Everyone, I will call the Cook County Board of Commissioner regular meeting to order on this day, Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025. We begin our meeting with the pledge. Please rise. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] Are there any adjustments to the agenda?
>> Hearing none. I'll have a motion to approve. >> I so move. >> Support. >> All in favor? >> I >> I oppose. Same sign. Um at this time, um we do have a public
comment period. Anyone is welcome to come up to the microphone and um have uh five minutes of our time if there's something that you wish to talk about other than what you're already here to talk about. Is there anybody in the audience? I guess not. So I'll turn to
our board if there's some com commissioner that's received comments. >> Madam Chair, >> so this is a comment from Don Davidson at 583 Southshore Drive, Grand Marray, Minnesota 55604.
We are on a fixed income. Your county employees inflated our home value far beyond what any sane person would pay. And yet you use these inflated values to tax us. This is not only unethical, it should be criminal. You don't represent us, you represent a bunch of greedy
county employees. Anyone else? Thank you. Moving on to the uh consent agenda, which is um fairly lengthy, so I'll read it off uh and then ask for any
um questions. Um, the consent agenda consists of claims, the minutes from our past September 9th meeting, the county investment policy revision, approve the hire of Marina Fujiro and the uh, adult
mental case manager, approve the hire of Olivia Bonardo as adult home and communitybased service supervisor. Approve the promotion of Caleb Johnson to maintenance technician. Resignation
of Lily Gruber Schulz. Resignation of Stacy Schmidt. County Parks and Trails membership removal appointment. Would anyone like to pull anything? Commissioner White, >> I would like up at uh
the uh awarding of the uh different back to where I need to be here. If I say this right, the uh approval or awarding of the um roads for the subordinate district >> C
>> winter maintenance. >> Yes. Thank you. >> So you would like C >> just just so the public can know who those uh entities were for what roads. >> Okay. So we have C. Anything else? >> Commissioner Gamble.
>> Yes, Madam Chair. Thank you. I'd like to pull G, H, and I. Here we go. Okay. So, we'll take C and um since Robbie's here, we'll put that where
Robbie is going to speak. And then G, H, and I, we will put that before um or after human resources. Thank you. Anything else? No.
>> If there's nothing else, then I'll move on. Commissioner Sullivan. >> Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion to approve the agenda consent agenda as amended. Removing items C, G, H, and I. >> Support. >> All in favor? >> I
>> oppose. Same sign. So moving on to um our first um presentation aggregate resource mapping program. I'll invite Neva to come forward for an introduction. Good morning commissioners. I just
really briefly wanted to introduce our guests. They traveled up here yesterday. We have Heather Arens with the Minnesota DNR and Dr. Howard Moors with the University of Minnesota. In April 2023, the Cook County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution to request our
county be added to the Minnesota DNR's aggregate resources mapping program, which essentially will produce a map that will show the aggregate potential in different locations throughout our county. This is going to serve as a way as a decision-making tool for aggregate pits as well as an opportunity for our
highway department to be able to uh do appropriate planning measures. And this was also a partnership with our soil and water conservation district. So our three departments work together to secure funding to get our county to kind of bump the line from the other counties that had also requested to be in this program because we know that aggregate
resources are scarce in our region and highly affecting our cost of development. So this is our attempt to try to help give us more information. So without further ado, Heather Ren and Dr. Moors. >> Okay. Good morning and welcome,
>> Madam Chair, members of the board. Thank you for having us. Um, my name is Heather Erenss. I'm the mineral I'm the manager of the mineral potential section of the DNR and supervise the aot resources mapping program. >> Uh, and I'm Howard Morris. I'm a
professor at UMD. um sort of partially retired, retired from teaching two years ago, but I still um uh have active programs like this one um with the state and with other entities also. >> Thank you. >> And so the reason why we're up here is
just to give you um an update and to kind of outline what the project will look like and then just uh some of the timelines and products that you can expect to receive once the once the project is done.
So we are directed by the legislature um to map area resources for local governments and the purpose of this is so that they have data to plan for resources not just a resources but also other resources that can be sometimes
um I I don't want to use the word conflict but can sometimes overlap and where you need to make resource decisions and so our goal is to produce produce really datari uh GIS data sets that are very easily
understood by non-geeologists. And so you can kind of look at what an aggregate map will look like. Um a county administrator or a township administrator can easily put this on their wall and identify where there is
high, medium, low, and limited potential. It also will go through and map all the gravel pits um including their status, if they're active, inactive, reclaimed, how they're reclaimed, whether it's naturally or passively, partially. And so you'll have
a uh very detailed data set which your staff can then use to further um uh manage uh the uh gravel pits within your county. Um, and then we also
provide technical support long after a map is done. I've gone to counties who've had maps done be 20 years ago and and they'll have uh questions about um just general aggregate resources. So we we are will gladly come and and talk to
in public meetings or to the um or with staff to uh discuss uh planning and permitting of area resources. So like I said, this is about making sound land use decisions. Um protection
uh for example for protection of water quality and surface groundwater and evaluate these overlapping uh resources that can sometimes um inform whether you want to open up a gravel pit in an area or not. Uh and
then the purpose of this of behind the statute is that this would eventually get incorporated into land use decisionm so that you know airate resources are non-renewable. They were deposited by glaciers and it will take another
glaciation to re um reupply a resources. So we just want to make sure that future generations have access to these materials. So, as Neva said, uh, Cook County passed a county board resolution in 2023. Um,
this is being sponsored with a grant from the soil and water conservation district as well as the highway um, county highway department. Um, and it's a complicated uh, it's a complicated county uh, geologically. And so it
worked out that Howard retired and we were able to subcontract with him and he was interested. And so as a result um this has become kind of a pet favorite project because of how collaborative this is and how um you know from Cook
County the it's the planning and zoning the highway department soil and water um between uh the DNR and then the University of Minnesota and it's just been wonderful working with your staff. they've been um leading the charge for
this, being very creative and how to get it done quicker and faster. And so that's why we are here today. And just as a quick little background, what is sand and gravel? It is both, you know, uh what we expect. It's, you know, sand and gravel, but it's also uh
mechanically um crushed bedrock. So we use the term aggregate to include both sand and gravel and uh crushed stone resources versus you know really clay rich um uh glacial till which is not a good source of sand and gravel. And so
what we do is we figure out the geological story. What did the glaciers do? What is the role of the bedrock especially in Cook County? and um and and and and map the glacial geology. Uh as you
notice, there's just in Minnesota, there are just natural scarcity areas, and um the Arrowhead is one of them. There's just not a lot of sand and gravel. And so, uh our job is to map outside the sevenount metro area. And um we are
focusing in the arrowhead regions right now and uh in southwestern Minnesota. The the also the important thing about understanding the the the stories of what what the glaciers did is that it informs the quality of the sand and
gravel. So we're able to understand, you know, the transport of materials and what type of bedrock it's picking up and how that might impact the quality of the sand and gravel. And not all sand and gravel is the same. Some produce really strong uh products and
some have delletterious materials. That's what we call it. Uh and so we'll take we'll be looking at that as we're mapping. And the reason is that we all use aggregates uh and the biggest consumer of aggregates is actually uh purchased
by public tax dollars. And that's the underlining reason why the DNR was uh uh directed to do this work. Um in rural areas that that percentage is much higher. It's can be up to 80 to 90% of the air get used is paid for by public
tax dollars. And um it's can be classified as an urban issue where people are just building onto area deposits. But you know if you look at where our largest network of roads is, it's not the highway or interstate highway. It's our
gravel roads and that can be paid for by you know uh townships uh uh money. So the issue is just the high cost of transportation. um the further you transport aggregate, the more it costs. And so it's needed at all levels. It's
it's a state issue. It's a local issue. And um understanding where it's located is is uh key to being able to keep costs down and to plan for the future. So like I said, we want really easy to
read datari information. So we'll produce a printed map um that is uh can explain the whole project. It's a standalone product. Um in that we'll have a gravel pit database. All of our field observations
um uh aggregate potential. There's a database for the aggregate potential. Um and those are all in GIS and uh we'll give that GIS package to county staff but we also put it online. um what's called aggregate mapper and it functions
just like Google maps where people can go in and click then to see how the the data behind all of the maps are. Um and so you know we'll map like what is the landform, what's the overburden, uh what
is how thick the potential sediment might be. Um so that that's that's where uh that information is stored is within those databases. um we were in a little bit of a hiatus for our mapping program, but in 2018 we
received LCCMR funding and um and so that's what restarted the program. Uh so timelines um we're we've already completed pretty much the data compilation. So we use all existing
data that we possibly can get our hands on. Um there's no point in re reinventing the wheel. Um and then field work. We're going through field work. Probably we'll go into a little bit of uh uh uh October. Um digitizing is
ongoing and then hopefully the final product, the contract ends in uh 2027, but we expect that we'll finish early. Um other project objectives will be that we'll reach out to Grand Portage and just see if they're interested in uh
being mapped as well. And then um but the boundary waters will not be mapped. So we will be excluding that from from the map. Um yep. So gravel pit inventory and we'll we connected with your uh highway
um highway department. So we'll get information from them as well. Um we look at logs and well logs to help figure out you know what's underneath the ground. will use like I said existing information like geologic maps
and um this is it oh I'm using this is yours isn't it am I going >> oh no it's yes but it's okay you >> get me going I can't stop >> you know it as well as I >> um
full disclosure I've known Heather for 35 years and uh this all came about we were on a road trip to Springfield Missouri for a meeting uh geological site of America meeting and she was complaining about having to train someone to map
um to to work up here in northeastern Minnesota starting in Cook County and maybe eventually going into Lake County. And she really wasn't looking forward to training someone to do this and I said, "Well, just hire me." And uh so um here
I am. Um, I've been mapping glacial deposits uh for, well, I hate to say it, what, nearly 50 years. Um, I actually started with the DNR back in, uh, 1980. Um, mapping mapping surface ge surfial
geology, glacial deposits, and pete resources. And then, um, my PhD, I went back to graduate school and my doctoral dissertation was looking at glacial land forms and glacial history of central Minnesota. large part of central Minnesota and that's been my research
area ever since. Um so getting into the sand and gravel stuff. Um so Heather, can we go back one? >> Yeah. >> Um so Heather mentioned that we're using all the available data. That's the big that's the big thing. Compiling all the available data. What you see up here is
the Minnesota Well Index located and unlocated wells. Uh most of those wells have a strategraphy that was described by the well driller at the time the well was drilled. Um, and so it'll it'll in particular it'll list um the thickness of the of the of the glacial sediments,
the overburden if you want to call it that above bedrock. Um, and often times the description is depends on the well drillers, but the well drillers descriptions are pretty good. Particularly when they map when they
call out something as sand and or gravel because well drillers are typically looking for water and the sand and gravel is where the water is. Um, or in your case, a lot of the wells are bedrock wells. Um, but still they're actually recharged by the surface glacial sediment seeping into the into
the bedrock. And so well drillers know where you find water. And so they're assessment of what is sand and gravel is usually pretty accurate even though they're not trained geologists. It gets into bedrock and other more obscure types of deposits. Uh, the descriptions
aren't as good, but for our purposes, those are less important. The well driller's information is really important. Bedrock geology maps and quturnary glacial maps that are have already been made uh are extremely important. Uh see someone else's but they're usually for a different purpose. Right. The bedrock maps are mapping
bedrock which of course is a source potentially for crushed stone crust resources even dimension stone. Um and the query glacial maps typically are again for a different purpose. um maybe to support um groundwater surface water
studies and and so forth, but they're all extremely valuable in um in compiling um aggregate resource information. The most valuable information is the underlying map you see uh in the gray up there, which is the LAR uh the the um
high resolution digital elevation models that Minnesota has at a at a resolution of one meter and in many cases less than a meter. Um decades ago we used to rely on aerial photographs. Uh usually aerial photographs flown in winter with leaves
off the leaves off the trees and that was the primary source of highresolution landscape information. Liidar has created a whole new environment for interpreting uh landforms. Um you can see items on the
surface the size of with the high resolution LAR the size of this microphone. something you just unheard of a couple of dec well even a decade ago. Um that is a surficial geology map. That's a glacial geology map. Um on top
um actually take that back. That's bedrock. But um and but here's the lidar. So initial land. So what we do to map the aggregate is we map the initial glacial landforms from the lidar. Um and you can zoom in
and zoom out on that. And like I said, the resolution is is um is great. So you can identify bedrock landforms and glacial land forms. Usually they're easy to tell apart. There are some cases where this much more difficult, but in any case, we'll be going out and doing uh
doing field work and field checking all of these units or as many of them as we can as we can get to. Um here's a LAR a little closer up lidar image of U. Is there a pointer on this? >> There is on the other one.
