed resolutions opposing net loss of private land. Twelve out of 58 counties that responded to the survey affirmed that they had such resolutions, but they weren’t necessarily the counties that have the most public land.
Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he is in favor of passing a resolution that would keep Cook County from gaining more public land. Only 9 percent of Cook County is not in public hands now.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) policy and the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment have led to initiatives to increase the amount of land under ownership of the state, Commissioner Fritz Sobanja said, but much of this was in an effort to increase the number of state parks in southern Minnesota in order to provide more local opportunities for outdoor recreation. The amount of state land in some of the northern counties, however, is restricting development and limiting the tax base, he said. State Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) account for some of this loss, but the danger is that the state can reduce PILT payments.
“I’m 100 percent against losing tax revenue and 100 percent in favor of retaining tax revenue,” Commissioner Sue Hakes said. Having a “no net loss” policy, however, could tie the county’s hands and keep them from maximizing developable land. She pointed out that as this topic is being discussed statewide, whether equitable land acquisitions would involve acre-foracre or dollar-for-dollar exchanges has not been specified.
As an example, Hakes said, someone who owned 300 acres way out in the boonies could propose to exchange that with the county for 20 acres of county land he or she could develop close to town. While the county would experience a gain in acres of government-owned land, it would also see its tax base increase.
Sobanja said the DNR looks at the value of the land rather than the number of acres when it considers land exchanges, and it solicits public and local government input.
The state could keep buying up private land, according to Martinson. “The DNR has a big pot of money to buy private land,” he said. Where should it stop? he wondered.
With Board Chair Jim Johnson absent, Vice-Chair Jan Hall stated that they all had good ideas and suggested that they discuss the issue further at a work session. The board will either do that or discuss it during a week when the regular agenda is shorter.
In other business:
. Highway engineer David Betts received authorization to solicit bids for striping on three county roads this summer: the Cramer Road in Schroeder, County Road 17 in Grand Portage, and Broadway Avenue in Grand Marais.
. Soil and Water District Manager Kerrie Fabius received approval to hire Ilena Berg to replace Cindy Gentz as water plan coordinator. Berg has been running the Kids Plus program in Cook County. She has a biology degree, life science teaching licensure, and 10 years experience in life science education and grant writing, Fabius said.
Berg was one of five candidates interviewed from a pool of 19 applicants. “All five candidates would have been good water plan coordinators,” Fabius said, but added, “We’re all feeling really lucky and excited, and we were thrilled when she said yes.”
For the purposes of administration of pay and benefits, Soil and Water personnel are employees of the county but are supervised by the Cook County Soil and Water Board.
. The board approved a raise in the contract amount Gloria Hall Johnson will receive for cleaning the Leo and Clearwater lake landings. She has been cleaning the landings since 2001 and started out being paid $30 per week. The amount went up to $35 per week in 2007 and $40 per week in 2010.
Johnson usually cleans once a week but increases to twice a week during the busy season and has extended the cleaning halfway through October even though she was only being paid through the end of September.
Johnson requested $80 per week, which includes driving time (where half of her time is spent), mileage, two trips to town to purchase supplies, and garbage disposal. She figured after expenses, she would be earning $15.50 per hour.
Commissioner Sue Hakes said she thought $15.50 per hour seemed consistent with what other cleaners get paid in Cook County. Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he preferred a rate of $65-75 per week. “I think if we go to $75 we’re being generous,” he said.
The board passed a motion to raise the weekly payment to $80 and extend the contract through the middle of October.
Leave a Reply