Cook County commissioners approved the hiring of Robbie Hass as the new county highway engineer.
Hass will replace interim highway engineer Mike Tardy, who stepped in to fill the gap left by Krysten Foster, who resigned to take a position with the state in April.
Hass will start his new job on August 3.
According to Pamela Dixon, the county’s Human Resource Director, “Robbie has over nine years of experience as a Bridge Engineer. Interestingly, he comes to us with the same background that Mike Tardy, our current Interim County Engineer, and our former County Engineer, Krysten Foster started with in their careers. Most recently, Robbie was a Sr. Bridge Engineer, with Maryland DOT, in Baltimore MD. Before that he was Sr. Bridge Engineer, with Minnesota DOT and he also worked for an international engineering consulting firm, AECOM, in Minneapolis, MN. Robbie has a B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from UW Milwaukee.
“He and his wife moved from Minnesota to Maryland so that she could complete her post-doctorate work at Johns Hopkins University in Environmental Sustainability. After learning about the County Engineer opening at Cook County, he felt compelled to apply for the position and make the move back to Minnesota, as Cook County holds a special place in their hearts. Robbie proposed to his wife on the Superior Hiking Trail. She will be able to maintain her research for Johns Hopkins via the Internet.”
In other highway department news, Josh Dix was approved as the new maintenance supervisor. Foster recommended Dix for the position before she left. The position has been open for some time. He will step into his new role on August 3.
Isak Hansen & Sons was the only bidder to supply the county with its winter blended sand mix. The bid was opened on July 7. Hansen’s will be paid $35.10 per cubic yard for the mix.
TNT Aggregates LLC was the low bidder at $109,850 for crushing 13,000 cubic yards of Class 1 gravel in two pits. The award is contingent upon TNT receiving an updated permit from the United States Forest Service to use the Caribou pit.
A public hearing will be held to consider making changes to some miscellaneous fees charged by the county. The auditor’s office has requested that all county departments look at their various fees to see if they need to be adjusted.
State law requires a public hearing before there is a motion to change these fees.
The public hearing will be held in the Cook County Courthouse commissioner’s room at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 25, 2020.
Commissioners approved the purchase of 54 blinds from 1010 Interiors for the newly installed windows at the courthouse. The new windows are smaller than those they replaced, which means the current blinds do not fit. 1010 Interiors will also install the blinds. They submitted a bid estimate of $15,246.09 to complete the job, with the majority of that coming from the $13,356 cost of the blinds.
Commissioner Ginny Storlie said the new blinds would help preserve heat and she was glad there was a local vendor to purchase the blinds from.
Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk recused herself from the vote, which passed 4-0 in favor because she is the bookkeeper for 1010 Interiors.
The Hovland Volunteer Fire Department requested a loan of up to $400,000 to build a new, larger fire hall.
Auditor/Treasurer Braidy Powers read the department’s request to the board. He said the new space would provide more room for fire fighting equipment and training areas for the volunteer firefighters. The loan is repayable over the next twenty years and paid back at one percent interest.
Commissioners approved a $6,977.14 CARES grant that will be used to pay additional costs caused by the coronavirus to hold municipal elections. Part of the funds, said Auditor/Treasurer Powers, will be spent on signage and used to hire more election judges.
So far, Powers said there had been 300 requests for absentee ballots, which far exceeds past numbers.
On the topic of elections, Powers requested that the canvas for the primary vote be held on Friday, August 14, at 10 a.m. Usually, the ballots are counted on Thursday following the Wednesday vote, but this year the state asked that absentee ballots post-marked late be counted.
“We can accept them up to our canvas date, but not after,” said Powers.
Because of this new time table, the election results won’t be made known to the public for several days after the primary, although the state is working to see if a partial release of the votes can be distributed to the press, said Powers.
Passion Pit beach
With some interest being shown by private parties to acquire what locals affectionately call Passion Pit Beach, Interim County Administrator Rena Rogers asked commissioners to approve sending a letter to MnDOT, which expressed the county’s interest in acquiring Tax Parcel No: 53-122-2127 located on Old Shore Road.
Rogers said the parcel in question is contiguous to the east side of a 35-foot platted deeded access to the county.
“This property has recently come to the Board’s attention as an issue named the Passion Pit, which involves private ownership of a section of this beach and public parcels owned by the county and MnDOT. The public, notably Cook County residents for over 60 years, has used this beach, and the assumption is that the beach is a county-owned public beach. In reality, the county is responsible for 35-foot side access. Private owners had raised issues about trespassing and the public portions managed better.”
After consulting with MnDOT, Roger’s said the county’s best way to proceed would be to officially tell MnDOT that the county is interested in acquiring a limited use lease or acquisition of the parcel as a way to get precedence over the private party.
“The main effect is to slow the process down so the county and the community has the chance to look at the best options for the use of this historic and beautiful location. If this property were to go up for bid and was sold to private property, the opportunity for a public space would be lost, most likely forever.”
Commissioners passed a resolution supporting Roger’s request to send a letter to MnDOT expressing the county’s interest in the Passion Pit property.
In other county news:
Commissioners appointed Andrea Orest to the Cook County Community Center Board of Trustees.
The Auditor’s Office staff and more than 60 people were approved to serve as election judges at polling locations for the 2020 primary and general elections:
* A donation to the Cook County Sheriff ’s Office from Bev Denyes was accepted with thanks.
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