The county board started on a sour note on Tuesday, June 21 as commissioners disagreed over what should—and should not—be acted upon at meetings.
Each week, after the Pledge of Allegiance, there is time to make adjustments to the meeting agenda, at which time commissioners can request the addition— or removal—of items. When Board Chair Heidi Doo-Kirk asked for additions or adjustments, Commissioner Frank Moe asked that “action” be removed from an agenda item being brought forward by Planning and Zoning Director Tim Nelson.
Moe explained this was the first time that he had seen the suggestion for a resolution to opt out of recent state legislation regarding temporary family health care dwellings, or “granny pods.”
He said, “Also this is an issue I’m not in agreement with.”
Doo-Kirk said “with all due respect,” the board would wait until Nelson was before them. She said at that time the board would decide whether to take action or table the matter. She added that all of the commissioners in attendance at the June 16 Association of Minnesota Counties meeting in International Falls were informed about the situation.
Asserting that it was time for adjustments to the agenda to be made, Commissioner Moe made a motion to remove “action” from that agenda item. He said he had been instructed that any items that needed action from the county board must first come before the board for discussion.
Doo-Kirk said that didn’t apply to staff requests. She said, “With all due respect, that is for commissioners.”
However she entertained the motion and asked for a second. No second was forthcoming and Moe said, “So apparently there is a double standard for action for items on the agenda that only applies to the commissioner in district 1.”
County Administrator Jeff Cadwell said that the request for the resolution was considered “regular and routine information” from staff and as such could be acted on. He said the board had previously heard information from Nelson on this matter.
Doo-Kirk suggested that the board add an item to the agenda under “Commissioner Concerns” to discuss how resolutions and action items are added to the agenda. “That is the appropriate place for that discussion,” she said.
Commissioner Garry Gamble agreed the discussion should take place and made a motion to approve the agenda as is. That motion carried, with Commissioners Moe voting no.
When Nelson came before the board with his proposal to pass a resolution to “opt out” of the “granny pod” legislation, he explained that these dwellings are intended to be temporary housing for a family member who is ill or disabled so they can live in small homes on family property near caregivers. Nelson said his department’s objection was not to the concept, but to the narrow scope of the legislation, which seems to be tailored for one manufacturer of these small dwellings.
Also, Nelson said the county needs to ensure that there is adequate water and septic facilities. He said the county has a process in place to deal with this through its interim use permit. He said the legislation appears to be a “chipping away” at that local land use control. For that reason the legislature gives counties the option to opt-out of the granny pod rules and he recommended that the county do so.
Moe said he disagreed, noting that the legislation gives the control of use of these dwellings to the property owners themselves.
Moe also asked Nelson if this matter had come before the board before. Nelson said he had had discussions with individual commissioners, but that it had not come before the full board. He said he actually did not think the legislation would pass, so he didn’t feel it was necessary.
Commissioner Jan Sivertson said to Moe’s point, there hadn’t been much discussion locally since it seemed unlikely there would be much impact in Cook County. She said that there was a lot of talk about his legislation at the Association of Minnesota Counties district meeting.
Because he had not had time to thoroughly study the issue, Moe moved to table action on the resolution until the June 28 meeting. He said he may then vote yes, but asked that for “consistency and fairness,” the motion be tabled.
Gamble said he has had questions in the past regarding actionable items on the agenda. He said commissioners needed to work on a consistent policy for action items.
“Whether it’s a level playing field is an important issue,” he said recalling the discussion earlier in the meeting with House District 3A Representative Rob Ecklund about the lack of trust at the legislature.
“It’s little things like this that either contribute or don’t contribute to trust. …If it’s not time sensitive, we have an opportunity to respect a fellow commissioner relative to his concerns…
“I think the board is in a position where we could pass this today, but if we do, I think we would erode that trust,” said Gamble.
The motion to table carried unanimously.
The next issue, a request from Kerrie Berg of Cook County Soil and Water for approval of an easement for stream restoration on Rosebush Creek, was also tabled. Board members appeared to be in favor of approving her request, but agreed to be consistent and the matter was tabled as it was the first time it had appeared on the county board agenda. Berg said she would bring the request back to the June 28 meeting.
At the end of the meeting, the commissioners had a brief discussion of how items should be handled—can routine requests from staff be approved on first viewing?
It was agreed to send the questions raised about action items on the agenda to the county bylaws committee. Members of the committee are the auditor, county attorney and commissioners Gamble and Sivertson. Cadwell said the committee will look at “best practices” and research how this is handled by other communities and return to the board with some answers.
County to hire custodian for YMCA building
The board approved an amendment to its agreement with the Cook County Community YMCA to hire a full-time janitorial worker to perform custodial duties at the Y. The county will bill the YMCA up to $40,000 per year.
County Attorney Molly Hicken worked on the amendment with County Maintenance Director Brian Silence, Cook County YMCA Director Emily Marshall, Duluth YMCA Director Chris Francis, and Commissioners Moe and Storlie.
Hicken noted that this amendment was not meant to encapsulate all of the potential changes to the contract between the YMCA and the county. However, she noted that it was in the county’s best interest to ensure that light maintenance and repairs are done properly as the county owns the YMCA building. “We want the Y to be successful,” she said.
Commissioner Gamble noted that under the initial agreement the county was paying $100,000 to support YMCA operations with another $10,000 annually to a sinking fund for maintenance. He asked if the $40,000 was part of that.
Cadwell said no, the auditor’s office preferred to keep the two matters separate. The county will still support the Y with the $100,000 annual contribution, but will be paid $40,000 from the YMCA for the custodian.
County heading to court over hockey rink cement
In a final matter, the board closed the meeting to discuss potential litigation with K. Johnson Construction over faulty concrete at the Cook County Community Center hockey rink.
The board reopened the meeting and Attorney Hicken said the board had discussed a proposed settlement from the defendants. There was a motion by Commissioner Moe to decline the offer. The motion passed unanimously.
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