Good morning everyone. I'll call the Cook County Board of Commissioners regular meeting to order on this day, Tuesday, June 24th at 8:30 a.m. 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. Are there any adjustments to the agenda?
Um, uh, Madam Chair, I'd like to add something under administrator updates. Uh it's a a new version of a contract we have a saw to uh clinic for for redundant supervisory services mental health. Okay. We'll put that under 7 C
then. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Anything else? Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion to approve the agenda as adjusted. I support. All in favor? I opposed. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously.
At this time, we do allow some public comment. And I'm wondering if anybody in the audience has any public comment. Doesn't look like it. So, we'll move on. Um, Madam Chair, I do have a comment to read that came in. Okay. Um, this is
from Don Davidson, 583 Southshore Drive. So, according to the latest latest private assessment of our home, we can sell our house for $580,000 as a resident or we could sell it as an Airbnb for $840,000.
The county board needs to rein this in. Your ridiculous tax and assessment policies are driving up prices so that no one can afford to live here. You should be ashamed at your policies that you have brought about. We don't live in a VBO. We live in our home. You should
be encouraging home ownership, not nightly rentals. The county valuation of our house is what? 680,000. And not one county employee has set foot on our property in over 15 years. You are supporting incompetence. You should also
be ashamed of the horrible practices you allow and encourage. I think you're all in over your heads seeking tax dollars, not tax fairness. Anyone else? Okay, thank you on that. We'll move on to the consent agenda.
On the consent agenda, we have the claims um the minutes from our regular meeting uh June 10th, a memorandum of understanding, ISD, memorandum of understanding with the YMCA, the TOFY Fourth of July parade and fireworks
event permit, termination of um Kelsey Ry CAD DDD waiver case manager. Does anybody want to pull anything or further information? Okay. Madam chair, I'd make a motion to accept
the consent agenda as presented. Support. All in favor? I I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Our first um presentation is by the highway department giving their annual
report. Welcome to you. We always look forward to you. Good morning. Morning. At least once a year. That's nice to hear. Yeah, I'll take that. That's great. Go home after that comment. Okay. Good morning, Chair Story and Honorable
Commissioners. We appreciate the opportunity to present our 2024 highlight of activities to you. Okay. In 24, we had one departure and one retirement. Both vacancies were
filled as was the 2023 carryover vacancy for a maintenance worker 2 in toy. You'll see that that there were three hires of maintenance worker twos. Additionally, the department transitioned one engineering intern position into an opening for a seasonal
environmental worker position, and you'll see that higher on the uh screen as well. So, those are the staffing changes for 2024. For projects, we closed out uh four carryover projects from 2023. And that
is quite common as there are sometimes what we call the the punch list items and or you know the um seating or perhaps some of the other um uh environmental things that have to be
taken care of the following spring before we can actually issue final payment. And then we oversaw three construction projects and participated in a multi-county road striping project which we'll talk about as we go through the projects. So this screen highlights
the four projects that were closed out from 2023. They comprise $7.3 million in construction and they included three bridge projects as well as our collaborative Fifth Avenue West project where the partners included the Cook
County Soil and Water Conservation District and the city of Grand Marray and of course that was the largest project at 5.4 million. In terms of active projects, uh we had contract 1709 which included two projects up in Grand Portage. There was
a delay. We had to refabricate one of the bridge spans. And so that project did remain over open through the winter with that last span uh placed early this spring. And now final items are are being completed including some paving
and striping and so forth. We should be able to close that project out soon. This is probably my favorite project because it was a cast inplace bridge and we have all kinds of pictures. It was hard to pick one to show the intense
labor that has to occur on site as they construct that uh bridge span and pour it on site. And so that was such an interesting project last year. And Robbie's a bridge guy so he's just laughing at me. But I thought it was
really interesting. And because we didn't have bridge bond money available, there is the motor vehicle lease sales tax money, which is basically another form of bridge bonding available. And that paid for the vast majority of this project with some TST dollars making up the difference. And we were able to
close that one out last fall. And of course, we uh constructed a new storage facility on site last year and it was open for occupancy in December. As the board is aware, that 2.5 million that was our estimate at year end is now
2.9 million with the change order that was recently negotiated. And so now that that is complete, we are working on final items so that we can close this project out. And then I mentioned the multicounty striping project. That was the second
year we done that on the Gumflint Trail. We did the upper half one year and then last year we did the lower half excepting of course this year's construction area going up the hill. And right now, as I believe Commissioner Solen was talking about, we are striping
the rest of the county. So that is actually taking place today. And then for the maintenance program, the crew plowed for the last time in the spring on April 18th and the first time in the fall on Veterans Day. And we