>> Yeah. >> Um but it's it's it's really not important. We we can the labels are fine. Um so here's an example of the of the um of the LAR. Notice where it says Glacia Lake Duth beaches. Uh you can see those.
They're called strand line. We call them strand lines. You can see where the higher levels of Lake Superior were very prominently because of these wave cut scarps. Um, and then just inland from where it says Glacial Lake Beaches, just before you get to what is that Devil
Track? >> Mhm. >> Um, before you get to between where it says Glacial Lake, Duth Beaches, and the lake, uh, you'll see some kind of linear topography that runs east and west. That's actually one of the very prominent marines of the superior lobe as it advanced its last advance about
10,000 years ago down the Lake Superior basin. It's called the Marquette marine named after some exposures in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Um and so these landforms, they stand out really well, right? And then of course all of them have different sorts of aggregate uh
aggregate potential. Uh here's an area up in the central part of the county. Um I just put this up to to show some of the landforms. If you look at the bottom of the image, you'll see these this sort of um almost north to south sort of south south east to
northnorthwest trending ridges. Uh those are actually drumlands or flutes of the superior lobe as it advanced north in um in the county here. Um, in contrast, you'll see in the northwestern part of that image, the upper left part of that
image, you'll see some oriented landscape going to the southwest. That's actually landscape of the rainy lobe ice that flowed in from from Canada. Uh, and those again are also drumlands. Then there's a whole series of landforms in the middle that look like sort of a modeled broken up structure. U there are
very um interesting subglacial land forms. It's produced subglacially. It's called Rogan Marine, but um and then running diagonally across that whole uh image um is a ridge. You can see it sort
of from the north u from the upper right down to the lower left. Right across the middle, you'll see a linear ridge that runs through there. Um a lot of people would say it looks like an escer. Esskers are glacial landforms that contain they actually are are great
sources of aggregate. Turns out that's not an escer. It's actually an ice marginal land form similar in the way it forms. Um, as ice as the last ice advanced up out of the Lake Superior basin to that position diagonally across that image
because the topography to the north is higher, it ponded up a lake out in front. And so all the sediment coming off the ice was deposited in that ice marginal ridge. And again, so the aggregate potential there is very high. um doesn't mean it's all easy easy to get to. A lot of it has a lot of
boulders and and so forth, but um but that's an area would would be high in potential. So anyway, this is just an example of how the landforms are used and delineated. Um and here's here's a first cut delineation. Go through and define these landforms based upon their
morphology and then go out. You don't have to visit every one. This is the beauty of glacial landform assemblage mapping. Um there are multiple landform there multiple delineations in there that have the same land form. So if you go out and visit a couple of these or as
many as you can u in whatever time we and money we have um you can characterize them and apply that characterization to any occurrence of them. So we don't have to go visit every every inch of the county to map this um accurately.
Um, and so I think I'll turn it back to Heather here. >> Yeah. No, I Yeah, thanks Howard. Um, so like I said, we I went through what our products are. You can expect a map. You can expect GIS data and then um our goal
is to get this out to the public in an easy way. Uh, anyone can request a map from us for free and we'll send it to them. Um, we'll give you a stack. And that really is the the um the meat of what we're going to be
doing. And I just want to circle back that you know your staff have been amazing to work with. And um that connection between uh like water quality uh and and conservation with a mapping
is is is a difficult one. It's not an easy one to piece together, but it actually goes quite hand in hand. And so you need all of this information to be able to make sound resource decisions about, you know, overlapping resources. So it's been a pleasure to work with them.
>> Well, thank you so much. We are a complicated county. That's for sure. And I often think when I go to Thunder Bay, they got all the rich farmland, but we got the beauty >> Yeah. >> of the shore. >> Um, could you just explain a little bit
about why the BWCA is excluded? Madame Chair, members of the board, uh because mining is not allowed within the BWCA and so even if we were to map uh you wouldn't be able to access the sand and gravel within the that the park
boundary. Okay. We're we've been involved in in a um situation uh where we are receiving um resource money for the Boundary Waters and go on and on and on about that, but I just wanted to know why. >> Sure. Yeah, I understand the mineral
part. Yes. And I think the engineers that are here right now particularly enjoy this. The fact that we're always dealing with gravel. We never know where the gravel pits are, where they will be. So, this is really fascinating once we are able to receive that information.
Um, and so we'll receive copies in the future. Okay. Great. Thank you. Any comments or questions? Commissioner White, >> um, you were talking about well drillers. Uh, they all drill core samples, correct? And they send them off
to the state. And do you make use of They send them somewhere and there's a repository of core samples from every well that's been dug at least in this county. Uh that's so madam chair members of the board uh
I I my my group manages the drill core library in Hibbing and uh it's when you do exploratory borings for mineral exploration there's a state law saying that um you need to submit at least a quarter core to the state but that does
not apply to water wells. So the water wells are often the the materials aren't preserved for water well drilling and um but they are for exploratory borings. >> Huh. So maybe our well guy just has his
own library. >> Maybe samples for the last four or five decades. >> Commissioner Gamble. >> Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you uh Heather and Howard. Appreciate it. The
um question I have is uh if you come in and uh we work together to identify all of the uh topography and the likelihood of gravel existing because of school trust lands. School trust lands are
revenue generating and a lot of that can be relative to mining which is gravel mining and things. So I'm assuming when we look at it other than the boundary waters we're just looking at everything which includes our school trust lands to know where that resource exists.
Madame chair, members of board that is correct. We will map uh all the all lands, federal lands, state lands um and that is directed by statute and so um and including school trust lands and uh
that is correct that we uh are have a constitutional amendment a constitutional amendment and duty to manage them in a way that is beneficial and produces revenue for the school trust. And so uh that will be a bonus in
being able to identify those school trust lands that have aggregate potential. >> As a followup um when we had a presentation on school trust lands uh few years back that about 86% of the revenue generated was a result of of
basically the the mining component which included our our our gravel. So it's uh it's it's good to be informed and understand on what that benefit originally was intended for as to
funding purposes and to see that you know potential that exists given the resource that is on that property. So >> that is correct. And we actively the middle potential section actively um uh
uh a not advertise but market school trust lands and we have a very active uh um leasing program and in the last seven years we've been able to triple revenues off of school trust lands as it relates to sand and gravel.
>> Thank you. Mhm. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Thank you so much. >> Look forward to the information so we can study our gravel a little more. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Next uh item number five in land
services. We have a conditional use permit before us. Madame Chair. >> Yes. >> We had said that we would um have our highway department address 3C. >> Oh, yeah.
>> Um yes, I was going to have that at the um right before the um parks and trails. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Good morning, commissioners. At the September 10th planning commission meeting, they reviewed a conditional use
permits submitted by Alex Shower. This is a conditional use permit for a third dwelling on his property along Lake Superior. He has a land use permit issue to build two dwellings right now. And then the third structure is currently for a bunk house. So, this is a conditional use permit to essentially convert the bunk house into what we
would call a dwelling that would have sanitary and kitchen facilities. The planning commission reviewed the request. There were no written or verbal comments at the public hearing portion. And after some discussion, the planning commission felt that this use was
compatible with the zone district, particularly due to the small size and nature of that third dwelling. The property owner plans to do vacation rentals that are licensed use for the two primary the two dwellings. And then this third one is proposed to be for himself or a caretaker on the property.
And the planning commission did propose a few conditions and it was recommended unanimously for approval with the findings and conditions noted in your packet. >> Thank you. Any questions or comments? >> I hear none. So I'll wait for a motion.
>> Measure Sullivan. Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion to approve the resolution for the conditional use permit for a third dwelling at 6558 Highway 61 single family residential. >> Support. >> Any further questions or comments? All
in favor? >> I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes for >> Thank you. >> Okay. So before we have the um parks and um commission report, I'll have the
engineers come and address one of the questions that um Commissioner White asked about for more public information. >> Yeah. Okay. >> I what I would like is just if you could read out who was I mean we know they're
the low bids and just who are who will be taking care of the roads. That's all. Not the prices. It's all online. It's all in front of us, but there are many that are not looking at a screen. And so if we you could just say who's going to be doing Irish Creek Road and who's
going to be that's that's all. >> Yep. And again, all these are uh based on lowest bid. So the award what our recommendation is we award the contracts to the low bidders. Mike Rose Excavating for Evergreen Road, Greg Geckis for Mile of Pine, White Pine Construction for
Voyager Point and Little Ali, uh W Labor LLC for Rose Bush Hill and West Rosebush Lane, and Labota grading for Irish Creek. >> That's it. Thanks. >> Okay, Mr. Sullivan. >> Yes. I'd like to make a motion to award
the contracts to the low biders just listed. >> Support. Any further questions or comments? All in favor? >> I I >> Motion passes unanimously. >> Thank you for the info.
