The county is advertising for bids for snowplowing the new Hovland subordinate service district (SSD), but a public hearing has been scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 25 to revisit its existence.
At its January 15 meeting, the county board authorized the Highway Department to go out for bids but discussed its desire to be responsive to the objections of property owners in the district who only use their properties in the summertime.
The new SSD, which covers a total of 10.5 miles along portions of Irish Creed Road, Powers Lake Road, Tom Lake Road, Brumbaugh Road, and Wilderness Trail, is the largest SSD in the county. The next largest is Mile-O-Pine, which is only two miles long.
Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers explained that the SSD, which was formed by approval of the county board this last fall after a petition from property owners started the ball rolling, could be dissolved either by a resolution of the county board or by an election generated by a petition from property owners. By statute, he said, the only signatures that could be considered are those from people registered to vote within the area of the SSD.
One thing no one knows yet is how much plowing these roads will cost each property owner. That will depend on the bids that come in and on how much plowing needs to be done.
Commissioner Garry Gamble said the board should take the initiative to discuss the issue further and solicit more feedback from property owners.
Some summertime users had already left the county for the winter when a hearing was held in the fall, although the county board has been open to calls or letters from property owners as well.
Board Secretary Janet Simonen suggested that they consider holding their June 25 board meeting, during which the next hearing will be held, in Hovland.
In other news:
The board approved a grant of
$10,000 from the state of Minnesota for upgrading the 911 system to a system called Next Generation 911. According to a document produced by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and Emergency Communication Networks, the fundamental objective is for emergency networks to be interoperable at the local, regional, and national level.
The document states, “Advancements in modern communications technology have created the need for a more advanced system to request and access emergency assistance. We need to build a new highway to handle the new applications that will be coming down that highway—text, automatic crash notification information, video, medical data, etc. The current 911 system was never intended to receive calls and data from these new and emerging technologies. Through cumbersome adaptations, the current 911 system is being asked to perform functions it was not designed to handle. The nation’s 911 systems are in need of a significant overhaul.” In an effort to keep costs down and avoid having counties pay overnight expenses, the northeast region of the Minnesota Association of County Planning and Zoning Administrators is hosting a land use legal workshop in Carlton County February 8. It is for county commissioners, staff, planning commission and board of adjustment members. The county board approved paying expenses for people in those positions to attend.
The board authorized the budgeted purchase of a new horizontal bailer for the Recycling Center at a price of $55,329, which includes freight, installation, training, and $15,000 as trade-in for the old one. Planning & Zoning Director Tim Nelson said he was “pleasantly surprised” that they were able to come in under budget on a new one. He said he had expected to buy a “high end used one.”
The board authorized the Highway
Department to purchase two new Mack dump trucks with wings, plows, sanders, and underbellies for a total or $461,743.46. Maintenance Director Russ Klegstad said they usually use their dump trucks for 10-11 years. The plow truck they want to replace gets 1 mile per gallon when plowing, but their newer Mack trucks are getting 4-5 miles per gallon when plowing.
The board also authorized the purchase of a 2013 GMC crew cab pickup at a cost of $34,255.72. It will be used by the new Assistant County Engineer Sam Muntean at first but will eventually be passed down to the maintenance crew.
North House Folk School donated
$500 to the Cook County Go Team that is working on developing a countywide strategic economic development plan. Since the county is the fiscal agent for the group, the board accepted the donation on its behalf.
The board approved a grant of
$103,000 from the Iron Range Resource and Rehabilitation Board for costs related to constructing the new Cook County Family YMCA.
Commissioner Sue Hakes said the largest set of bids for the project would be coming in soon. The Community Center Steering Committee will meet on January 25 to discuss the bids. She expected that they would have to make decisions regarding what to cut out of the project in order to stay within the budget.
“We feel like we’re where we should be in the project,” she said.
The 1 percent recreation and infrastructure sales tax funding the project brought in $1,227,120.34 in the 12 months between December 2011 and November 2012, an increase of 6.6 percent over the 12 months between December 2010 and November 2011, during which $1,150,847.87 was brought in..
Commissioners Bruce Martinson and Sue Hakes, Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers, and Assessor Betty Schultz met with Senator Al Franken in Duluth on January 9 to talk about the potential trade of state school trust land in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) for U.S. Forest Service land outside the BWCAW. Officials from Lake and St. Louis counties were there as well.
Commissioner Hakes said it seemed like Franken was trying to “get up to speed” on the issue and not taking a position at this point. She said the traditional funding the county has received for land that has been removed from the tax rolls was not “a given” in this proposed exchange.
In a separate phone interview, Commissioner Hakes said she is working to understand the potential impact this trade would have on Cook County.
Cook County is also working with the U.S. Forest Service on the possibility of trading county land in the BWCAW for Forest Service land outside the BWCAW. One of the next steps in that process will be an appraisal of all the proposed properties.
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