David Betts has accepted the position of county engineer/ agricultural inspector and will start work by the end of June. According to Cook County Personnel Director Janet Simonen, Betts has 17 years of “significant” municipal experience.
Simonen said he would be given $3,000-4,000 for moving expenses as is typically offered to department heads when they are hired from out of the community.
The county board unanimously approved the hire.
In other Highway Department news, the board unanimously approved the purchase of three tarps to cover salt/sand piles in Hovland and Tofte as required by law at a cost of $4,800. The board also authorized Highway Maintenance Supervisor Russell Klegstad to spend up to $19,000 to buy gravel from KGM Construction at a discounted price. KGM had extra gravel in the Dog Tired Pit it was willing to sell to the county for about half the regular cost.
Parking for
Arrowhead Transit
The Arrowhead Transit buses are having a hard time maneuvering through the municipal parking lot outside the Senior Center. That’s especially challenging because “Arrowhead Transit is getting busier and busier and busier,” according to Senior Center Director Bev Green. “Ridership is up hugely,” she said.
To address the parking problem, Green appealed to the county board, asking if Arrowhead Transit could use the county parking lot on the corner of 3rd Street and the Old Gunflint Trail just west of the courthouse. Two to three buses would park there at night and one to two employee cars would be parked there when the buses were in use. Thelot is mostly used for parking cars used by county board and staff on official business.
The board discussed various options for parking the Arrowhead Transit buses, including the county highway maintenance garage area and the Community Center parking lot. Commissioners unanimously passed a motion to allow Arrowhead Transit to use the parking lot across the street from the courthouse.
Revolving loan fund request
The county board unanimously approved a loan from the county revolving loan fund to Pete Gresczyk of G & G Septic in the amount of $75,000 over a period of 10 years. Gresczyk is installing a septic storage facility in Cedar Grove Business Park, a $350,000 project, and has also obtained a loan from Grand Marais State Bank.
Bond refinancing
At the suggestion of Auditor- Treasurer Braidy Powers, the board is considering refinancing bonds issued to finance courthouse and Law Enforcement Center building projects from the 1990s. Still owed is $2,390,000, but switching to current lower interest rates could save the county $54,446, Powers said. The current bonds were issued in 2003 to take advantage of lower interest rates at that time.
A public hearing would be required to refinance the bonds. The cost of transitioning the Sheriff ’s Department to narrowband radio equipment by 2013 as required by the federal government could also be incorporated into new bonds.
“I don’t see any downside to doing it,” said Powers.
The board did not yet take any action on refinancing the bonds.
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