All right. >> So, now we will move on to an updating on the um parks and trails commission. Morning, commissioners. >> Morning. Morning. >> Uh yeah, thanks for having me today. Um
so, as some of you may or may not be aware, um the the uh excuse me, the commission put in the budget for 2025 to have planning for Satuth Bluffs um built into the budget. Uh since then the Cook
County Parks and Trails uh commission has been very busy trying to gauge the interest of the community in you know what amenities they'd like in the park. Um numerous meetings with media, city council, uh commission or excuse me,
committee the whole here with the county. Um and so and then also doubling the amount of meetings we've been having, you know, from 6 to 12 every month. Um so just in the efforts you know given that the the commission commissioners
gave us this um task we were we've been busy trying to accomplish it. Um as you know we've had issues finding administration you know and as well just getting commitment from the city of Grand Marray uh to to engage in a joint powers
process to determine kind of how to steer the park. Um, so in discussions with the city of Grammaray, they uh intimated that they'd like to see
some plans for what the county would like to do with the park. Um in those discussions it was suggested that we engage with the landscape architecture firm to to begin the process of achieving regional designation uh for
the greater Minnesota regional parks and trails commission. Um so in the past couple of months I have engaged with a couple of landscape architecture firms came up with some numbers as to what it might take to
achieve this regional designation um very similar to what the city of Grand Marray went through with their wreck park process. Uh and so in talks with the parks and trails commission, it was identified that we wanted to engage in a more
transparent process about how we were coming up with, you know, an amount to pay an architecture firm to get us across the finish line for this greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails designation. Um,
yeah. So, just coming to you today in efforts to, you know, hopefully be allowed to engage in an RFP process to determine one, what kind of amenities we'd like to have in the park. you know, to to um
you know, begin the process of appointing a joint powers board and engage in an agreement with the city. Uh and and just finalize what the community would like to have in the Sawtooth Bluffs Park. Um and if we are successful
in achieving this regional designation, it would open up both the county and various trails groups to begin planning uh and constructing various pieces of the park. So with that, I'll shut up and let you guys
go ahead Tim. Um just to just to sum it up uh as well um is that this this plan is basically it's it's kind of a twofold thing. Uh yes, the the original Sawtooth uh Bluffs plan is is several years old and the the
parks and trails commission has been struggling to kind of look to see how current it is and should it need to be updated. Uh and also what we had realized what we had intended for the original plan to do is to be able to reach regional designation on it which opens up a lot more grant funding and
everything like that. Uh which is what the city had recently done for their wreck park uh area. Uh our the existing plan doesn't meet that threshold for regional designation. So last year we came to the board uh to get those funds to be able to have it kind of twofold.
like I said, kind of update that plan uh and then get it to a point where it's going to be able to be uh regionally designated. We anticipate uh anticipated then and still anticipate that the city would participate in the cost of that. We don't know exactly what the what the
costs or what the overall costs are. Um so we had plugged in the 30 into the budget just as a as a a benchmark on that. uh with discussion with Brady, there may be some alternate uh type of uh funding capacity available that would not necessarily dip into the the general
funds for that uh that budget area. So, at this point, we're just looking to um actually be able to get the RFP out, which doesn't commit us to anything. it what it does is it solidifies and brings in additional information, brings us more solid information to be able to have those meetings between us and the
city, formulate that joint powers agreement and and board and be able to move forward with more accurate information in terms of how much uh that plan would cost to getting us to that level of regional designation. So, um, we're throwing it out there just for this particular step and we would
obviously in between that time uh work with anybody that needs uh additional information, but this is again non-committal. It's just going out for uh requests for proposals. >> Okay, I'll open it up for questions or comments. Commissioner Gamble.
>> Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Tim and Mitch. Um, first off, I'll say, and I've had conversation with Mitch on this, um, that I I uh I have a a great deal of respect for the position
that you find yourself in, Mitch, in a part-time position in this and um uh having clarity on direction and knowing so that you can be a good steward of the responsibility entrusted to you. So um just recognizing that and prefacing my
comments. Uh and the other component part is the fact that I'm coming on and uh with a lot of this that has been has preceded my position on the board. Uh so I leave room for that for clarity on on
my part as uh if we looked at the u greater Minnesota Rex and Parks the uh master plan requirements. There are so many component parts to this, multiple component parts. If it's something we deal with on a daily basis like Howard did for 50 years in geography, uh it's
it's a little bit easier. But when it comes to us and it's something new on our plate, then we take what we know and we there's so much we don't know. Um in regard to the parks and trails um the component parts that we look at I I see
this issue of um the regional designation is something we have identified because it provides opportunities for financing. Uh the other component part is a joint powers agreement with the city which is foundational to where we go
with this. when you look at development costs, when you look at ongoing maintenance costs, when you look at staffing, when you look at re revenues and distribution, um the other thing is is that the uh this regional designation, as I've
expressed before in the parks and trails uh committee meeting, is that um we can apply for that on our own. we can do that work and in many cases understanding that and going through that process on our own is something that informs us and better positions us
for what we do in in the future in this this whole area. So identifying all these component parts is important. We did a survey. There was a survey monkey survey. Um out of that survey for the local residents, it was identified that
in the comments it came back as do we feel we need this park? Is it something that uh you would avail yourself of? What kind of amenities would you like to see? And um uh 55% of the responses that came back in
that survey monkey survey was uh uh negative comments relative to real genuine concerns. So if you look at local population uh understanding really where our community in that regard is is an important component. So when I look at
when I look at the looking for regional designation, looking at the joint powers, looking at roles and responsibilities, defining what kind of entity will it be and costs related to that public informed decisions as to
where we go with this. I think we have an awful lot of work that we need to do that should preede any expenditure that hasn't that clarity. So my recommendation on top of of of that is
that we have this preserve the bluff uh committee that's been working very hard to try to see what we can do to be able to acquire that 80 acres and um that meeting that is scheduled which I encourage that both groups would get
together to see where our shared values were is coming up September 30th. So what I would say and and recommend is that we would do an outline of steps and how we think those need to be aligned in proper order to be good stewards of
funding and resources and also to give you clarity in your position so that you know what am I supposed to be doing here. Um and uh uh any way we can help you in that regard uh we certainly at least I certainly am willing and I'm I
know the board would be willing to to help us that we can follow a procedure that is best practices. My recommendation would be to table this and um develop that game plan and um address it moving forward.
I know the financial components is a uh sometimes opponent that drives us because we don't want to lose revenues that have been designated, but I think the willingness and the understanding I'd rather see a procedure that follows best practices identifies many of these
things so that if we in fact did hire somebody that we would give them clear direction as to expectation. In other words, um I guess I'd say define these things and uh take the component parts that
need to be answered, especially coming away, I think, from the the September 30th joint meeting with preserve the bluff, which is the 8 acres that is next door. Let's understand as a community how that partnership how this looks
overall so that we aren't independent in our thinking but that we combined those thoughts and the more that that um uh that becomes clear in those discussions I think the more credibility it builds into this process for the
community. So my I would I would make a motion that that we table this for further discussion uh with not an intent to discourage but with an intent to try to answer some questions. So we have a lot of questions. >> So Commissioner Gamble, just for
clarification to um the gentleman here, you're asking for a postponement after September 30th to readress it between the two groups and then come together again. >> Um thank you, Madam Chair. Uh if I were to be specific on this, I would say that
that is one component part. I think the other thing is that if if we have the city saying to us, hey, do this, we'd like to see this, we should know the basis under which we approach this as opposed to having another entity asking us to do something without clarity on
what our financial commitment will be and our expectation. So I think my recommendation would be to table this with the understanding that we would that Mitch working with whomever would put together an outline of what needs to
happen sequentially in order to bring us to the point that we would put this out if in fact that's what we're going to do. We do have the opportunity certainly to pursue this on our own to get that regional designation and I would certainly be willing to help in in that
regard to accomplish what our objective is. So I think we need to identify the component parts and then determine how we're going to do that and um that evaluation then I think would better inform the board in making this decision. So my motion is to table this
request that we put an outline together which would include that meeting the findings of the September 3rd meeting and then bring it before the board with response to those questions >> before we have a second. I'd like your response. >> Go ahead.
>> Okay. Uh, Commissioner Gamble, Madam Chair, uh, commissioners, I I actually with the greatest amount of respect would uh, disagree in the fact that it would be easier for us to do this internally or to be able to have this. We have one half of one position, staff
time and everything. The city uh, had actually just gone through this process for the regional regional designation and they retained a consulting firm to be able to do this. We have sat down with uh the planners in the greater Minnesota parks and trails uh part and there is there's a the expectation that
we would have the staff time and resources available to actually go through uh that process in that list I think is is fairly unrealistic uh especially if you look at in comparison to the uh amount of funds that would be uh potentially expended to that. I think
it would be actually a better uh a better attempt or better um pull for our our our finances and time to be able to pull in a consulting firm. Yeah, these questions do need to be answered uh with regards to the city's involvement in the joint
powers agreement and um you know there's there's a reason why if you for those who may remember back uh 20 30 years ago there was an old ski hill plan and it sat there and sat there and nothing ever happened. Well, we had this plan. It was adopted by the uh the board and we're
just trying to move forward on this and this gives us some of that clarity. It just getting in the RFP. We're not saying at this point in time where we want to commit to that process. We're saying at this time we just want to go out for a request for proposals which will more clearly define what that
process is going to be. That doesn't cost us any money or any time to be able to get that. it does keep that ball kind of rolling and we can answer those questions that you have Commissioner Gamble uh in that same time frame. >> Administrator Treble. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um that was
going to be my recommendation as well is I wonder if we could simultaneously while we issue the RFP also work on that outline um so that when this comes back before the board, we have both sets of information. and we have the outline of um addressing the questions that you
have raised, Commissioner Gamble, as well as the information from the RFP. Um again, there's no cost to issuing the RFP. So, we would my hope would be that we could have everything needed to consider the decision as we move forward
at that time. >> Mr. Gabble, >> I appreciate the response, Tim, and and the input. the um if I'm making a request for a proposal
on something that doesn't have clarity um then I I feel that I'd be going through an exercise that uh would be better if we had the clarity. So, and
maybe I'm misunderstanding just the general nature of this request, but uh there are there are a number of components here that need to be addressed. And um I just think that
you can look at what we have gone through multiple times as a county with the board in evaluating proposals relative to expansion uh law enforcement center. Uh and we we do a lot of due
diligence to make sure we're clear so that our expenditure of time and resources well spent and well defined. And and when I look at this, I just think that there's a number of things that we could bring clarity to and certainly whether internal or external
and best use of time and dollars, those are things that when looked at in the context of clarity, the board evaluates and making an informed decision. So I I agree. I certainly agree with that. >> Travis. >> Um yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I mean,
Commissioner Gamble, um, again, with with all due respect, I mean, I I wanted to clarify that we we don't have any codified visions for the park as it exists. We have some ideas as to what it may include.
