On March 10, 2015 the Cook County Board of Commissioners met in closed session with County Attorney Molly Hicken and decided to pursue legal action in its long running dispute with K. Johnson Construction, the contractor that poured the cement for the ice hockey rink at the community center.
K. Johnson Construction, a family-owned company from Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, completed pouring and finishing the cement at the Community Center on October 11, 2012.
An inspector with ORB Management, the county’s project manager and/or owner’s representative for several projects, was on hand to make sure the cement was poured correctly, but somewhere along the line the cement failed.
Not long after the job was completed the rink surface started to degrade, flaking and peeling. When notified, K. Johnson said they could perform a surface grind and reseal the cement, but the county decided to hire and outside company to test it to see if the problems ran deeper.
The tests determined that the cement was bad from the top down— meaning all of it needs to be removed and replaced. K. Johnson balked at returning to fix the problem.
At the March 10 meeting, Stephanie Ball, an attorney with Fryberger, Buchanan, Smith & Frederick, P.A. of Duluth, was hired to represent Cook County in the matter.
On Tuesday, January 15 the county board first met in private session with County Attorney Hicken to discuss a plan of action. Coming out of that meeting the board agreed to give K. Johnson more time to make good on its work, but as the days slipped away without a settlement it became clear the county would have to seek a legal remedy.
ORB Management, the county’s project manager for several of the 1 percent local option sales tax projects, solicited and screened applicants for the hockey rink. ORB Management then forwarded the bids to the county commissioners for approval.
K. Johnson was the low bidder at $117,590 and was hired by the county.
Funds to pay for the work came from the 1 percent sales tax money collected by the county and used to pay for construction improvements and additions to community centers and public recreation areas in Grand Marais, Lutsen and Tofte. Notable among the projects were the building of the Cook County Community YMCA and expansion of the library in Grand Marais.
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