After a closed meeting on December 11 with District Judge Mike Cuzzo, Sheriff Mark Falk, Assistant County Attorney Molly Hicken, and Emergency Management Director Jim Wiinanen, the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted to move forward with several security enhancements at the Cook County Courthouse.
A committee will be working on implementing the enhancements. They include installation of security cameras, duress buttons, and an intercom/public address system, enhancing courtroom security, providing safety training for county employees, providing a conference room with safety features for use by the Public Health & Human Services and Probation departments, and hiring a full-time employee to conduct weapons screening on people entering the building.
The motion approving the changes passed with three ayes and one nay, with Commissioner Jim Johnson absent from that part of the meeting. Voting no was Bruce Martinson, who said he did not agree with hiring a full-time employee to screen people at the door because of the cost and because he believed it would create a false sense of security.
The public was not provided any cost estimates of these enhancements when the meeting was re-opened to the public after security issues were discussed.
The location of the Public Health & Human Services and Probation conference room was determined later in the meeting when the board discussed numerous space requests from several departments.
The board approved several space changes for the second floor of the courthouse, including moving the Cook County Soil & Water Conservation District offices down into the Planning & Zoning offices in order to reserve the second floor for Public Health & Human Services, the county attorney’s office, court, and probation.
In other county news:
The board authorized the Highway Department to purchase a radio charging unit that will charge six handheld radios at a time. It will cost $645.39 plus shipping, to be paid out of the department’s reserve fund. The six individual chargers that came with the new radios will be used in the offices and homes of Highway Engineer David Betts, Assistant Highway Engineer Sam Muntean, and Maintenance Supervisor Russell Klegstad since they use them 24 hours a day.
“They’re absolutely fantastic,” Klegstad said of the new radios, explaining that they can hear each other from clear across the county, a huge improvement over the old radios.
The board also authorized the Highway Department to purchase new compressors for the Tofte and Hovland shops. The old ones had so little air pressure that they could no longer fill the truck tires. The total cost will be $3,799.98 plus tax.
A reduction in some anticipated 2013 costs and an anticipated increase in some revenues will allow the county to lower its levy by $92,398, or 4.21 percent, since the preliminary budget was set earlier this year. Allowing this are things such as a state grant for veterans services, reductions in transportation costs for the Recycling Center, reduced costs in work being done on Taylor Lane, a lower interest rate on equipment bonds, and anticipated increases in revenue in the Environmental Health program and at the Recycling Center.
The county board will have a special meeting Monday, December 17 at 10 a.m. to discuss the 2013 budget and levy.
The board authorized the Assessor’s Office to hire outside help to set up a system of tables on the department’s computer system that will calculate property value based on specific data on a piece of property.
Assessor Betty Schultz said the tables will speed up the data entry process and leave less to the judgment of the person entering the data.
Duane Lula of the Arrowhead Regional Development Council (ARDC) requested the county’s involvement in pursuing a Short Term Action Request (STAR) grant from the Minnesota Lake Superior Coastal Program to strategize continued work on the Gitchi Gami Bike Trail along Highway 61 from Two Harbors to Grand Marais.
Plans for the trail began in the mid-1990s. By 2013, 30 miles out of a total of 86 miles are expected to be done.
A document on the project stated, “With nearly 20 years’ time since the Gitchi Gami Trail was envisioned and work began, it is time to look at accomplishments to date and lessons learned, re-energize the process and commitment to completing the trail, as well as revisit plans and priorities in light of changes in programs, emphases, and funding opportunities.”
This process would cost about $10,000, and ARDC suggested that Cook County request a STAR grant of $5,000, with Cook County, Lake County, and the Gitchi Gami Trail Association each contributing about $1,667 toward a match of $5,000.
Commissioner Jan Hall said this was a Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) project and questioned why the ARDC was asking the counties for help.
Commissioner Martinson said this was a collaborative effort that needed re-commitment from everyone involved. This would be a way “to get all players involved in the process again,” he said.
The board unanimously passed a motion supporting the grant application and a match of $1,667.
The board, with all five commissioners present, unanimously voted to award $4,000 requested by the Cook County Local Energy Project for 2013. CCLEP had funding in place for the rest of the $20,000 needed to keep half-time coordinator Virginia Danfelt on board. At the previous board meeting two weeks prior, the three commissioners in attendance deferred a decision after disagreeing on how much to fund the program.
Commissioner Jan Hall said she had researched the benefits CCLEP has provided to the entire county and retracted a statement she had made previously about the city of Grand Marais benefitting more than the county as a whole. She had taken issue with giving CCLEP $4,000 when the city of Grand Marais had only committed $2,000.
Commissioner Martinson suggested the possibility of building an eco-friendly business park in Grand Marais and using the Grand Marais Municipal Pool building for fishponds like Silver Bay is developing. Commissioner Sue Hakes questioned whether the Minnesota Land Trust would allow such a use in that location.
At the November 27 county board meeting, an amendment to the county’s tower facility ordinance was approved. The amendment addresses vertical axis wind turbines, which were not previously addressed. No objections were raised at a public hearing on the proposed amendment held November 14.
The county will be the fiscal agent for a $5,692 grant to the Cook County ATV Club for trail building in the Tom Lake area.
Four TV cameras will soon be installed at the Cook County Community Center at the expense of the Cook County Curling Club so that spectators can have better views of the action on the rink. The curling club will be covering the cost.
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