However, a lot of what would be done in this process would be to engage stakeholders to to clarify that vision. Um it there is also some time built into you know coming up with some joint powers agreements. you know, it it's
kind of one of those things where we it's it's just an effort to kick it off and then as we go through the motions of, you know, planning this park, those things will be clarified, you know, and so it's it's certain certainly we all
have our ideas within the parks and trails commission about the things it should include. Uh we've done community surveys to identify what people want to have included in the park. Um, however, we haven't we haven't boiled it down to exactly what it will be, you know, and
this process would kind of show intent from from Cook County towards, you know, grammar that, hey, we are engaging in this process. Um, we want to include everybody at the table. um here's what we have done to you know engage with a
landscape architecture firm and as we go through it we will we will clarify what what's going to be done and that's kind of the intent of the process so >> go ahead >> do you started back in 2018 and that and I
remember I was on the school board and the school wasn't we as a member of the school board we were being asked if the the parking lot perhaps and then could be used as a place for people to park to get up to there. I mean, you hadn't
figured out a trail or a access across the trail and then to excuse me have to have permission to or easement across one end of the school property for for accessing
a trail to get there. And it was unanimous. The decision was it's a safety issue for our kids because who's going to be crossing that? I mean it's it's not locals and even if it were locals it's a safety factor there. So
that was then and a lot have changed. Is that the value because this will not do the locals really want to have this place to go to or is it another tourist amenity that we are providing on the back of the taxpayers and that is a
concern. And what about the people that live on that road? What does it do to their um their quality of life to have an increase which if it were a tourist location it would have a lot of cars on
it. So I believe that we need to go back even farther. Is this really something that is what is the value to to developing that bluff? Is it for commercial? Is it for income or is it to improve the quality
of life for locals? And on that I question greatly. So, um I would like to have it and and having an outside a landscape architecture uh firm or to have consultants. We drive
the consultants and tell them what we're going for. And so, what are we going for? Are we going for a place for people to come and walk? And I mean, the details are not that important at this moment, but who are the people that
would do that? And I just suspect that many locals if if that bluff were developed and the tourists uh use it. And I'm not we all know that the numbers the volume of people that come to this county
change change change change our culture in the in summertime especially the quality of life for our little quaint little village that type of thing is impacted and that this is how it is.
However, we have a piece of landscape undeveloped and do we want to develop that? And I do believe agree with Commissioner Gamble. We should look at that area in as one big piece of of of
uh real estate, not so I in in favor of tableabling it to find out to if this is something that the city wants to do too, then this has to be a joint powers thing because we pay for
enough things already. our taxpayers do. And two, why why are back to the question, why are we developing that up there? That's my question. And I'm not sad on that at all, but
do you have an answer as to why we are developing that? And I'll >> Sure. Sure. Um, yeah, thank you, Commissioner White. Um, yeah, there was there's a lot there. I'll attempt to touch on on all of it. I mean firstly
why um and you're using development as kind of a broadsp spectrum term in in the uh survey process. It was made very clear by you know the nearly 400 people of the community who responded to the survey that they would like to see a
light touch. They they don't want to see whole scale development you know. So um in that we have an inter we have interpreted that to mean silent sports hiking trails maybe some biking trails is about the extent of what you would
see you know as you go up the bluff um within the plan as well there were things like uh campgrounds uh disc golf the dog park was a portion of that there was some identified areas for creating
residences is um and so I think it's our motivation from the parks and trails commission to to do this one to just to set it aside for this use this recreational type use um
because if we don't make some decisions on what it can be you know a different commission at some point in the future could decide to do some greater development you know so this is where we're coming from um I think there were
some other things I wanted to touch on uh but you know and then additionally as you're aware um to address you know from the survey it was also identified that this is just going to be another amenity for tourism
um while I I I can understand that viewpoint um it's been my motivation to try to address that specifically by engaging with active living steering committee. Uh Jen's Jacobson with uh community education.
Um I have some intent to reach out to other you know local or organizations whether that's um higher ed uh you know various members who engage in art and all those great things that make our community wonderful. Um, and so just to
just to speak to that is I I am bringing those groups to the table and I'm specifically engaging with them to identify how can we assist what you need? How can we build upon this so that it engages all members of the community and not just tourists. Um,
and then as well to speak to the counterpoint of that, I mean, tourism is it's it's what we have made our bread and butter in Cook County. And I feel like if we create opportunities for folks to engage recreationally just right outside of town, it's going to
deal with issues like congestion and events and things like that that create, you know, conflict between locals and tourists. And so that's where I'm coming from with it. On top of that, this has just been the responsibility that's been
given to me. And being that the board set aside this budget item at the beginning of 2025, I've been doing my darnest to try to figure out a way to get it done in spite of all the, you know, roadblocks that have been in the way. So, >> so we have a motion on the table to
postpone it. We have a second. >> I'll second it. Any further questions or comments? Mr. Sullivan. Madam Chair, I just recall in the past when we looked at survey results and we looked at the
importance of recreational use that we did talk about low impact and Mitch mentioned hiking and biking which are local interests and I actually see that um you know that low impact use ties in a lot with what preserve the bluff is
about and so I like the idea of interacting with that group. I think that's really important to do. But I do think um moving forward with the request for proposals is a a very wise thing to do at this point. It gives us an opportunity to get information and take
a look at the survey information that we already have and make some good decisions moving forward. >> Commissioner Gamble. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. the one survey we've done that we've got 55% of the people that
are locals saying no. In other words, when you look at the when you look at the comments that are made, which I read last night again that there there's genuine concerns that are in conflict with what is being proposed. Here's the thing is that if we have
just the one survey, we haven't done any town halls. we haven't had that I'm aware of is that uh answering the question relative to who are we serving here and what do we value
having encouraged that preserve the bluff that the people that want to preserve the bluff get together and do something after making the motion that we the intent is to purchase but the people that want to preserve the bluff
need to take the lead and do is they have done that with diligence. This is why the meeting was encouraged on the 30th so that we can see where we're together because my encouragement to the pres preserve the bluff committee is you cannot have a marketing slogan that says
preserve the bluff when that's and your intention and your values might be in conflict with another entity that wants to develop a park and you can say soft but if you look at the things that are on there and the component parts that needs to be clarified there needs needs
to be clarity and that's why the discussion should happen and I think that discussion not only with that entity that has an intent to preserve the bluff and you say what are they looking for they say we need to preserve the bluff cuz we don't want to affect
the the the the water system that goes down to Lake Superior we don't want light pollution we don't want you know we want to leave that as it is so I'm just saying Let's these two groups figure out what you have in common in
your values. Let the community inform this and then drive that direction. If we as a board without all of those elements answered move forward with a resolution, it looks like many things that we do in the county where we move
forward with our agenda independent of that local voice and independent of understanding one another's values in another area. All I'm saying is let's table it and bring some of those items into play that help us to further
clarify so that we say to the community we do this through a process that those voices are heard, they define. We worked with interested groups because it's an expenditure of money. We've seen it before where we have money that comes up
front. somebody gives us money to do something and we haven't even defined what it's going to cost us to maintain how the distribution of revenues there's so many component parts. I said before we started this conversation, I empathize with your position, but I want
to be sure that we build integrity and process in this. And I think it doesn't do any harm at all to say, let's table this, answer some of these questions that say to the community, we're going to do this and let community informed and other organizations that have a
vested interest. The 30th is going to be that discussion. We've had this discussion many times in public and preserve the bluff that we need to understand where we're at on this because if we're going to have a message, be sure our message is
consistent. Otherwise, what we should say is preserve 80 acres because we don't control we don't have a shared value as to how we're going to approach the rest of that bluff. So, those are all things I we we haven't answered that. We've we've created an opportunity
for that discussion coming up the 30th. >> Good. >> This is not a you you're just the messenger. Okay. So, >> um town, you said town halls. I think we need to take it out to people that don't
>> sit down and watch us at some some convenient point in their life or they're not listening in now or they're not here. um take it out to our take it and speaking to the uh lake associations
talking to all those people will they come and use this where the people I mean is this what we want to see as a community what is the value for the people that actually have a vested interest in this in this county and so
uh 1.2 2 million tourists. I think they bring in a lot of money. Look at the just look at the numbers. I don't think that we're faltering any for that. Uh with that income, there's a point where we can't the infrastructure, the roads, the amount of time, even the amount of
time that that people do the paperwork on for something because it's an additional burden to have to fix something after or to pick up more garbage, whatever it might be. And I'm not I'm not I mean I understand the
importance of tourism in this county. This is what the county decided would be our primary source of income. I understand that. But we have to have things in balance. And I very much would like to know what the values are of now
in this this time. And so >> this isn't this isn't personal. You were tasked to do this. And these are conversations that need to be had throughout the entire county, west end, east end, up the trail. They everyone
needs to have input into this. And if indeed another park trails to walk in uh is is uh wanted, the the public has spoken and then we go forward. But they need to have some details. Um Commissioner Gamble is
right. I hadn't thought of this. What does it talk? Who's going to take care of the upkeep as time goes along? Who's going to pick up the litter? Who's going to I hadn't thought of those, but that happens because if you walk on our road,
there's we get lots of garbage in the ditches and that's just our little road. So, I'm, you know, that's >> Jim. >> Yeah. Thank you, Commissioner White, Madam Chair, Commissioner Gamble, and the rest of the commissioners. guys, you're going to you're going to decide
what it is that you want to do and that's that's going to be fine. I mean, we we are uh merely tasked with just uh fulfilling what it is that the direction that we get from you guys. I do want to make the distinction and Commissioner Gamble, you you did make that clarification and this also should be really clarified that we are talking
about two different things that save the bluff is strictly for the 80 acres that is private property right now to prevent it from being developed. that is only peripheral mentioned in our plan in the sawtooth plan as something that could potentially build u be able to uh host
maybe hiking trails or something but to keep it low impact and that's the whole discussion on here is keeping things very low impact on there. Another thing to uh uh kind of clarify is the fact that this plan is intended to go ahead
and gather up that information and we will know during through the the process of this plan and the RFP coming back is uh to the extent that the city would be involved. I mean all these questions would be answered during that planning process. Um and then even if that plan
is adopted uh the plan is adopted primarily to be able to hit regional designation that does not even mean that those things are laid out in there are even going to happen. What that means is that there there is this plan is the potential and we see the things up there
and it allows for um user groups to be able to um um put put in for grants to be able to make it happen. Good example is the dog park. The dog park was mentioned in the plan and the dog park we were able to kind of circumvent, I
don't want to say circumvent the system, but it was very well publicly processed and gotten through because the logistics and everything like that are easy for it to go through. So that was actually part of the plan and I think a very welcomed part of the plan and I think locals and tourism here and I don't think it is and Sawtooth Plus was ever intended to be
this competition or contention between tourism and and locals. it was uh just to be a another area set aside that would prevent development development of it. So there would be housing development on there would be low impact
kind of stuff. Um and that is the intent of it and this just the the plan sets the plan and and anything that would happen subsequent to a plan. So we would put up for an RFP get that back we would be able to gather up that information before we'd even go ahead with the plan. So we're not spending any money right
now at all. So, we would come back to the board with an RFP with further information on that and decide whether or not to go with that process. That planning process would answer the rest of all of these questions that we're talking about right now. And then we would decide to either adopt the plan or not adopt the plan. And then if it is
adopted, that doesn't even make things happen. We would have to come back to the board for each individual request to say, is this something that we want to see? and be able to have the same discussion 12 years later from now, however long that takes for it to get there.
