Taking the oath of office in the Cook County commissioners’ room on Tuesday, January 4 were County Attorney Tim Scannell, Sheriff Mark Falk, Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers, Recorder Dusty Nelms, District 1 Commissioner Jan Hall, District 3 Commissioner Sue Hakes, District 5 Commissioner Bruce Martinson.
The first Cook County commissioner meeting of 2011 began with the oath of office for newly elected government officials—County Commissioner Sue Hakes and re-elected commissioners Bruce Martinson and Jan Hall, as well as Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers, County Attorney Tim Scannell, Recorder Dusty Nelms, and Sheriff Mark Falk. After Cook – Lake County Court Administrator Diane Herrick-Schmidt conducted the swearing-in ceremony, the elected officials dispersed and the commissioners took their places.
The first matter of business was the election of county board chair and vice-chair. Commissioners Bruce Martinson and Jan Hall, who have both taken a turn at serving as county board chair, made a motion nominating Commissioner Jim Johnson for board chair. The motion passed unanimously and Commissioner Fritz Sobanja, who had served as board chair for two years, quipped, “Welcome to the hot seat.”
The commissioners exchanged seats and the meeting continued, with Commissioner Johnson serving as chair. He asked for nominations for vice-chair and Commissioner Jan Hall was elected to that position.
Board and committee duties distributed
Considerable time was spent appointing county citizens to various boards and committees, such as the Airport Advisory Commission, Extension Committee, and others. There was no competition for any of the vacant seats, so all citizens who applied were appointed to the assorted boards. Not only was there no competition, some positions had no applicants at all. Citizens are still needed to serve on the Airport Advisory Committee, the Extension Committee, the Grand Marais Library Board, the Northeast MN Housing Consortium Advisory Committee, and the Public Health and Human Services Advisory Committee.
There are three vacancies on the Planning Commission, with one person eligible to continue to serve and interested in doing so. The other two commission members have reached their term limits, leaving two slots open on the planning commission. Commissioners agreed to talk to their constituents to try to find volunteers to serve on the planning commission. Commissioner Bruce Martinson noted that it was important to have planning commissioners representing various areas of the county. He pointed out that there was no representative from the east end of the county, Commissioner Jan Hall’s district. “It would be nice to have geographical balance,” said Commissioner Jim Johnson.
The commissioners also sought balance among the various boards and commissions that they serve on themselves. They painstakingly reviewed the list of 125 boards and commissions and attempted to fairly distribute the workload and to avoid meeting conflict dates. County Board Secretary Janet Simonen will compile the list for final approval at the next county board meeting.
Finally, the board decided on department liaison positions. Assignments will stay basically the same with Jan Hall as liaison for the personnel office, Sheriff ’s Department, and Planning & Zoning. Jim Johnson will be liaison for the assessor’s office, the county attorney’s office and court administrator. There were slight changes for Bruce Martinson and Fritz Sobanja. They exchanged liaison duties for the maintenance and highway departments. Martinson is now the liaison for the highway department and Sobanja for the maintenance department. Martinson’s other liaison assignments are the auditor-treasurer’s office and the county recorder. Sobanja’s other assignments are the Extension office and Community Center. New commissioner Sue Hakes took over the departments formerly assigned to Bob Fenwick. She will be liaison for Public Health & Human Services and the Information Systems Management.
Anyone interested in applying
for the vacant board or
commission positions is asked
to contact Auditor-Treasurer
Braidy Powers at (218) 387-3640
or by e-mail to:
braidy.powers@co.cook.mn.us.
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