The Sentence-to-Serve program is going to continue full swing despite the fact that the state will now fund only 25% of the cost instead of 50%. On Tuesday, May 18, 2010, the county board voted to approve an amendment to its two-year cost-sharing contract with the state. The county’s share this year will be $56,991, 75% of the program’s cost,... READ MORE >
Tim and Beth Kennedy had a very high water bill last month for a house they rent out in Grand Marais – about $1,800. Thewater meters both inside and outside the house agreed: During the last billing cycle, 120,000 gallons of water had seemingly run out a pipe inside the house and into the city sewer system. Veteran Public Utilities... READ MORE >
In response to a question that arose at a recent county board meeting regarding the health hazards failing septic systems could cause, outgoing Environmental Health Specialist Leroy Halberg gave a little educational presentation to commissioners Tuesday, May 25, 2010. In 1900, the average life expectancy for an American was 49 years. Eighty years later, that had risen to 74 years.... READ MORE >
County Commissioner Fritz Sobanja recently received a call from a constituent regarding a local youth who had lost out on a job at a local restaurant because it had been filled by a foreign worker. Sobanja wondered why a local businessperson would hire a foreign worker over a local kid whose parents would probably be eating at his or her... READ MORE >
David Betts has accepted the position of county engineer/ agricultural inspector and will start work by the end of June. According to Cook County Personnel Director Janet Simonen, Betts has 17 years of “significant” municipal experience. Simonen said he would be given $3,000-4,000 for moving expenses as is typically offered to department heads when they are hired from out of... READ MORE >
The Cook County Board of Commissioners lent its support Tuesday, May 25, 2010 for a grant that would fund a thorough study on the feasibility of using local biomass as a community wide, renewable source of energy. The Cook County Local Energy Project (CCLEP) has been working with Dovetail Partners, the consulting firm that applied for the grant. Dovetail Partners... READ MORE >
Grand Marais resident Eric Larsen is concerned about global warming. That’s why he was at the North Pole on Earth Day, April 22, 2010—feeling very cold— after 51 days and 500 miles pulling a sled up and down pressure ridges and floating it across open stretches of Arctic Ocean with fellow explorers Antony Jinman (“A.J.”) of Plymouth, England and Darcy... READ MORE >
TheCity of Grand Marais continues to move toward earning a clean bill of health for the soil underneath the old power plant in the recreation area. City Administrator Mike Roth and Water Superintendent Tom Nelson recently toured the site with the city’s consultant, Environmental Troubleshooters. “We’ve already made a lot of progress from where we started,” Roth reported to the... READ MORE >
Seventy people gathered at Cook County High School Thursday, May 20, 2010 to discuss the possibility of ISD 166 going to a four-day school week the fall of 2011. Another 30 or so had already met with district officials up the Gunflint Trail, in Hovland, and in the West End between May 10 and 18. Numerous rural districts throughout the... READ MORE >
If you see a Class I ATV driving along the right shoulder of a paved county road (other than the Gunflint Trail north of Devil Track Road), you don’t need to call the police—it’s legal. At a public hearing on Tuesday, May 25, 2010, the county board revisited the ATV ordinance it adopted a year ago. Following a review of... READ MORE >
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