>> Yep. and >> Travis >> two. Yeah. I I I just want to clarify to that um when when one does engage in regional designation process with Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and
Trails Commission. Part of that process you have to identify what components you want to have. Uh how are you serving underserved commun you know communities? uh what is the economic considerations pertaining to parks and trails in your
area? How are you going to operate and maintain this? You know, so as Tim is saying, like we will identify all of these things. Um, however, like between myself trying to engage in town halls, to engage in all of these different
things and really spread myself too thin as a halftime position to do this, we're employing somebody to do it for us. Uh, we have set this budget item, you know, in the 2025 budget. Additionally, we have other funds within potential PIL
monies that Brady and Tim have identified. And so it's it's you know I just want to clarify that yes we don't know everything. Um however this process is created to engage everyone in the
conversation not just one interest group. Uh to to bring all of them to the table whether that's from the city from county user groups stakeholders all of those people will be brought to the table in the process. And then at the end of it, hopefully we have a very
clear idea of what it's going to be. And then if we achieve regional designation through Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission, it opens us up to legacy dollars to then create all of those components. Um, and so it it's
it's kind of the most streamlined process that we have identified. You know, it's I'm here at the recommendation of the Parks and Trails Commission because of this. It's it's something we have dedicated ourselves to since this item was put in the budget. So pass.
>> I'm ready to call a vote. But before that, are there any other comments or commission? >> Just administer trouble. >> Thank you. Uh Madame Chair, just one comment and that is um because there isn't alignment on how to
proceed with this item. I wonder if an approach could be to um bring this to a committee of the whole following the meeting on September 30th so that collectively we can talk about what are um what are those items that we need more
clarity on before we can move forward. So I just wanted to put that out for consideration as well. Thank you. >> Commissioner Gamble, do you wish to amend your >> Well, I mean I'm just saying table it. And I think that's that's the correct
approach. We're just saying we need to have more information. we need to have more direct and and uh just in the interest of time I I won't go into into more discussion which the board will appreciate but uh uh I would my amendment is that we table it and uh
that we wait until after the September 30th meeting which is one component that I think is an important component and it demonstrates to the community that we're willing to listen and then we would schedule it for committee of the whole for discussion >> and and I would certainly be willing to
to bring uh to that meeting an outline of expectation. >> Okay, move. >> We have a motion and a second. Commissioner Sullivan, did you have a comment? >> So, I just have a question. Are you amending your motion to include the committee of the whole following the
September 30th meeting? >> Sure. >> All right. >> Okay. So we have a motion to postpone and bring it to the committee the whole first part of October.
Is that correct? All in favor of that committee. >> I >> I >> I motion passes for now. >> Thank you commissioner chair. I I just may say u thank you Tim and Mitch and uh
thank you commissioners. I I think it's important to and I appreciate the the opportunity to have the discussion and certainly anybody that's listening if you want to weigh in you're welcome to weigh in and but I appreciate the discussion. Thank you.
>> So um Commissioner Gamble, you're on that um committee that's meeting on the 29th. Commissioner Sullivan, are you 30th? >> 30th. Yeah. >> Okay. Then we'll wait for a report from that committee to work with this committee and bring it all together at the committee level.
>> Yeah. Okay, we got that figured out. Thank you. Moving on, we're going to talk about the Devilfish utilities easement. If you want to come forward to the table with the microphone, please. >> Good morning.
>> Hi. How are you? I'm John Hobday. >> Okay. Jean, do you want to lead this off or what what would you how how can I help the board understand what's going on? Sure. >> Yes. May I? >> Um, thank you. Assessor Thompson is not available today and I don't have the
factual background. So, Mr. Had offered that he could be available today if there are questions. But basically, this is a recommendation for a resolution to authorize um Brady Powers to grant an easement benefiting Arrowhead Electric
across a portion of um non-conservation tax forfeit county managed land for the state. Okay. So, it seems like it's going to um be a
positive thing to, you know, work with um fiber optic and with um utilities and all of that. So, >> correct. It would be for um underground fiber optic or overhead utilities as well. >> And what area of the county is this
again? >> This is Hovland. >> In Hovindland. >> Yep. In Hovland. It's near Esther Lake and the Devil Fish Tower. So, the Devil Fish Tower was put in about 10 years ago and ended up being uh located about 100 ft from my property line and I've held
off on bringing power and fiber in for 10 years, but as I'm getting older, it seems like a good thing on a number of fronts. Had a milestone birthday this this uh winter. So um I met with Arrowhead and um there were two routes.
One followed the road into my property which crossed both state and county property. The other one across 29 acres between the tower and um my cabin that I own. So he said this is perfect. No
county uh this is Arrowhead representative. No county approval necessary. It's private land. Go ahead and have it clued. Um, I cleared a 12T path and uh, unbeknownst to me, uh, it
crossed just a corner of the tower property on the tax forfeit property that that Jean just mentioned. So, um, yeah, Mitch, uh, Mitch called me with the cease and desist and went out to the property, but called back within 5 minutes. I I, you know, it was not I
kind of did what was recommended to me. So, um, the motion on the table is to grant, as I understand it, um, this easement on county property, which I'm saying it's 100 ft. It may be 200 ft. From, uh, from the tower and the parking
lot for the tower, it's up the hill. Uh, you know, from here to the GIS office, it's it's a small amount of land. After that, it goes on to private property in my 289 acres and would then um you know go underground all the way and the total
um another um benefit if you will for arrowhead is that um the distance at through that um private property is 1500 ft and one roll of coil of cable is 1,600 ft apparently. So that was that
was a nice thing for Arrowhead as well as opposed to up to uh up and back down which would be to an extra box and some slicing and all the rest. So that's the uh that is the um that's kind of wonder what happened.
>> Commission. >> Well, I make a motion to approve the grant of easement for utilities for Arrowhead Electric and the fiber optic to delay it. No. Arrowhead. >> Arrowhead. Yes.
>> Support. >> Mhm. Any further questions or comments? All in favor? >> I >> I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimous. >> Thank you, Madam Chair and chair people. >> Thank you for sitting through. >> Oh, no. Super interesting. I almost
clapped after the geology portion. That's really great. >> Well, we'll encourage you to participate as long as you're getting older. project will retire. >> Okay, I'm moving on to item number
seven, human resources. We um we did have a presentation of the Minnesota paid family medical leave at the committee of the whole and so now um Allison's going to bring it before the board. Madam Chair, can I request a slight change just to preserve Brook's
continued time here? Um, could we go up to the one consent agenda item um in regards to the promotion of Caleb um because I brought Brooke in just in case there were questions that he would be able to respond to.
>> Okay. So then we um would be looking at um item G. >> Correct. >> Administrator Treble. Thank you um Madame Chair. So this is uh to approve the promotion of Caleb Johnson. I know that um with this
promotion, we did open this up internally um to make sure that we had a fair process and and um had some internal applicants that were then vetted and offered the position um uh to Caleb Johnson. So I will turn it over to
Allison and to Brooke to add any additional detail. Yeah, I can just give a little kind of history on how the year went with my FTEES down in custodial and maintenance. Uh, we started out the year with a vacant 140 FTE
that was approved before I started here um and was vacant. Um, we were going to fill that position and then we had the David had the injury and the pending retirement. So, we decided not to fill that position to save my budget
basically um to cover an added employee of David being on on disability and recovery and and then his impending retirement. So currently I have three FTEEs for custodial and three FTEES for
maintenance and we're just moving Caleb into that day position which has more responsibilities than the custodial 110. So we'll move him up to a 140 and David's retirement will happen later this year and then I have another
retirement happening in the spring for another maintenance tech. So, we will be basically just sitting full with my current positions until the end of the year and then next year we'll kind of re-evaluate when I have the 1
and 3/4 position open in the spring. >> Okay. Commissioner White and FTE for the listening public full-time employee fulltime equivalent. >> That's all. Yeah. Commissioner Gamble.
>> Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for that background information. >> Um, the reason that I had requested to to pull it for discussion is I wanted to understand that and I apologize for the fact that I didn't have that that history. Um but looking at the budget,
um I just wanted to understand we've gone through where we've had some vacant positions and therefore monies haven't been spent and and now we have them and we have that pool of money. So it's a matter two things. One is items that
appear on the consent agenda that have to do with new positions I think should be discussed. If they've been discussed then that perspective is in place. Otherwise, I would recommend we not put items on the consent agenda that are new positions. Um, so the question that
follows is looking at how it's affected the budget for 2025, which you explain. I appreciate it. It's going to 2026. how we see the difference between the 2025 and dollars allocated for your
department and 2026 dollars allocated with this new defined position. >> Well, in 2026, we'll start off um David's retirement will happen this year in 2025. So I will start off 2026 with
one vacant position in custodial and then early 2026 I will have another retirement which I believe is a half or 3/4 position or >> he's half he's half FTE. So then I'll I'll have a another retirement of a half
FTE in 2026. And once that half FTE retires, we're exact date we're not sure of, then we'll kind of re-evaluate how we're going to backfill that one and a half possibly with just a one is kind of what I'm thinking at this time. And
yeah, so I mean budgetary wise we'll be sitting just fine. >> All right. And that and that's basically my question looking at this is just trying to understand how will that affect our budget >> and how are you thinking so that you have you know what you need to be able
to do what you're doing. So >> yeah, we'll be in good shape. We'll we'll be a little short staffed >> in the uh early 2026, >> but I got a good group of guys, so we'll be able >> I appreciate the discussion. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Brooke. >> Okay, good. Thanks for >> All right, >> Madam Chair. >> Yeah, >> I'd like to make a motion to approve the promotion of Caleb Johnson to maintenance technician one. >> Support. >> All in favor?
