Myron Bursheim
Editor’s note: Every week we are introducing candidates who are running for Cook County Commissioner. Myron Bursheim is the current county board chair and is running for a second term as the District 2 representative.
I grew up in Winger, a small town in rural northwestern Minnesota. I spent all my summers working on farms owned by my uncles. I loved to hunt and fish, as well as cross-country ski in the winters. During those years, a dream grew in me to someday live in a place like the Arrowhead region, a place with forests, water, and abundant snow.
Also, during my youth I developed my musical skills while playing guitar and singing at my church. This skill led to an invitation to join a band, Robby Lynn and the Teens, performing at teen dances in a four-state area plus southern Canada. We even recorded a regional hit, The Angel You Sent Me in 1962!
With my first year of college behind me, I turned my attention toward pursuing a degree in education. During my first years of teaching, I attended night school, working toward a graduate degree leading to my position as Curriculum and Instruction Administrator for the Anoka- Hennepin School District. A second graduate degree earned after dissertational research on implementing a new budgeting system and its financial implications qualified me as a School Superintendent. In various administrative roles over 35 years in the district, I primarily focused on elementary administration because I deeply cared about giving young children that critically important early learning leading to their later educational success.
I retired from the school district in 1999 to become a national leadership consultant with the Rigby Professional Development Corporation. In that role I worked with administrators in school districts throughout the United States. My consulting work mostly emphasized organizational self-improvement and quality management strategies to improve education.
In 1993 I satisfied my youthful dream to live in an area like ours when I purchased property with a cedar log cabin on McFarland Lake adjacent to the BWCA. By 2005, I moved permanently from the Twin Cities to the city of Grand Marais, especially grateful to resume my musical interests by performing in churches and other community venues such as the North Shore Care Center.
I had volunteered at the North Shore Fitness Center for several years when the YMCA was proposed. After helping to establish the Cook County YMCA, I served as its Advisory Council chairperson. Since 2014, I have been a board member of the Duluth Area Family YMCA Association. Our Y is a branch of the Duluth Association, which provides support to our local Y operations.
Running for my first term as County Commissioner, my platform was to work toward sound fiscal management, long term financial planning, and a balanced budget. I also advocated for affordable housing and support to young families in need of childcare. For the past three years I have served on Cook County’s Budget Advisory Committee, tasked with developing fiscal policies and long-range planning for future financial sustainability with an adequate budget reserve. The committee also provides input to the yearly budget process. I advocated for having a citizen representative to be appointed from each Commissioner District to serve on this committee.
Although we had to raise the levy significantly in 2017 in order to balance the budget, Cook County has maintained one of the lowest property tax rates in Minnesota. This can be verified by going to smartassets.com, a recognized non-biased financial study of property taxes in Minnesota and United States. You can actually put your assessed property value into a calculator and it will show you the taxes you would pay in any other county in Minnesota. I have learned that the yearly budget process needs to focus on cost benefit analysis of needed public services with tax capacity and revenue generation.
While serving on more than 30 boards and organizational committees during my tenure as Country Commissioner, I have gained much understanding of our community needs. In collaborating with other county commissioners in northeastern Minnesota, I have strived to work for the common good of our county and our area.
Specific Accomplishments and Goals:
Board Leadership – As County Commissioner, I have served as Vice Chair for two years and as Board Chair for this current year. We have experienced some significant changes with our County Administrator and I have worked closely with our Interim Administrator in this transition toward a new administrator search. I have provided leadership to the Board in dealing with the most significant challenge our county has faced with the Covid-19 pandemic. I have learned much and have gained critical insight into how we can collaborate to work for the common good of our community. I hope, with your support, I can bring that experience and insight into my next term as commissioner.
Boundary Waters Reappraisal Process—I served with two other county commissioners from St Louis and Lake counties on this process. Because of the appraisal that become effective as of 2018, Cook County was notified that we would receive over $700,000 less per year for the next 10 years. I have attended many meetings with USFS leaders, USDA Deputy Secretary Censke, and Representative Stauber to establish a new appraisal based upon criteria that was not considered in the previous appraisal. If elected, I believe that my experience with this process will be helpful in obtaining a reappraisal that will increase county revenues by millions of dollars.
Restorative Justice Program—as Vice-chair for two years and as current Board Chair, I teamed with our County Attorney to establish the Restorative Justice program to help community families and decrease incarceration costs. The North Shore Health Care Foundation currently sponsors this program.
Workforce Housing projects— A major objective of mine is to help young folks live and prosper in Cook County. To that end I have advocated for the successful workforce housing project in Lutsen and for the completion of the Nordic Star One Roof Housing Project in Grand Marais. If re-elected as County Commissioner, I pledge to support the EDA and the Planning and Zoning Committee to further provide housing solutions for our community.
Cook County Schools Education Foundation (CCSEF)—While “extra-curricular” to my specific work as Commissioner, I have been serving on the board of this foundation. Since inception of CCSEF, over $250,000 (adjusted per CPI index) has been granted for teacher/ student projects. Foundation grants have supported Robotics, Culinary Arts, graphic calculators, smart boards, band trips, Knowledge Bowl, language camps and more. Recently we granted significant financial support for the Felted Forest and its adjacent outdoor timber frame classroom, constructed by students with the help of North House Folk School.
Advocate for North Shore Health’s Serenity Garden— Now in development, this addition to North Shore Health’s campus is being completely funded by grants and individual donations of both time and money. Because I have become very familiar with the Care Center over the past 12 years (mostly through providing musical entertainment on Sundays), I know how beneficial this garden will be for Care Center residents, their families, and employees (and also for all of those on the hospital side of Serenity Garden).
Two borrowed statements that express my intent as District 2 Commissioner: “Success for Each, Respect for All” and “We are so much better working together.”
I am running for a second term as commissioner to best serve you by using my leadership experience to successfully meet and work through significant transitions that we will face in future years.
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