A rise in the price of oil may have contributed to a Cook County Highway Department resurfacing bid coming in $484,952.10 over Highway Engineer Shae Kosmalski’s estimate, according to county engineering technician Bill Parish. He obtained approval from the county board Tuesday, July 28, 2009 to award the bid to Ulland Brothers Inc., the lowest bidder.
This federal project, funded by stimulus money, will grind up and resurface five miles of the Gunflint Trail between Hedstrom Lumber Company and the Trout Lake Road.
In order to bring the project budget down to the engineer’s estimate, a federal bituminous engineer has approved some improvisation on the design plans. The road will remain a nine-ton road, but six inches instead of 10 will be ground up and the oil will be 5½% of the emulsion instead of 10%.
The county board had to award the bid to the lowest bidder in the amount of $3,159,060.30, Parish said, but a change order to bring the cost down to the engineer’s estimate of $2,674,108.20 would be done after the contract was signed. “That should be on paper,” County Commissioner Jan Hall said. Parish said Ulland is aware that the project specifications will be changed.
Before the project begins, Ulland Brothers must return some documents to the county and the county attorney must review them. Until the final contract has been approved, line items in the bid are not public information, so the percentage of the bid that would account for the cost of the oil was not available at this time.
In other news
. Commissioner Bruce Martinson reported that Mary Jane Hedstrom of Senator Tom Bakk’s office researched the median taxable value of Minnesota homes and found that only five of the state’s 87 counties have higher values than Cook County. The median taxable value of homes in Cook County is $218,750. The estimated 2009 median annual income in Cook County is $46,759, while the estimated median income nationally is $54,719, according to a community center feasibility study authorized by the 1% Local Option Sales Tax Committee.
Thestudy also goes on to say that 47.1% of Cook County households have a median income over $50,000, compared with 54.6% nationally.
U.S. Census Bureau statistics show that the median Minnesota household income in 2007 was $55,664, whereas the median Cook County income that same year was $44,159.
. Theboard approved a capital purchase request in the amount of $1,049.50 for a picnic table just outside the skate park on Community Center grounds. Community Center Director Diane Booth said in a separate phone conversation that a lot of kids hang out together at the park and parents often sit and watch their children play there.
. The county board approved an easement to the City of Grand Marais for utility installation and maintenance at the Gunflint Horse Park. Part of the property, located south of the new Gunflint Trail between 4th and 5th avenues west, is owned by the county and part is owned by the city.
The park is a joint effort among Cook County, the City of Grand Marais, the Cook County Community Center, the Cook County Fair, the Sawtooth Mountain Riders Saddle Club, the Minnesota Horse Council, and private citizens. The Minnesota Horse Council recently awarded a grant for the purchase of arena panels.
. For a second year, the county board decided to allocate 85% of its U.S. Forest Service Secure Rural Schools funding for highway department and school programs, 8% for projects in or adjacent to forests, and 7% for other programs that could include wildfire protection plans such as Firewise or search and rescue, firefighting, or other emergency services on federal land.
The funding is a way of compensating the county for land that does not generate property taxes.
. A motion to approve a reduction in the escrow amount that board-approved wildfire sprinkler system installers must set aside failed to pass but is likely to pass sometime in August. The sprinkler committee, overseeing a grant to help homeowners install outdoor wildfire sprinklers, recommended lowering the amount from $20,000 to $10,000. Commissioners Fritz Sobanja and Jan Hall advocated discussing the recommendation with the Firewise Committee out of courtesy before approving the change. One installer, George Carlson, had advocated a reduction in the escrow amount. Commissioner Hall said she thinks it’s better to give the Firewise Committee information first so they wouldn’t think, “Here they go again, making a decision for just one person.”
Commissioner Bob Fenwick, on the other hand, indicated that consulting the Firewise Committee was unnecessary because the committee has no authority to decide such matters. “I respect your position,” he said to Hall, “whether it’s right or wrong!” The board laughed.
With Commissioner Jim Johnson traveling on Public Lands Steering Committee business, the motion was split, with Fenwick and Martinson voting to adopt the recommendation and Hall and Sobanja voting nay. Hall will discuss the recommendation with the Firewise Committee and it will come back to the county board for another vote after that.
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