>> I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. >> Thank you. Thank you, Brooke. >> All right, back to paid family medical leave. All right. So, uh, last week I came before
the committee of the whole to present information to you on Minnesota's program for the paid family medical leave that will be effective beginning January 1st of 2026. This is a mandated requirement uh for for really all employers in the state of Minnesota. Um,
so we're just kind of working on navigating those complexities, what's required. And in one of the kind of um decisions that is required which I touched base on last week is there are
basically two paths forward with our administration of paid family medical leave. We can either use the state, we can opt in and and use the state system that they're creating and going to be implementing or employers can go through
a like a third party, a private administrator, an insurance carrier um that already has like a pre-approved or what they call an equivalent program. So, I laid out the information that we had gathered, myself working with Integrity Benefits, who is our um
ancillary benefit provider um along with the uh support with the benefits and wellness committee. And we had determined weighing out kind of the pros and cons um that it would be beneficial for our organization to utilize an insurance carrier with an equivalent plan for the private administration of
paid family medical leave. Um and through the RFP process, we have narrowed down um that we would like to utilize MetLife for that benefit and that program. >> Um I do want to add um so I provided
some facts last week and some numbers of like where we were seeing other counties going. I did have a paid family medical leave webinar last week at the end of last week and they provided information that at this point 55 counties are going the private
administrative route. So I think that also speaks a lot to the path that we have chosen. So today I'm just requesting formal approval of that path to continue with uh proceeding with the private administration using Metife for the paid
family medical leave benefit effective January 1st of 2026. >> Any comments? Commissioner Sullivan? >> Yes. Uh, Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion to request the approval of Metife for a private administration of
Minnesota Paid Family Medical Leave. >> I'll support that. >> Any further comments or questions? Commissioner Gamble? >> Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I think it's important for the public to understand that this is a a mandated requirement which you stated and it's in
the agenda here but this is something that the state of Minnesota has mandated and u the basis under how it gets paid is also defined in that um we have yet to make that determination. I appreciated the discussion in the committee as a whole and the work that
you put into doing that comparison analysis and we concluded that based upon that understanding that uh given Mets's reputation experience in this area and service level and lower cost that this is a good
decision and that's reaffirmed by the webinar that you just participated in that 55 of our 87 counties are doing this. So, um I appreciate the effort that informed the board on this decision. Thank you. >> Yeah, you're very welcome.
>> Any other comments or questions? So, we have a motion on the floor and a second. All in favor? >> I >> oppose. Same sign. Motion passes. Thank you for all your work. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> You're welcome. >> So, now are we going to talk about items
H and I? I believe I'm going to wait until we have the administrator updates. Okay. Okay. So, we'll move on to item >> Madam Chair, excuse me, while Allison is here because I'd request to have those
pulled. Okay. That my question would be best answered while she's here. >> We will turn this over to um Minister to Travel. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. So for item H, um the resignation of of Lily Gruber Schultz. Um this is a resignation that
we were anticipating for some time. Um due to personal reasons, she has decided to resign in her position. Um are there any questions on on item H? >> Mr. G, >> Madam Chair, thank you. Yeah. And my
reason for pulling these two was when we see the resignation again it's on the consent agenda which means we aren't having discussion unless we pull it from the consent agenda is um it just for the board to be informed and understand uh when it comes to resignations if if exit
interviews are are performed which informs us so we know you know whether it's a healthy context or an unhealthy context and u given some of the issues we've had of That is that's why it's helpful. You mentioned in your over you know your
statement on it that for you know personal health reasons or whatever. >> Not personal health reasons just for personal reasons. Commissioner. >> Okay. All right. Okay. But uh again the the intent then is just to understand the context and why employees leave.
That's that's why I'm raising this issue. So if exit interviews are are conducted then we're gathering that information it's another discussion how that information is disseminated to the board so the board has awareness >> right yes Jean >> thank you madam chair so um I will just
interject here that even when the exit interviews are conducted that becomes part of the personnel data and part of their file so that the employee would have to release that data specifically to the board in order for that to be um disseminated publicly. It's something
that can be used by HR moving forward, but it's not something that can be publicly available. >> Continue. >> Continue. >> Thank you. Um so, uh understanding fundamentally why
exonerated reviews are conducted is to help an organization understand is there something we can do to retain employees? And so how how we can do that in the context of you know the structure of the
of employee and confidentiality and everything else it's just making sure that we number one conduct them and number two have a method of allowing it to inform us so that we can be better stewards of the employee force. So
>> administer >> thank you madam chair. So we are commissioner we are conducting exit interviews. We offer them to all employees upon resignation um and when they leave their positions that information um is being reviewed by HR.
Um I have on occasion requested that information as well. And so we will continue to work on ways that we can leverage the information that we receive to make sure that we are making decisions that are in the best interest of the the county as we move forward. >> All right. Thank you. I appreciate the
discussion. And with that, I would >> make a motion to approve items H and I >> support. Any further questions? Okay. >> Any further questions or comments? All in favor? >> I post sign. Motion passes unanimously.
Thank you. >> Thank you. I think too in the future we have to really understand that there are reasons for people move on and they are personal and private and there's sometimes that we we understand that but we do want to
say to the public that people are being hired and people are moving on. So that's about as many details as we really would need. So thank you um attorney Peterson and administrator trouble for working in that area.
Okay. Does anybody need a break? Would you like to move on? I guess we'll move on. If you need a break, just get up and take your break. Moving on to item number eight. Um, Auditor Powers. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. So, the first
item is to approve uh unorganized fire district levies. Uh, all of our levies have to be approved before September 30th. We report all of them to the state. Some of them we approve. We're also getting other levies for the city,
for the towns, etc. that um you don't approve, but we we still have to submit them. So, here you've got the Gunflint Trail, Kovville, Hovlin, Maple Hill. Um Maple Hill is not in here specifically.
They first uh sent their full budget and then they made some changes. they talked about it, but uh so I've got the changes in that summary form, but I just don't have their full budget again. So that's not that's the only reason it's not attached. You'll see that later.
But uh these uh need need to be approved for the state. So um ask for your approval those levies. Those are as we understand fire levies are very uh are specific to the fire districts. So these levies are
set just for those particular areas. >> Questions or comments? Commissioner Gamble. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Brady, you mentioned that you know the state requires that they're approved. What's the timeline on that? >> September 30th.
>> Okay. Um the one thing I would say is um unless I missed something along the way is that these are coming into us. So that this is the first we've seen it. Um
and uh so when we're looking at our our budget processes um and we have submittals in our packet here as you mentioned we don't have three of of the six you know budgets to be able to actually
look at it >> three. >> Yeah. In other words, when I look at at uh the 26 proposed unorganized fire levies, included in our packet were Hovland and um
>> Kovville and and Gunflint Trail. >> Yeah. >> But we don't have the other three which is Luden, Mabel Hill, and Grandary Extension. >> I'm sorry. >> That's that's what I'm saying. >> Okay. So, Luden is a has a specific
formula. It's just a percentage based upon um market values relative uh to the fire district, the extended fire district and to the city. And so that one is is is strictly a formula.
Um, and with the city extension, that one is a a very complicated formula created uh back in the 80s, I think, uh, where they look at fire calls, they look at expenses, and they look at a number
of things. So, I typically don't get uh Mike Roth's numbers for that until probably close to that limiting date, but that's under a joint powers agreement with the city. So, um anyway,
uh it's typical that the small fire departments, we ask for them early. It's typical that they don't get them to us early because they're volunteer organizations. and it's when they meet and make their
final decisions and get their budgets together. We've given them a lot of leeway over the years. So, this is not unusual at all. It may not be uh ideal, but it's nothing unusual. Madam Chair, um so looking at this then
we have uh Kovville at a 9% increase. We have Gunflint Trail at a 2.81% increase. We have the Luden at 8.6 7 and we have Mabel Hill at 11.94% increase. Um kudos to Hovland for
holding it uh at no increase over last years. But I guess my point is is that when we looked at our budget process and being informed and having discussions and understanding all of this, uh I I
think it's I think it would be good that um those that um are in leadership positions with these, you know, fire departments, which certainly are critical and important entities for our county. But I think it'd be good to have
discussions to understand so that we are all included in this when we come to you know working our budget. If you look at the library as I understand it we the library has a parameter in which they can it doesn't have to come before us if
it's just if it's held within 5%. So we basically have a policy that allows a 5% increase in library budget annually and there doesn't have to be any discussion to understand that and I'm just saying I think it's good when
we have discussions and so that policies don't define moving forward just like we have entities that like to become line items as opposed to having to negotiate for contributions. I think the discipline and the integrity of process is important. And and this doesn't end
discussion. This is a preliminary budget. >> Yeah. >> So you have until December to to discuss and make the changes. >> Well, and and if that's you know that's understood. >> If it's just saying we have September 30th to report to the state and say
approve these, then it gives the appearance that this is it. It's set aside. We >> Well, it's Yeah. Everything on September 30th are proposed budgets. This is ours is a, you know, a levy that we set high because we expect to make cuts going
into December. So, these are proposed uh budgets by the fire departments and we have uh the next couple of months to look at them. Uh we could, you know, we could make that very clear to them. We want these in, you know, a couple of months early so that we can look at
them. And we've tried that in the past and then we've uh uh they've had issues and we uh we've done them all together. You might get some of them early and others not depending on their >> as as volunteer. Yeah, they seem to have
uh >> if if we um if we said that you know there was a a cap on the amount of money that on the budget that we wanted to put towards that in this case fire departments and like airports and other
entities when there's monies some years airports don't need it and other years they do need it and so airports as a collective understanding that sometimes well you take this dollar same way with the hybrid department when we get look at
allocated dollars they could say this year I don't have a project so you can take the money that we normally would get so that partnership is sort of aware of it and I think that's why the discussion says well over last year they didn't but this year now they do well we don't loos we don't need what we need
and so that discussion is just mindful that as a county a community we have that opportunity through discussion to manage budget with that awareness. So, appreciate the conversation. >> Sure. >> With that, >> if you look at the if you look at the
history and I could provide you a history, you'll you'll see a lot of these budgets uh they just remain the same for year after year after year and then an expense arises and you'll see a percentage increase like these and then they'll they'll sit idly for five years
on the same levy. So, overall their percentages they look high this year. >> Yeah. But you wouldn't see that over a long term. So >> yeah, >> that's the other thing I I appreciate when we have context perspective because we see the pattern as opposed and trends and different things in that regard. So
with that, Madam Chair, I'd make a motion to u uh approve the proposed unorganized territory fire levies for 2026. >> Support. Have a motion and a second. Any further comments or questions? >> All in favor? I
>> I both same sign. Motion passes unanimously. >> Madame chair, the next two levies to approve are the EDA and the HA. And I see uh the chair and vice chair of
the EDA are here in I'll preface this in in both of these proposed levies, EDA and H. They're both looking at a slight cut from last year
in the 1 percentile range. And uh I'll leave this to uh Howard and Peter to make some comments and you can address your questions to them. >> Great. Thanks Brady. Good morning everybody. >> Yes. As Brady mentioned the the budget
for 2026 is uh down versus 2025. of our approach was to take a a zero basis on the budget and build it up based on what we needed. Uh so down about $7,000 versus uh the current year
driven largely by a reduction in rent uh and legal expenses, supplies, and it importantly protecting the small business development grant fund which represents about 39% of our total
budget. Interestingly, uh, in 2025, a lot of demand for for small business grants. In fact, we had to freeze the program in August, uh, determine what the our actual balance was and issue one final grant,
uh, and the money is now depleted. So, this is somewhat of a new circumstance versus versus previous years in which we've taken all 12 months to to expend those funds. So by virtue of a an awareness campaign that we ran in 2025
which increased both awareness and interest in the grant program uh and word of mouth um protecting that grant program for 2026 was was paramount for us. Uh but other expenses we took a pencil too where necessary.
