On Tuesday, November 9, 2010, the county board authorized the hiring of two employees – one to fill a vacant position and the other to fill a new one.
Filling a recently vacated position at the Recycling Center will be Jim Anderson, who will begin his new job November 22. “We had a good number of applicants,” Planning and Zoning Director Tim Nelson said. “We had good interviews.”
Filling a new Maintenance Worker II position in the Highway Department will be Clark Bloomquist, who was one of four candidates in the applicant pool from the last hiring in April.
“Clark Bloomquist would be an excellent person to have on board the staff,” Commissioner Bruce Martinson said.
“He’s eager to get on board and learn the Highway Department,” Highway Engineer David Betts said.
“He’s a good man,” said Commissioner Fritz Sobanja.
Bloomquist was available to start immediately.
High voter turnout
turnout was 79 percent, the same as the 2006 election turnout, Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers told the county board on Tuesday, November 9, 2010.
Election turnout was higher for the presidential election in 2008, when 86 percent of Cook County’s registered voters cast their votes. Statewide, 78 percent of registered voters turned out that year. Nationwide, that statistic was 64 percent.
One week after this year’s elections, a manual recount of two precincts was done and compared with machine tabulations of the same two precincts to check the accuracy of the machinery.
Cook County will participate in the statewide governor’s race recount that starts November 29. It must be completed by December 7.
PolyMet land exchange proposal
County Assessor Mary Black told the board she had heard back from Wheaton College regarding why its acreage on McFarland should remain tax-exempt. The private college, located in Illinois, still uses the property as a base camp for wilderness expeditions. Black received program brochures and participant journal entries as evidence of its use of the property.
Thequestion of the tax-exempt status of Wheaton’s property came up when it was included in a land exchange proposal between PolyMet Mining Corporation and the U.S. Forest Service. It was included in a list of properties PolyMet might want to purchase and exchange for Forest Service land in its pursuit of a new non-ferrous mining site near Hoyt Lakes.
Black said her office sends out questionnaires every six years to owners of tax-exempt properties. If the land is not being used but is being held instead for investment purposes, it is not taxexempt.
Off-sale liquor license
At a public hearing regarding awarding an off-sale liquor license to Chicago Bay Marketplace, two Hovland residents commended the business and recommended the license as a way to help ensure that the store stays open. The general store is a “community asset,” Mike Raymond said. “I think [the sale of off-sale liquor] would be a great addition to Hovland.”
“We’re all very thankful for that store,” said Commissioner Jan Hall of Hovland. She talked about occasionally running to Chicago Bay Marketplace for last-minute needs when cooking with her family. “It saved us many times,” she said.
Board Secretary Janet Simonen said she had received no comments protesting the license prior to this public hearing. The board approved the license unanimously. “Off-sale” means liquor can be taken off the premises for consumption.
Other than licenses allowed within townships and the City of Grand Marais, only one off-sale liquor license at a time is allowed in each of three areas across the county: the West End, the Gunflint Trail, and the East End.
Clarification on use of 1 percent
Board Chair Fritz Sobanja said he had been asked if the countywide 1 percent sales and use tax implemented this spring after passage of a referendum last November could be used to purchase lighting for the Cook County Historical Society.
By Minnesota statute, the tax must be used for recreational infrastructure or other projects specifically outlined, such as a biomass-powered heating and electrical plant in Grand Marais.
Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he thinks visiting the Historical Society could be considered recreation because it is a “leisurely activity.”
The commissioners discussed whether lighting would be considered infrastructure.
The board did not pursue consideration of including the lighting in its list of projects to be funded with the 1 percent tax. In order to be considered, the Historical Society should have requested this when the referendum language was being created, said Commissioner Jan Hall.
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