Perhaps a sign of the times, a couple of bids for Cook County roadwork have come in quite a bit under the estimates. Of two bids for reconstruction of a portion of Devil Track Road, KGM Contractors offered the low bid of $1,513,724.57, which was $530,546.53 less than the estimate had been.
KGM had the lowest of three bids for replacement of the Junco Creek Bridge with a bid of $233,862.80, which was $158,585.45 less than the estimate.
At the Tuesday, November 23, 2010 county board meeting, commissioners awarded both bids to KGM. “It’s nice to see the numbers work out that way,” said Commissioner Jim Johnson.
“Well, we got lucky,” said Engineering Technician Bill Parish. He said KGM could probably offer the low bid because they have a gravel pit nearby.
“The bidders are getting more aggressive with the way the economy is,” said Maintenance Supervisor Russell Klegstad.
Help with Sugarloaf plowing
The Township of Schroeder is having trouble finding someone who has a big plow and would be willing to keep the Sugarloaf Road clear this winter.
In a letter dated November 11, Town Clerk Carol Tveekrem appealed to the county for assistance. “We do have year-round residents living on the Sugarloaf Road or on a tributary road,” she wrote. “We are asking Cook County to do emergency plowing for the Sugarloaf Road and to provide for the winging of the road when needed.”
Russell Klegstad was concerned about tying up his staff and equipment on a non-county road but suggested they offer “third-day” service in cases of eight or more inches of snow. “I don’t want to wind up just taking over this road,” he said, but added, “We certainly are going to provide the service.”
The board voted to authorize the Highway Department to plow the road after snowfalls of at least eight inches and to wing the road and put down salt and sand as requested. Klegstad said the person doing the rest of the plowing for Schroeder felt he could handle the Sugarloaf Road for snowfalls up to eight inches. (See related snow removal story below.)
The county will bill Schroeder for its services. Subdivision ordinance
amendments
The board approved a number of amendments to Cook County Ordinance #50, the subdivision ordinance, previously adopted in 2006. The Cook County Planning Commission considered comments from community members at public hearings held October 13 and November 10.
Planning Director Tim Nelson reviewed with the board the comments and the Planning Commission’s recommendations. Commissioners agreed with the Planning Commission not to adopt county surveyor Wayne Hensche’s suggestion to allow parcels in R-1 and lakeshore residential zones to be subdivided into a maximum of two rather than four parcels. They expressed concern over unnecessarily adding stringency to the ordinance in an already difficult economic climate and discussed other avenues of oversight that were built into the ordinance.
Commissioner Jim Johnson said that after building a cabin for his dad years ago, they found out that the structure abutted the property line. Clearing up the problem took a lot of legal work, he said. He supported oversight by the Planning Commission to avoid this type of problem for others.
The amendments can be found on the Planning and Zoning page of the county website at www.co.cook. mn.us.
Veterans Service satellite office
Personnel Director Janet Simonen reported that Veterans Services Officer Clarence Everson will now have regular hours at Birch Grove Community Center. He is in the courthouse on Fridays and will be at Birch Grove on Wednesdays. He already has appointments scheduled at Birch Grove, Simonen said, and people are excited to have him down there.
Leave a Reply