>> Questions or comments? Commissioner Gamble. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. So, um I have a question. Under the line item business development fund, uh what was that fund in 2024? >> $200,000.
>> Okay. And where did where did those funds originate from? >> Our levy >> uh >> as part of our >> Okay. So, and I just what I'm um wanting to understand is that if there were
monies that came available to us uh in this case, you know, as a result of COVID with the car's act, if those monies came in and funded this and so um when we had the if we if that funding
source was through a special grant, the car's act, and then we now want to continue do that on but we don't have that funding source. That's why I'm asking that question. That's why it went back to 2024. >> Well, I think the money we got quite a
bit of money through for co and I think it most mostly came through the Northland Foundation where the EDA this is a few years ago. We uh we set up a program to uh uh get requests and then help out uh quite a few people during
the um co time to you know kind of bridge the gap, get them through. And the program we set up was uh if people were diligent and made the payments on those grants uh or it was actually a a
loan program, if they got halfway through, then we we'd gift the rest back to them. And I think it was virtually everybody uh was awarded that. So, normally our development um where we have a a pool of money, in this case,
$200,000 that that uh we we grant out to request for that and for whatever reason either the either our outreach or just need in the community, uh you know, all of a sudden that program is is uh in in
higher demand and we have resources to fill. So that's that's good news. >> So I guess my my question pertained to the origination of those funds for uh this particular light item. And if you
look at the revolving loan committee, those funds was due to a request that was had been made that funded was the seed funding for that. And then that fund continues because of the payback of those loans and any interest acred. And
I would assume that this would be how that is. You take >> no these are these are strictly grants. These are not you know lo revolving loan are just that revolving loans. This is a grant program. It's it's uh you know we have
we're beefing up our uh uh grant making criteria and that whole we're just tightening all that up and and making more. We were pretty loosey goosey over the years because it you know people come in oh gee I need a few bucks. Okay here. uh now that we have more demand uh
and we're legitimizing that whole process and you know it's it's working better and we have control grant >> you would know historically Howard did the uh when that started out how much money that was and and
>> well we we've grown it I I you know it was I I >> I have a good memory but it's short so I >> I don't those numbers. >> Well, and and my point is is that when we look at at different organizations,
you know, in the county and uh and how we address need, it's understanding the uh how that need is uh funded. And in organizations if we have crossover or we have this or that what we're looking to
do is we're providing these opportunities uh to address need but we need to understand how there's duplication that might be an impact on levy overall and that's the reason for the discussion. Well,
all I can say is, you know, where we struggled giving away the the money uh in that line item over the years that I've been on the board, EDA board, uh that has ramped up and like Peter said, this year, you know, we have uh had to
cap it because we've run out of uh our funding. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Which is a good thing. I mean we that's economic development authority is I take it to mean just that we are out to to uh help entrepreneurs and help the economy
and and spur economic development and that's I think we're doing our job in that. >> Okay. Thank you. So that means since it's a grandfunded program paid for by taxpayers, that means that the taxpayers
are part owners of these businesses. No, they're not. I know that. But that means taxpayers are helping private businesses get started. >> Correct. That's indirectly. That's true. >> Get started or grow.
>> Yeah. I mean, it's that that's our work, you know. We got a half million dollar budget and 200 of that is I mean, it's if if we weren't doing that, we'd we'd just dissolve the whole thing. I mean,
it it's uh why we're here. Why are we here? >> Continue. >> Um, so why don't you have a like a low interest loan program instead of granting? I mean, if you you're helping
some and it would be more uh if people were struggling because of something happened with their startup and you'd be more amanable to granting extensions or whatever working with them rather than giving the money away. >> No, it's a very good question. In fact,
uh, the county operates the revolving loan fund, which in certainly my view and I think the view of of other EDA commissioners is an activity that we should consider rolling into the EDA in as much as it's another another tool, a
loan tool. There's a there's a purpose for grants and there's a purpose for loans. And I think the EDA can play that role in identifying here's the need and let's assign the right solution to that need. Commissioner Sullivan, >> I just wanted to point out that you'll
see that there's a decrease in the rent for the EDA and an increase in the rent for the HR and that is because the HA wasn't paying their fair share and so now it is equitable. So I just wanted to point that out because it impacts both
of the B budgets that we're here to approve today. >> Commissioner Gav. >> Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. question um in your uh communicating with other economic development um
do they have a similar grant program that you're aware of? >> Yeah, that I'm aware of. Yes, we're currently running as I think many of you would be aware without an executive director. So the NSDC, so Teresa, our former executive director, and Jason,
formerly of the HR are helping us with with the back end. Uh, and this slate of volunteer commissioners are picking up the rest of the slack. So what I don't have is deep relationships personally with with other EDA uh groups, but based on my discussions with the prior
executive director, that to answer your question more directly, yes, that's my understanding. >> Yeah. Yeah. And it it it would be that when you're looking at an economic development authority that that it's normal and customary that this is an element of the provision of what they do
for economic development. So when we're looking at our organizational structure within the county and we have these different entities uh the HR ada and all the different entities um we're we're attempting to do what we do to
follow normal customary practices in order to create a healthy community and and uh we learn from each other in that regard. So I I think it's just important for the public to understand that to commissioners White's point that on the grant uh issue that that is that is
basically part of the levy which means taxpayers fund this. So taxpayers the more that we tell the stories and see the advantage of those grant dollars the more that the public can feel that this is a worthwhile cause. similar to what
we have with non-mandated revenues that are paid for by the public when we make decisions to send out these revenues. We're doing that, you know, with taxpayer dollars. So, our our privilege and opportunity comes because of the
community that contributes those dollars. Sometimes they have a voice to say yes and sometimes they don't have a voice. But the more that we can reinforce the validity of these things, the more that it it makes it more bearable, I guess I'd say. So, thank you for the conversation.
>> Just on that point, if I may, the EDA has just begun to work with St. Catherine's University on a study of the impact of uh these grant dollars right here in Cook County. And so, that'll be a terrific opportunity to share those stories once they're fully developed.
Okay. Thank you. >> Any further questions or comments? Commissioner Sullivan. >> Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion to approve the 2026 levies submitted by the EDA and the HA at 512,962
and $287,444 respectively. >> And I'll support that. >> All in favor? >> I post same sign. Motion passes. Thank you very much for the detailed information. >> Thank you for the questions and thank you for the support.
>> Thank you. >> Okay, we'll move on now to item number nine, administrator trouble. >> Uh Madam Chair, one one more item for me. the uh asking you to appoint
election judges and absentee ballot board members for the 2025 special election on November 4th. Uh these are to serve uh at the school board special election
>> on November 4th and the ISD 166 has authorized the county to run that election for them. That's why this request comes to you rather than to the um uh school board because they've authorized us to take these actions for
them. So, we've provided a list of election judges. This this election um the school has requested it be all uh mail ballot and that we will we've
decided because it's a single question that we'll hand count them. So that's why you see a a small list of election judges >> as and we will not be counting them by precinct. They've also authorized that. So that's why there's a small number
here and uh of election judges and then our office as in the past has served as the absentee ballot port itself. >> Okay. >> Commissioner Gamble. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh Brady, I'm
assuming we have, but have we done this this way in the past? >> Yeah. Yes. The the last time uh their referendum last year was part of the uh state election, so there was no separation. It was just part of it. But
back in 2015, they uh another odd off-year election. Uh we held a a school board a school election again. So we've done it very a very similar manner. >> All right. >> And some earlier years also but that was
the most recent. >> Continue. >> So madam chair I'd make a motion to approve the election judges as presented. >> Please support. >> Okay. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion comments? All in favor?
>> I opposed. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Brady, for all of that. Then item number nine is um administrator update. Thank you, Madam Chair. I have two um brief updates
today. Uh both are around the legislature. And so the first one is that there is a legislative um lunchon that is scheduled for November 6th from 11 to 4 at Charlie's Alpine Beastro. Um and this will include Senator Grant
Hostchild, Representative Roger Shraba and Commissioner Rukavina from the Iron Range Resources and um rehabilitation rehabilitation. Um so the in the event information is on visitcookcount.com. So I just wanted to make sure that the
community is aware of that. And the second um event is also through the Cook County Chamber of Commerce or Commerce and um it is a House and Senate Capital
Investment Committee meeting in Grammaray and that is scheduled for October October 8th and 9th and we are we just a few minutes ago um received information on the schedule so
I don't know if it's yet up on their um chamber website, but it should be soon. That's all I have today. Thank you. Okay. I just received the update here. Um we'll work together and try to come up with um if there's any requests from
the county. I plan on being there that day. I don't know if it is it a two a day one. Yes, it's two days. Okay. I don't know if I can be there both days, but I'll work with administrator Treble and anybody else who has suggestions as to u our two minutes that we get with
the legislators. Um it's not very long, but um at least we could get on their agenda. So, we'll work on that and bring all that forward um together before the 8th of October. >> Thank you. Okay.
Thank you on your updates. Moving on to employee concerns, commissioner concerns. Um I did put in the packet a discussion about the appointments. Um you know January 1st we always talk about our reviewing our boards and our committees and our
concerns and all of that. Then during the year things come up and so two items have come up. one um regarding uh Commissioner Sullivan to fill a position and then also um we have the Takenite
Harbor Advisory Committee which um I believe will be uh in process right now they're asking for community um volunteers to join that group and then as a representative of the county and of um the West End in in that's in my area.
