Cook County Commissioners met Tuesday, November 14 for a brief meeting.
During the assembly, commissioners approved a $108,557 State of Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources Natural Resources block grant for 2018 and 2019 that will be used by several departments in the county.
Ilena Hansel, Cook County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), said the county and SWCD have been getting these funds for years, but “we just had to change the authorized grant signature on it.”
Funding goes to Cook County Land Services and SWCD for different practices added Hansel.
Commissioners approved the move by Ben Halberg to take the Dispatcher/Jailer administrator position. Halberg has served as a Deputy Sheriff since 2004. He fills the seat left vacant by the retirement of Judy Sivertson, who held the position for more than 25 years.
Hallberg’s vacant position will be advertised internally. If no one fills it within the department, it will be promoted outside of the department.
Allison Plummer was approved to fill the open financial assistance supervisor position. Allison has been working in the Public Health and Human Services Department as an eligibility specialist. Commissioners approved an internal posting for the newly vacant eligibility specialist position.
Cook County Administrator Jeff Cadwell reported that the county received five requests for proposals (RFPs) from consulting companies replying to the counties’ advertisement for a study of the law enforcement center.
Two consulting firms who submitted the most competitive bids were interviewed with the others to be interviewed this week. Cadwell said he hoped to bring a recommendation to the county board for the November 21 meeting.
The most significant reason the county is looking at making improvements to the jail is that the cost to transport and house prisoners to other facilities is prohibitive. Last year it cost the county about $300,000 to pay for wages, mileage, and reimburse other jails for housing, said Sheriff Pat Eliasen. Cook County’s Law Enforcement Center can only hold prisoners for three days. After that these inmates have to be taken to Two Harbors, or another larger facility that can keep them until their trial, which means the prisoner must be transported back to Cook County for trial. If the jail is expanded and certain conditions are met, the arrested parties can be held in the county to await trial.
Cadwell said the winning consulting firm will examine the jail program, court program and the county attorney’s office. The evaluation will also address space needs, at a high-level, throughout the County before getting into a specific study of jail space needs and before making any recommendations for possible future capital projects.
Commissioner Myron Bursheim sits on the committee which is looking at expanding the jail facilities. He said, “One of the things that become apparent is to look at (expansion, programs, etc.) in a broader context.”
Bursheim said that in planning long-term for the future, you have to determine what that future entails.
Applications for the open County Highway Engineer position closed on Oct. 27, with four qualified applicants in the mix. Interviews will be conducted with the candidates on Nov. 17.
Cadwell reminded commissioners that the Truth in Taxation meeting would be held Monday, Nov. 27, at 6 p.m., in the Commissioners Room.
As for planning for the upcoming 2018 budget, Cadwell said more discussions would take place at the board’s next committee of the whole meeting and forthcoming commissioner meetings.
Commissioner Jan Sivertson, who is the board chair, asked if anyone in the room could explain what a Pictometry machine was. Commissioners have considered having the county purchase imagery from one of these devices at the cost of $250,000.
Administrator Cadwell responded, “Before anyone goes off and talks on the radio about a Pictometry machine, we aren’t buying a machine, we are paying for a service, we are not paying for a machine.”
Cadwell said the Forest Service, City of Grand Marais, and Grand Portage might share the cost for this. All have expressed interest in purchasing images from this service, he said.
Commissioner Bursheim reported that some damage had occurred to the Cook County Historical Center building during the most recent snow/wind storm, which caused flooding in the new (2006) addition to the building.
“Some construction issues need to be looked at,” said Bursheim. “We, as a county own the building and it is our responsibility to maintain the building.”
For too long, said Bursheim, the county has deferred maintenance to its buildings. Bursheim added that in the long run it costs the county a lot more money to fix buildings that haven’t been maintained properly. “Hopefully with the bonding coming up we can address this,” he said. Special event permits approved
In the consent agenda, commissioners approved four special event permits.
Permits were granted for the Gunflint Mail Run, Norpine Fat Tire Bike Classic, Superior Spring Trail races and Superior fall trail race.
The Norpine Fat Tire Bike event will start January 6, 2018, on the Superior National Golf course and go to Cascade Lodge and return to the golf course, with 95 percent of the race held on the Norpine cross country ski trails.
The Gunflint Mail Run sled dog race will run January 6-7.
Founded in 2003, the Superior Spring race distances are 12.5K, 25K, and 50k and take place on the Superior Hiking Trails. Both the 25K and 50Kstart and finish at Caribou Highlands resort. The races are held the weekend before Memorial Day weekend.
The three Superior Fall Races began in 1990, and the distances range from 100 miles to 50 miles and the shorter 26.2-mile marathon, all run over the rugged Superior Hiking trails. The 100- mile event starts September 7, Friday morning at Gooseberry Falls and ends at Caribou Highlands, where all of the other races also finish. The marathon and 50-mile races begin on Saturday.
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