Weight restrictions on Minnesota’s roads began at 12:01 a.m. Friday, March 18, and giving the county board the heads up three days earlier was Cook County Highway Engineer David Betts. The state had made the announcement just hours earlier, and word spread fast. “At 7:55 this morning, I got a phone call regarding a logging concern,” he said.
While the spring thaw road ban will cause hardship for business and industry, it serves a good purpose, according to Betts. Implementing road restrictions saves about 10 percent of a road’s life, he said.
In other news:
After a potential sale of Clearwater
Lodge fell through for the current owners, another one is in the works. In light of this, the county was asked to lower the amount it would accept to satisfy an outstanding loan it had made to the business.
The amount owed had been $55,000, but because of financial difficulties faced by the lodge, the county had agreed to accept $27,500 when the first potential sale was pending. With a second sale pending, the lodge requested a payback amount of $21,750. The board denied it, however, even though foreclosure proceedings have begun.
“We came down halfway,” said Commissioner Fritz Sobanja.
“That was a big concession,” added Commissioner Bruce Martinson.
• The board passed a motion approving a contract with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) allowing a tower on county land in Lutsen. Approval of the contract had been postponed from a previous meeting in order for Sheriff Mark Falk to be in attendance to answer some questions for the board.
Falk said that while the original agreement in 1991 had been between MnDOT and Lutsen Mountains, he believed that somewhere between then and now the county acquired the property. Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he had been told it had been a land swap.
Two other towers, owned by Verizon and a TV station, stand near this one.
The board approved an agreement to be the fiscal agent for a U.S. Forest Service Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant of $93,825 to combat invasive vegetative species in Cook County.
The grant requires a 20% match that will be shared among numerous agencies involved in the Cook County Invasives Team: Grand Portage National Monument, Cook County Highway Department, Cook County Extension, Superior National Forest, Minnesota Department of Transportation, Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Cook County Soil & Water Conservation District, and Sugarloaf North Shore Stewardship Association.
A coordinator required by the grant will be hired through Sugarloaf to oversee grant activities.
Under the grant agreement, the county and the Forest Service “envision that funds will be used to…ensure [that] management of invasive species will be integrated and incorporate effective and safe control measures.”
The funds must be used by September 30 of this year.
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