The county board is trying not to let Cook County Community YMCA costs get out of hand. On August 20, 2013, a motion by Commissioner Sue Hakes authorizing Branch Executive Director Emily Marshall to spend up to $300,000 for furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E)-—the amount budgeted—as long as individual purchases were within 10 percent of the amount budgeted failed for lack of a second.
Commissioner Hakes said authorizing the purchases would streamline the project. Marshall had created a list that included everything from a volleyball net for the pool, budgeted at $30, to mats and play structures for young children, budgeted at $6,100. The FF&E budget also included things like fitness equipment, garbage and recycling bins, and computers for the offices.
Items that the school will no longer need, such as some strength training equipment, will not need to be purchased. Some items on the list will be coming out of another part of the project budget. These include three “suit spinners” (for drying swimsuits) estimated at $4,000, exterior signs estimated at $15,000 and lobby furniture quoted at $3,940.
Marshall told the Cook County News-Herald that if people have items in good condition that they would like to donate, such as a pool table, they would be appreciated. They are also hoping to find grant funding. She told the county board she would be talking to Safe Routes to Schools Coordinator Jerry Hiniker about the possibility of finding a grant to fund a bike rack, which is not in the budget.
Commissioner Hakes said Marshall was doing a good job looking for good prices and trying to find things that could be purchased secondhand.
By a vote of 4-1 (Commissioner Garry Gamble voting no), the board did approve the purchase of a security camera system for $19,827.82 and a phone system for $15,748.42.
Commissioner Gamble said he thinks the board needs to keep an eye on purchases for now. At some point, he said, they may need to set priorities regarding what should be purchased now and what they can purchase later or find other funding for.
Marshall knows how to run a Y, Commissioner Hakes said. “If we’re talking about dumbbells or innertubes, I don’t want any part of that,” she said. “Emily can do her job 100 times better than we can.”
Being responsible for the money that is spent is their job, Commissioner Jan Hall said.
Having a county administrator in place will make things like this easier, County Attorney Tim Scannell said. He said he wished the same deference would be accorded to him because he thinks running the county attorney’s office is at least as complicated as running a Y.
Board meeting processes
Commissioner Sue Hakes said she thought it would be helpful to get some training from the Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust (MCIT) on following Robert’s Rules of Order during county board meetings. She also said she thought a refresher on the Open Meeting Law might be good. “I think we could use a little education,” she said.
County Attorney Tim Scannell pointed out that the Cook County Board of Commissioners has never formally adopted Robert’s Rules of Order, and if they did, they would have to deal with occasions in which they failed to follow them.
The board used to table topics pending the gathering of further information more than they have been lately, Commissioner Bruce Martinson said. He suggested they have a condensed version of Robert’s Rules of Order to refer to.
People have opposed any procedures that would limit discussion among board members or with the public, Attorney Scannell said. He supported making some procedural changes. Board meetings are “for work and not for debate,” he said. He said some boards have potential motions written up ahead of time and suggested that they have a computer and printer in the room so they could modify motions that had been pre-written. He acknowledged that some agenda items “are going to be more fluid and more open-ended.”
Attorney Scannell told the Cook County News-Herald, “Up until today, I can’t recall hearing anyone on the board suggest that process needs to be addressed, but I’ve always believed it to be less streamlined and professional than it could and should be. None of this would lead to less discussion, just better informed and less confused discussion.”
Scannell pointed out how he hopes a county administrator will help the board. “…An administrator can prepare for the board meeting and present issues in an organized fashion to the board, and if resolutions are properly used, the board then has more time to understand the direction being suggested to them or requested of them.
“With a computer and printer, then the county attorney or the administrator could have those documents available to be amended as needed and still available for review and approval at the meeting.
“…Boards typically take the 20,000 foot perspective and rely on professional staff to provide information, direction, and forms necessary to make decisions. Without staff’s input and the board’s reliance thereon, it’s hard to make good decisions and the meeting becomes – as was suggested in the discussion – both bogged down and very confused.”
The board passed a motion authorizing Attorney Scannell to talk to MCIT about providing some assistance with board procedures. Commissioner Hakes said the better they operate as a board, the safer the public will feel.
In other county news:
. School District 166 will be covering $20/month of the cost of an adult YMCA membership or $30/month of the cost of a family membership for its staff. This would bring the cost of an individual membership down to $20 and a family membership down to $40/ month. Current prices posted on the Cook County Community YMCA webpage are $40 for single adults and $70 for families.
. Cook County Community YMCA Project Manager Wade Cole and County Attorney Scannell have been trying to work with carpentry contractor KBB on documents that were “delinquent,” according to Cole. They did receive the contract and a bond but were still waiting on some shop drawings.
Cole said he has been dealing with portions of the Grand Marais hockey rink that have been flaking off the surface. The architect, Mattefy Engineering as a contractor of JLG Architects, is requesting core samples of the cement at $750 per sample. Cole said the contractor, K. Johnson Construction, is saying it’s not their problem because the specifications were wrong. He said K. Johnson is saying they knew the specifications were wrong but did what they called for. The process did not allow water to come up from the concrete as it was drying.
. The board approved the purchase of 17 computers for various departments at a cost of $17,004.91. The old PCs were between four and eight years old and “due for replacement” according to IS (Information Systems) Director Danna Mackenzie. The purchase was budgeted.
Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk recommended that the IS Department donate one of its old computers for use at the airport.
. The board approved the purchase of a semi trailer for the Recycling Center at a cost of $4,500. It was under the $5,000 budgeted for the purchase. The old trailer was the last remaining non-Minnesota-Department-of- Transportation-certified trailers.
. The board did not approve the purchase and installation of carpet tiles in a 22’x28’ area in the assessor’s office. 1010 Interiors gave the county an estimate of $3,819, which is $55.80/square yard.
Maintenance Director Brian Silence said when the assessor’s office was remodeled to make way for the Soil & Water office to move in next door, they realized that carpeting had been installed around some file cabinets rather than underneath them, leaving exposed concrete in some places.
The board recommended that Silence look for a better price or wait until the job could be included in a bigger carpeting job and thus be less costly.
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