Tim Kennedy
At the county board meeting on June 9, 2015 Planning and Zoning Director Tim Nelson came before the board with a request to form a Trails Planning Steering Committee (TPSC).
The committee, said Nelson, would be assembled to act as liaison to the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission (ARDC) representative and to provide recommendations back to commissioners regarding various trail planning project committee memberships and usage of associated grants.
Nelson said the late County Administrator Jay Kieft had initiated contact with Andy Hubley of the ARDC to develop a planning process for a Cook County trails comprehensive plan, which would now fit in very well with the number of plans that can be folded into the overall Cook County Comprehensive Plan.
Hubley has already been hired to facilitate the planning process. However, said Nelson, “We haven’t identified a lead entity or liaison for the county, and as such to get the project moving forward, it is a recommendation that a small steering committee be established to provide further coordination with the ARDC and to recommend the make up of a larger committee structure through which the plan would be developed.”
Commissioner Garry Gamble suggested putting Grand Marais City Councilor Tim Kennedy on the committee because he is the county’s liaison on the Greater Minnesota Parks and Trails committee.
The other commissioners agreed that Kennedy should be a candidate to serve and told Nelson to go ahead with forming the TPSC committee.
When contacted, Kennedy said, “The governor appointed me to the Greater Regional Parks and Trails Commission last week, so I think I will have to step away from my position representing Cook County as its liaison. But I see no reason why, if asked, I couldn’t serve on the county’s Trail Planning Steering Committee.”
Established in 2013 with money from Minnesota’s Legacy program, the Greater Minnesota Parks and Trails Commission was formed to undertake systems planning and provide recommendations to the legislature for grants funded by the parks and trails fund to counties and cities outside the seven-county metropolitan area for parks and trails of regional significance.
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