usually see plowing in about the first uh 11 to 15 days of November in most falls. This slide highlights the recurring activities in the maintenance division. And the road restrictions typically go
on somewhere between about the 5th of March and the middle of March. In 23, it was quite late. They did not begin until March 29th. And so then in 23, they were lifted. The first bands on May 24th and the last on June 14th, which really is
not that different from 24. It was just that they went on unusually late in 2023. Calcium chloride has been probably our biggest change. In 2020, the price was approximately a dollar a gallon, maybe a dollar one. And so in from 2020 to 2024,
we've seen an increase of over 50 cents a gallon. And that has really affected our budget and our ability to apply the the volume of gallons that we used to do. In response to that, uh, Robbie and our maintenance superintendent have developed a calcium chloride policy
specifying criteria for where and how much we should be applying so that we have a very strategic approach as prices continue to rise. Gravel, there isn't a lot of change in price. It was 735 per yard in 2023. It's
8.25 per yard now. winter salt sand. Each component went up three to four dollars a yard from 2023. In uh 23 uh salt was 8671 a yard and uh sand was
4857 a yard. So you can see prices continue to rise. In terms of equipment, we did order our board approved tandem axle plow truck is scheduled. That has happened the last three years. delivery is delayed and you'll see that when we talk about fund balance because we are
actually carrying a significant equipment reserve to pay for trucks that haven't been delivered from prior years. And then we were able to utilize just under $22,000 of Chrisa money that was highway department specific to purchase a Hunter
heavyduty tire changer for changing our tandem axle tires. We have a hundred of those tires on our trucks. And prior to the purchase of this tire changer, the shop crew was using pry bars to change
these tires. And that is a significant change for our shop division. And we are really excited about that. It's really cool. It is. It's a game changer. This is a highlight of maintenance
activities for 2023 or 24. I'm talking 23 and 24 so much, pardon me. It's really interesting to see the variety of things that they accomplish in a year. For example, the winter was light and so they did a a good share of the prep for our heated storage facility site rather
than paying the contractor. Huge savings for us. You can see the cross pipes, the shale that we hauled from the Gunflu Gunflint view site and were able to crush and now keep and use it for road maintenance projects. Uh the signage,
the reclaiming, the patching on CASA 12, there's just a tremendous amount that they do accomplish in a year in addition to the hauling and placing gravel and grading when it rains. Uh so it it is a busy year for them. And then our superintendent worked with engineer H
and staff to create and or update our snow removal, our calcium chloride, and our sign policies, all of which the board did approve. And then he worked with our shop division to demonstrate and purchase a cloud-based fleet maintenance tracking program because we
were doing it all on paper. And so that is just a huge efficiency change for our shop division. So it was a big year for the shop. And then we're going to get to the financial statements, which is of course the stuff that I tend to geek out a
little bit on. So this is the first part of our financial statement. As you can see, we had just under 2.9 million uh on hand for cash at year end. That is a decrease of $395,60.98 from 2023. That was expected because
again we had to do a 41% match on the highway department uh storage facility from our reserves. So 59% was state aid money, 41% was that and it was the same for our salt sand facility the year prior. So our cash and particularly our
unallocated reserves have taken a major hit the last two years but it was planned. Okay. Other things are normal fluctuations. Accounts receivable decreased by just under 59,000. are due from state aid increased significantly and that is because of the
open storage facility and grand portage projects where we carry payables from state aid until the project is finalized because we can't ask for all of the money upfront of course we can only ask for about 95%. And so we are carrying some of that as a
um a due from state aid. And so that increased by 679,000. And then our aotment balance um from state for state aid decreased by 1.9 million. And again that's because we were using so much money on the grand
portage uh project and then for the 59% match on the storage facility. Our inventory reserves went up a little bit 1265 again due to rising costs of everything. Our liabilities categories as I
mentioned fluctuate from year to year depending on which bills and and payroll are pending at year end. Our deferred revenue again that state aid money is down 1.468 468 million due to what we have used on those two main state aid
projects portage and the highway storage facility. The main area we like to talk about is fund balance. Of course, statutoily we are required to set aside for inventory reserves whatever our balance is for inventory when we do our
year-end count. And so this year that's 768,000 and change. I mentioned that reserve for equipment that is so high right now. You see it's over 900,000. Two tandem axle truck orders that that we have reserves for because we haven't
received the trucks total $620,599. And so that is held right there until we actually get those trucks. They're the 23 and 24 truck orders. And then we have 150,000 that we've been setting aside 50 a year so that we can replace our armor radios which are outdated. And so if you
take that out of of our reserves for equipment placement replacement and would have just unallocated that we're trying to hold for say 2526 purchases that would be 141,64 rather than $911,000.