So I will be um eventually on that board. Um I think we all look at these positions as what does it um do for the county? What kind of information can we disseminate to everybody? And um then
decide if it's worthy enough to um to be appointed or to be on those groups. And for my particular situation, yes, it'll be um very well received to uh to be on that committee. and uh maybe Commissioner Sullivan can um fill in uh
what happened with her appointment. >> Absolutely. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um recently I was interviewed for a possible inclusion as a county official to serve in a role that Sheriff Elias had previously served in since March of
2024. And this is for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Collaborative. Um, Sheriff Elias, as we all know, is quite short staffed and it became very difficult for him to attend meetings. And in the charter, which I've distributed to all of you, um, and I do
have it electronically, so if we choose to add this to our commissioner assignments, we can put that online for, uh, the public. But, um, he was unable to continue in his role and suggested that I, um, consider participating. And
so I was notified and was given an interview and am honored to have been selected to serve as his replacement if in fact this group approves this appointment. Um my belief is my personal passion about the boundary waters and
experience in it along with my elected role in district 4 where we have lots of outfitters and businesses that imp are impacted by the boundary waters in addition to just involvement with the Gunflint Trail Scenic Byway, Cook County
Soil and Water, um Cook County Coalition of Lakes, the airport advisory, firewise, they all dovetail and fit really nicely. It makes this a really logical appointment. The group represents an effort to engage individuals and groups with really
different interests in recreation, conservation, environmental advocacy, and commercial use in the Boundary Waters. And the collaborative is strictly advisory in nature. Its role is to also strengthen communication and
coordination between different entities in St. Louis, Lake, and Cook counties. And we hope to um learn and share information, strengthen our understanding and relationships, and also provide the public with transparency as it relates
to wilderness laws, regulations, policy, and guidance. And so I've spent about six hours this month getting to know individuals on the committee, getting up to speed with their charter. Um and I attended several meetings related to
visitor management, water quality, AIS, aquatic invasive species, um search and rescue, fire management, and they have um quarterly meetings. So these are all workg groupoups that I attended. So what
I'm asking is for the quarterly in-person meetings to have those added to my list of assignments. And I would not request any pdeiums for the again the workg groups. I consider it a lot like my assignment with the Cook County Coalition of Lakes. I get a pdeium when
I meet with the full group but not when I go to an individual lake association meeting. It uh really parallels that. So um my request is that you approve um my inclusion as the Cook County official to
serve in this role replacing Sheriff Elias. And my request would also be um right now the potential is two meetings a month which is going to be a lot and I don't know uh if it's evening daytime in
person zoom so we'll have to we'll have to wait and see and Commissioner Mills also um has been asked to serve. So for the both of us we're waiting to find out how where we go with this. Commissioner White, I have
a question. the the county has no ownership or promise of ownership of that elite property in Takenite Harbor. Is that true? >> This county land.
>> So So we we have total control over that going for No, we don't have control. We have we hired a consulting firm. >> Yes. >> Who's going to work with the group until next >> This is for this meeting. >> Until next spring. and uh we'll work
together. Minnesota Power owns the land and so we'll have to work with them to see where this all goes. That's why we have both the public Yes. >> and then the advisory group to work together to proceed with some kind of um
way to um deal with the land. >> Okay. >> I hope everyone was listening to that question, that answer. >> Commissioner Gamble. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. our commitment to um evaluate our our
roles and responsibilities relative to committees and things like that and assignments is something that again we've we've committed to doing. I I appreciate uh Commissioner Sullivan's um foundational information on this and the handout and the due diligence and things
and certainly given the representation that comes from uh District 4 and Commissioner Sullivan relative to the Boundary Waters and the interest there Commissioner Sturley and Commissioner Mills and their districts corresponding to Takenite Harbor. I'd make the
recommendation that we approve these commissioners for these committee assignments. I support that. Okay, we have motion and a second. Oh, any other discussion? All in favor? >> I
>> I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes. We'll move forward as best we can and and um report back when we can and then um just some um commission reports and updates. I would start with
our um week with um well seemed like a week over with AMC in Alexandria and um we had wonderful presentations and I was especially interested in the four counties who gave a um report on their
waste facilities and all the things that they're doing that they want to do. And I just related to our own facility here getting off the ground with one wall up and and moving forward with that. Um and
many ideas too. Um, one idea that struck me was, um, several of the facilities that are already operating give their citizens a bag and they put their food in the bag and then that's collected and
um, they have a facility where that's they have a conveyor belt with an arm that reaches out and puts it in another box container and then that's made into char >> and they can use it for fertilizer or they can reuse the whole thing which I
think is wonderful. I don't know maybe someday that'll come here too but you know I just something like that you know that you glean an idea and then we had our um committee report we our committees I attended the public health commissioner Gamble you attended
which committee >> my committee is um the safety >> safety okay >> safety committee yeah >> okay I'll just give it just a synopsis which I already did at public health about the fact that we're just really
really behind in updating um and so I won't elaborate that anymore because it's obvious you know >> what's happening there. Um I did collect um the agendas for the u government and um
environment just to see what was on the agenda. But um Commissioner Gamble, the one thing that has struck me is that there's been a report about um in our uh jails the use or nonuse of
prescriptions. Could you give us a little enlightenment on how that came about and how we're going to handle that? >> All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. in the uh safety committee, we we discussed that component and we
discussed the um um communications with our which we've discussed this before our our patterns of coverage when it comes to weather reports and things like that. And so that was another item that that we discussed. We've had this discussion
relative to the pharmaceutical in the uh Arrowhead Regional Corrections as well and as recent as the meeting that we just had. And I think that they wanted to have um uh oversight to make sure
that the uh when we are recommending that a prescription be used for an inmate that there was oversight to make sure that this was best practice. And um uh part of our discussion at ARC is just
the legal ramifications of this wanting to be able to address need and not get tied up in all the red tape because of the oversight. And so I think this is something that is is trying to be worked out. And it depends upon the I think the
credibility of of those in individuals in that position within the institution as to what we're doing because if it's a matter of having to make a call and check with the their local doctor in order to be able to get affirmation on this sometimes it encumbers the process.
So it's trying to find the balance between that and uh being able to meet need as as it needs to be addressed. >> Um relative to the AMC conference, I did um Commissioner Sullivan had uh because she
was not able to attend it made me aware of being able to visit the Douglas County um facility, waste management facility there. So I took that that tour. One interesting thing to note in that regard in addition to the other four that made presentations very very
interesting and some of those entities that we had those presentations on they would sit there and pick the cardboard from the whatever and others it was robotic and it's it's pretty pretty amazing to see the sophistication of that. Um, as with all things, it comes
down to dollar allocation as to whether or not we go with robots or we go with people or whatever. But um, it is interesting to see the different approaches and how they um use this to our advantage. And the the Douglas County one that that uh I toured, uh,
they create steam and so they they have an incinerator where they're burning all of this garbage. And um 3M has their plant in Alexandria and when this facility came on board and
started creating this steam um 3M plant uses steam in their operations. So they brought a plant up from South America to Alexandria because it created this opportunity and I think
that's definitely a return on and in investment in that. So there's multiple things that you see there. It's not just dealing with the problem at hand, but trying to take that and make it a resource that adds value back to the community. So that that was significant.
Well, well worth our time. The other thing I wanted to mention is I I'm assuming that all of you received our newsletter from ARDC >> time back. We're trying to put together a newsletter maybe like twice a year, just an update what's going on besides
my reports. So, thank you for reading that. So, I'll open it up for any other uh reports. Madam Chair, I also would make a comment relative to the general sessions uh when it came to and you alluded to it um public health human
services. Um we can look at our neighboring state Wisconsin and their processing methodology and their software and everything else facilitates a process that is a lot more seamless. Our pro I
think our our policy has been in is it did they reference it as 30 years. We have not revisited this. And so part of trying to make this message real to us was at the beginning of that session, they had a public health human service
individual in one of our counties begin the process of inputting information relative to one of their clients. And then as we went through the whole presentation, they'd say, "How you doing? How you doing?" And and the amount of time it took to do that. And
then you you combine that experience with the knowledge that if you go to another family member, you got to start square one. And if they change services, you got to go back and start square one. And so when we're looking at at what
we're saying collectively as 87 counties to the state, we really need to invest in trying to streamline this process. It's a real problem and it's part of what contributes to employee turnover when people who have a heart for serving
the community are stuck with these >> processes that encumber that >> that it's definitely something needs to be addressed >> and we will address these um concerns and um how we kind of voted at the AMC uh at our district meeting which is
October 17th in Duth. >> Okay. Anyone else with a report? Commissioner Sullivan. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I had an opportunity to um participate in the hazard mitigation planning. This was our second um meeting. We met on September
11th and there were 32 different people that attended the meeting representing um county, city of Grand Marray, Grand Portage, townships, and other incorporated unincorporated communities. And um what we did is take a look at the
draft plan and discuss some of the key items that will be soon available for public review and submission to um the um homeland security emergency management and also to FEMA. And the meeting was held via Zoom and was very
very well facilitated by the University of Minnesota. So I appreciated that so much. And because I was attending that meeting, I was unable to attend the Cook County Coalition of Lake Associations, but our new county administrator, administrator, uh, Treble Halersma was
able to come to the last portion of that meeting. So, they had an opportunity to meet her. And um the HR has been actively working with Neva Maxwell going around the community as you know to continue to talk about the Roso
districts the residential overlay and we have our final two meetings coming up next week. Monday we'll be at the Schroeder Town Hall at 5:00 p.m. and Tuesday we'll be here in the Cook County Courthouse right here in the commissioner's room. And uh this
evening, the Cook County Historical Society will celebrate their 100th centennial anniversary. Um they have a dinner down at uh North House and um their annual meeting. Um it is sold out unfortunately. So if you want to try to
get in, um they've been sold out for a couple of weeks, but that's a very exciting um piece. And then we had the airport commission meet recently and um one of the things that we talked about are in Minnesota the electric aviation
network and there was a presentation that was given um and Rodney Roy our airport manager had participated in some of the input that was um given from airport managers um back about six months ago. So, it was
nice to look at now this completed survey and to talk about although we aren't going to have electronic aircraft in the next 5 years, we likely will in about 10 years. And um the fact that we will have charging stations at our airport that's part of our master plan
is really important because those charging stations will help us to have electronic aviation that will deal with cargo delivery which is a a huge thing and also medical issues. And it is really interesting to see the interphase
or lack thereof between my work with this new Boundary Waters Canoe Area Collaborative and the Minnesota Airport Commission. They aren't talking to each other. They haven't talked about, you know, occasionally they will allow planes in the Boundary Waters. The 1964
Wilderness Act does not allow motors, but in case of um issues for public safety, they do allow them. But there's been no discussion between the US Forest Service and the Minnesota Aviation Network. Um, so that's something I'm really pushing for. Um, and it gave me
an opportunity to kind of talk about the ways we can work together and um, so I was excited about that. And um then we recently had a safety committee, an internal committee here at the courthouse and we are in the process of
updating our maps because we have new employees in the basement and so we need to make sure that all of our internal mapping is taken care of. So I appreciate that we're working on that initiative. Thank you. >> And pancake breakfast.
>> Yes, pancake breakfast this Saturday out at the airport from 8 to 11. and uh Sawtooth Aviation will be there giving rides. The color should be absolutely beautiful. You know, they moved this event one week earlier to try to take
advantage of the color and uh so there will be um planes taking off from the runway and they're going to bring up a couple of sea planes from the SE plane base so that kids especially have an opportunity to look at those or big kids
like us. And uh so it'll be a really fun event. Thank you for mentioning that. >> I was just thinking about the road construction, too. >> Yeah, it'll be a challenge. >> Yeah, >> cuz the grade is closed if you're coming from the west end and um over the bridge
over the little devil track is still a little slow, but very passable. >> Yeah. Okay. Anyone else? We'll move on then to upcoming meetings. This afternoon at 3:00 we have budget and facility advisory committee and on
Monday um October 13th the um courthouse will be closed in respect for the indigenous people's day and um then the next day is our next board meeting on October 14th. We also have the sales tax
comparison through July of 2025 and there'll be uh no other business. We are adjourned. Thanks everybody. What day did you say