As outlined in the ATV ordinance created two years ago, the county board performed an annual review of how ATV use has been going at its June 14 meeting.
In a May 17 memo, Sheriff Mark Falk reported one call for service in Grand Marais and eight in the rest of the county during 2010. The Sheriff ‘s Deparment issued no citations for ATV violations. The calls were complaints regarding things like loud driving, juveniles operating ATVs where people thought they shouldn’t be, possible trespassing, and unregistered ATVs being pulled by sled dogs. One 13-year-old struck a tree while driving an ATV.
Falk reported that the Cook County Highway Department had received no complaints. Sheriff ’s Deputy Leif Lunde said DNR Conservation Officer Mary Manning received three complaints, one that resulted in a citation. She gave out about half a dozen warnings, most regarding a need for use of headlights. She wanted ATV operators to know that they cannot drive along Highway 61, Lunde said.
John Bottger, who was on the committee that came up with the ordinance, said the issues that have come up would be there whether or not an ordinance was in place. “I would very much like to congratulate the ATV Club for working through this ordinance and making it work,” he said.
ATV Club member Vilnis Neilands said, “As long as we’re thanking people, let’s thank the enforcement people as well. They’re being reasonable.”
Commissioner Jim Johnson said, “For now, things look like they’re going in the right direction.”
Fleet vehicles
Maintenance Director Brian Silence asked the board what it wanted him to do about the car Emergency Management Director Jim Wiinanen has been driving. It has 125,000 miles on it, needs $2,000 in repairs, and was not starting reliably over the winter.
Commissioner Sue Hakes said she hears concerns from the community regarding just how many cars the county needs in its fleet. Silence said during the summer months, vehicles are often in short supply, with departments like Soil and Water doing a lot of fieldwork. He said he is working on moving some vehicles around to other departments to make more efficient use of the fleet.
Commissioner Fritz Sobanja suggested that they consider saving money by buying used vehicles. Silence said they have done that before and “got burned” a couple of times, whereas new cars come with warranties. Sue Hakes said that vehicles the county purchases should be “safe and wellmaintained.”
The board passed a motion authorizing Silence to investigate the purchase of a new car.
Septic ordinance
Planning and Zoning Director Tim Nelson reported that the state has given counties until 2014 to adopt septic ordinances in conformance with new state rules put in place in 2008 and 2010. Counties have a limited amount of authority to deviate from state regulations.
In an email to the News-Herald, Nelson wrote, “We are still hoping to achieve a greater level of flexibilities between the state and counties with regards to the SSTS [subsurface sewage treatment systems] ordinance than what currently exists within the rules….”
Commissioner Jim Johnson said pressure is building for the county to come up with a program to help people pay for septic inspections and upgrades required by the new rules. Commissioner Sue Hakes said offering low-interest loans that could be paid along with property taxes over the course of years would help people who couldn’t afford to implement the requirements otherwise.
Poplar River Alternative Urban Area Review
Nelson also reported that the Poplar River Alternative Urban Area Review (AUAR) put in place five years ago is expiring, and the county must decide what to do from here.
An AUAR is a method of determining what environmental issues need to be addressed if development of the land is planned in the next five years for a particular area.
The county could let the current AUAR expire, but if development in the lower Poplar River basin were to take place, substantial environmental assessments would need to be done in the absence of an AUAR. The county could also re-adopt the one that is in place or redo it, the most time-consuming and costly option.
Another option would be to renew the current AUAR but add an addendum that would include new studies that have been done. The Poplar River Management Board procured grant funding to determine various sources of sediment in the river, and these studies could be included in an AUAR addendum.
The current AUAR was put in place because of some development that had been proposed at Lutsen Mountains. Nelson told the board he had been gathering comments from various groups on what to do about the AUAR. He has talked to groups such as the Poplar River Management Board, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Cook County Soil and Water Conservation District, and Department of Planning and Zoning storm water staff.
Highway Department facility study
Highway Engineer David Betts reported that he has received 18 requests from companies interested in doing a study of how the county garage building and grounds could be redone to better meet the needs of the department. The board passed a motion authorizing Bruce Martinson to work with a staff committee to evaluate the proposals that are submitted.
Deputy auditor-treasurer/ bookkeeper
The board approved Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers’ recommendation to hire Angela Cook to fill the vacant deputy auditor treasurer/bookkeeper position. Eight applicants were interviewed out of a pool of 20 applicants. “We had many very good candidates,” Powers said. Cook will also take over Firewise administrative duties.
State shutdown
With the State of Minnesota poised to shut down on July 1 as a way of dealing with its financial shortfalls, the board discussed the potential impact on Cook County government. A state shutdown could interfere with the work of the Highway Department and the Public Health and Human Services Department and directly affect the guardian at litem program and the court administration office.
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