At the request of Cook County Board of Commissioner Frank Moe to “roll up its sleeves and sharpen its pencils,” the Cook County/Grand Marais Economic Development Authority (EDA) wasted little time in reducing its 2017 budget by $20,000 at its Tuesday, December 13 meeting.
Eliminated was $3,000 for video conferencing of all meetings; $4,000 was cut from the advertising budget; the $9,000 contingency fund was reduced to zero, and the request for $4,000 from the Cook County Local Energy Project (CCLEP) was— for the time being—cut from the budget.
The appeal from commissioners came earlier in the day when the county board met and voted 3-2 to reduce the proposed 2017 levy increase from 19.88 percent to 9.9 percent.
EDA Director Mary Somnis said she would forward the cuts to Cook County Administrator Jeff Cadwell. Cadwell and Auditor/ Treasurer Braidy Powers have only a little time to meet with county staff to come up with ways to winnow and whittle the levy 10 percentage points. Each point is $70,000, so the county board, who will make the final decisions on all cuts, has to come up with $700,000 in spending reductions before submitting the 2017 levy to the state of Minnesota by December 28.
The EDA is seeking $406,290 in funds from the county for 2017.
The EDA approved a request from Mike Larson to groom cart paths on Superior National for winter Fat Biking. Linda Jurek, director of Visit Cook County, was in the audience and when asked, she said winter riding on bikes with fat tires was becoming a favorite recreational activity. She encouraged advertising for a “soft opening” so the bugs could be worked out of the routes. The clubhouse will be open on the weekends for riders who may have to pay a small admission fee to ride the course. Larson has purchased an older snowmobile and groomer and will groom the trails. There will be no cost to the EDA. Board chair Anton Moody was fully behind the idea.
While the EDA cut its funding to CCLEP, the board did pass a motion to give $1,000 to CCLEP so it can sponsor a 2017 Builder’s Workshop. Area carpenters and contractors can receive training and licensure credits by attending this workshop.
Tofte Supervisor Craig Horak came before the board with an update about the planned 12 unit Tofte housing project. The EDA has agreed to assist the township if it hires a project manager, which the Tofte supervisors agreed to and is in the process of advertising for, and if the town hands over all of its financial and engineering information about the project.
Horak said he had talked to Dynamic Homes, whom the township paid $60,000 two years ago along with plans for the twin patio homes, and he asked if the company had completed any of the homes.
“They told me the units were all built to our plans,” Horak said, adding, “So no changes can be made to them. They are all either one-or two-bedroom homes.”
The EDA had suggested Tofte see if it could hire One Roof Housing to manage the development of the rental units, so Horak wanted the company to know that no changes could be made to the houses.
EDA board member Scott Harrison asked Horak to get all of the housing records together and submit them to the EDA for review. Horak, who is new to the Tofte town board, said he would have the material together shortly.
Local contractor Max Wahlers came before the board with a request to have the east side of the Cedar Grove Business Park rezoned so he could build temporary workforce housing on the lot he purchased this fall. Wahlers said he would like to create a workshop with a 1,200 square-foot addition above it so he could offer new hires to the area a place to live. The space above the workshop would house two apartments, said Wahlers.
“We can’t do that,” said Heidi Doo-Kirk. “The EDA would have to pay back all of the DEED grant money it received for the park.”
Wahlers asked why residential living was allowed in the new veterinary clinic that was being built on the west side of the park. Doo-Kirk answered that it took a lot of time and lawyer’s fees to get five lots on that side of the park zoned for commercial and residential use.
“You wouldn’t be able to build employee housing on your site with those changes,” noted Doo-Kirk. “Those lots are all classified as owner occupied. You would have to live there, not your employees.”
Wahlers said he felt his realtor had misled him. Moody said he felt sorry for Wahlers, but added that all of the information about lot restrictions was included in the packet Wahlers received before purchasing the land. Somnis said she would check into the deed restrictions for the lots to see if the EDA could help Wahlers out, but made no promises to him that anything could be done.
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