So, if you factor that out of our fund balance, if those trucks had arrived and were paid for, our total fund balance would be 2.66 million. Right now, it's showing 3 uh4 million because of those reserves in equipment. Our undesated
fund balance is 1.14 million. It from 2020 to 2022, it totaled 2 million to 3.1 million. We've used over a million to construct those two facilities. So, we knew that was going to happen. Now,
our goal is to start rebuilding that now that we have those two facilities built. And in fact, when I get to the budget uh summary, I will talk about the fact that we did try and set aside about 109,025 to start rebuilding our reserves because we need to have that on hand to pay in
particular construction payments. And one of the things I I will talk about either now or when I get to the budget slide is how crucial that is in a year like 2025 where our big mill the hill project is underway and it is a $12 million project
and of that 12 million about 1.6 is state aid money and we can get 95% of that upfront. Everything else is reimbursementbased and so we have to outlay the money and then submit and some of those sources it
can be 45 to 60 days before we're going to be reimbursed and that's why our reserve balance is so critical and it is a little low right now. We talk every year about town road distributions. The board approved a formula a number of years ago to uh
provide money to the towns from state aid as we get our annual allocation which is based 50% on population 50% on certified town road mileage. We do receive a portion of that for our 55.11 miles of unorganized territory
roads as approved about six years ago now. And that is crucial because that gives us access to town bridge and special town bridge monies which we have utilized to be fixing our uh structurally deficient bridges on those UT roads and we're over three million I
believe in money just from special town bridge and town bridge since we approved that and that's money that we don't have to ask the taxpayers for here. So that is a significant um revenue source for us. This is a slide we like to show every
year just to highlight the accounts payable in major categories. And so we talk about all of the wages and benefits payable. There is a new one up there this year. You're going to see sick leave payable. That is a federal reporting standard that was implemented
for 2024. We have a couple of employees who are long-term who have their old sick leave bank still. And what the federal requirement asks us to do is look at that balance, estimate how much those employees may use before they
leave and then report that this year. So that is a small portion of that because they really don't use much of it, the particular employees we have, and they will forfeit that at retirement. They don't get to keep that. So that's something new. And then of course we
talked about the contracts payable. You can see um that the two contracts at the bottom are have the the larger amount of uh retainage of course because they're more expensive projects. And then you see the long-term lease payable and that
of course was a $40,000 annual payment for four years and then a balloon payment in 2025 which has been made. Yay, it's paid off. And then this is a page for state aid finance uh that highlights our changes
in cash and fund balance from the beginning of year to the end of year. And the one thing I want to point out here because it is a different fund balance total than on that prior page. And that is because here this is fund balance that is not statutoily
required to be set aside. So inventory reserve is not shown in this total. So if we added the 7 168,000 to that 2.663 million, you'd get back to the the earlier fund balance total. I always want to show people because our balance sheet requires us to show that inventory
reserve as well. But for state finance, it's a little different the format that we reported in, but the totals do agree. We'd like to talk a little bit about road program maintenance. And there's going to be two different uh reports that I'm going to show. This one is the
more general report. And for everyone's uh ease, I will remind you that CASA roads comprise roads 1 through 23 accepting sections within the city limits of Grand Marray, which are the Msaw roads. In the next category, and we
have just a handful of those. We have Wisconsin, Broadway, Fifth Avenue West, the portions of 7 and 12 that are in the city limits, and then uh 8th Avenue West. So those are our MSA roads. And then county roads comprise roads 24
through 103 collectively. And what I always find interesting on this slide is the cost per mile for the year. And I like to compare it to the year before because generally there's not a big difference when you think about how many miles we're dealing with. So for CASA in 2023, the cost per mile was $11,938
compared to $11,396 in 24. MUN, the MASA for 23 was $9,900.72 compared to $831560 in 2024.
