Requests from telecommunication companies and governmental agencies for space on Cook County towers is increasing, and Sheriff Mark Falk is spending more and more of his time dealing with those requests. On Tuesday, February 9, 2010, Falk asked the county board to authorize communication specialist Duane Ege to take over the task of negotiating contracts on the county’s behalf.
“In recent months the county has received an increase in requests for leasing tower space on our communications towers,” Falk wrote in a February 4 memo to the board. “It is only suspected that this will increase as wireless communication needs continue to increase and evolve. Because of this we have identified a need for someone to be the point person who can negotiate and accurately represent the county in negotiating with outside entities.”
Falk said governmental entities such as the Coast Guard and Border Patrol are requesting tower space as well. He recommended that the county establish some leasing guidelines that could be followed in determining lease rates.
Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he thinks this would be a perfect task for a county administrator if they had one. Commissioner Jan Hall disagreed, saying an administrator would not have “the genius and knowledge” that Ege has. According to Sheriff Falk, Ege has been constructing and maintaining Cook County communication systems for the last 20 years and has professional relationships with private and governmental communication professionals at local, state, and federal levels.
How good are you at negotiating? Commissioner Fritz Sobanja asked Ege. Referring to negotiations he and the sheriff conducted recently, Ege said, “You should have been there at Java Moose!” Ege agreed that the county should establish some guidelines, “and I can stick to them!” he said.
Commissioner Bob Fenwick wanted to make sure the county’s financial interests would be represented adequately when negotiating tower leases. He agreed the job could be time-consuming. “The amount of time our sheriff is spending on things like this,” he said, “is getting to be ridiculous.”
Ege said AT&T and T-Mobile are calling him almost daily with requests for tower space. Verizon is currently leasing tower space from Channel 10 TV for $600 a month.
County Attorney Tim Scannell will draft a contract for Ege and the county and bring it back to the board for approval.
» In other news from recent county board
meetings, commissioners renewed a fiveyear contract with WDIO-TV for its use of a tower on Maple Hill. WDIO is not available locally without cable or satellite TV. It will pay the county $250 a year for lease of the land, although it gets more than that amount per month by sub-leasing to Verizon Wireless. Because of this, the board contemplated whether to renew the contract, which actually covers 2007- 2011.
The commissioners decided to renew the contract since it allows WTIP Radio to broadcast from the tower as well. “That’s a huge benefit to the county,” said County Assessor Mary Black. Between now and the end of the lease, the board plans to consider what would be best for the
county in future lease agreements with the
TV station.
» Soil & Water District Manager Rebecca
Wiinanen will be scaling her job back from full-time to 16 hours a week. The board gave its approval to hire Theresa Oberg as Soil & Water secretary 16 hours a week to pick up some of Wiinanen’s former workload. She was one of nine applicants for the job, a county position to be funded by the Soil & Water Conservation District. Wiinanen told the board that as she has anticipated phasing out part of her job, she has been passing some administrative tasks to Water Plan Coordinator Cindy
Gentz and Conservation Technician
Tristan Beaster.
» The board approved a final plat for the
Rollins Ridge subdivision in Lutsen, owned by Allan and Rosemary Davisson of Cold Spring, Minnesota. The subdivision, just under 40 acres, contains six lots zoned Forest Agricultural Residential.
Two viable septic sites have been identified on each lot, and power line easements for Arrowhead Electric have been
obtained. Any activity requiring a permit
would necessitate a wetland assessment.
» The board discussed its agreement with
the Minnesota Department of Revenue for collection of the 1% local sales and use tax, starting April 1. County Auditor- Treasurer Braidy Powers told the board that the state will notify businesses outside Cook County that are expected to be delivering retail goods into the county. All such businesses are required to collect the
tax, although collecting the tax for orders
made online will not be feasible.
» The board approved a revolving loan fund
request by Jack Stone of Fall River Holding LLC for $200,000. The 20-year loan will have a 7.25% interest rate and a fiveyear balloon. Stone has purchased the Superior Coastal building on Broadway Avenue in downtown Grand Marais and will be expanding and remodeling it. He obtained a $450,000 loan from Grand
Marais State Bank. The building was
recently appraised at $660,000.
» Personnel Director Janet Simonen
reported that the county passed a statistical analysis required by the state every three years that measures whether females are being paid on par with males for jobs in the same classification level. “We’ve been in compliance since 1986,” when the state started requiring comparable worth analyses for government workers, Simonen said. Jobs are compared on the basis of required skill, effort, and responsibility as well as working conditions.
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