County had the biggest change. Usually there's one category where we might see, you know, maybe four or $5,000 cost per per mile difference. Uh, and this was the category this year. It's $18,000 59 and 85 cents in 23 compared to
14,1257 in 24. And what that probably uh means is that there was less gravel applied in uh 24 because we did more graveling on some of those bigger roads in 23. And
then UT roads there's almost no difference. It was 570159 and 23 and 570722 and 24. So that held really steady. And then the next two slides are going to have more breakdown. These are the
major categories that we have to account for for state aid finance. And so in the three main categories, CASSA, MSA, and county, the snow removal comprises the major cost across all three road categories.
However, for UT roads, the higher costs were in the area of smoothing surface, gravel roads, not surprising, and brushing and weed control. So for 2024 design and construction, I put just the total in the various
categories. Those totals include the four projects that we closed out in 2023 along with an 8th Avenue West city project in the campground that we had to help administer. So those are included in there. What I really want to point
out is the 14 bridge projects that we are working on. One of uh Robbie's goals when he came was to address all of our structurally deficient bridges by 2027 year end. And I believe we're still on track to do that. That is a major
accomplishment. And if it weren't for uh Robbie's active pursuit of grant and alternate funding sources, we wouldn't be able to do this. And then I promised a quick rundown of the 25 budget. It was at time of uh
budget preparation in May of 20 four, sorry, too many years, uh $23 million and 15.9 million of that was projects. We did move the Arrowhead Trail and Chicago Bay collaborative
projects back to 26, which happens a lot with our budget. You'll notice that when we report, we're estimating in May that we're going to actually get all the funding and get all the design work done. And a lot of times there's a glitch in one of those areas. And so a project quite often does get moved one
year. So yes, our 25 budget didn't include that project and it was delayed. Gravel crushing and calcium chloride are the same. And then of course we ordered a tandem axle truck this year, a couple of pickups. We've replaced our skid steer and then we are uh finishing our
armor replacement schedule. We have our money for local projects and then we have u that addition to the fund balance. And I do want to tell you I did make one correction. It's 3105 for local projects. I had a typo and I didn't catch it until yesterday when I was
reviewing it. So I apologize. Too many numbers. And then of course high humor. This is an actual road sign in Alaska on Grand Drive, Grand Drive. And it's on the way to one of their resorts that's on a very
remote and windy road. And they have fun signs all the way up supposedly to keep people's attention focused. And I'm thinking, okay, is that true or are you too busy, you know, looking at the signs? But I thought it was a fun sign
and we could relate to that in Cook County. And so then I just want to let everyone know that our uh highway report the full copy is available on the highway department web page under documents and reports and then we will open the floor
to questions. I understand from some neighbors that it really works to bring cookies to the highway department. Yes. If they want certain things done. So absolutely. Well, I won't say what. Actually, I would say Chair Stoly that it helps uh
with the morale for our maintenance crew in particular during the winter because of all the long hours. And you know, we do get some compliments, but those thank yous mean the world to that crew. You bet. Yeah. And you might get one cookie
if you're in the office. Maybe. Maybe if I ask nicely. Most of the time they're gone by the time I know they're there. Any questions or comments? Just um thank you. Uh amazing work always and um in particular I think just
the um bridge deficient uh goal is bonkers and even more bonkers that we're on track. So uh very very impressive. Thank you. Thanks Commissioner Gamble. Yeah, thank you Madam Chair. Um, yeah, the word
impressive is a good word. Um, it's you work you work with numbers like uh kids do when they pull out their action figures, they seem to be very excited. Yeah. I've been known to uh balance the
month end and when it balances to the penny, which it usually does, the clerk will hear Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's u your institutional knowledge for one thing plus um your familiarity with the numbers and sometimes uh giving reports
like this can be very dry and hesitant. uh but there's none of that that that exists when you present and um I um have been taking this course with NATO on on budgeting and evidence base and u the
integrity of of the work speaks volumes for what we do in stewardship of both taxpayer dollars and dollars available to us because we work hard to get them. So just uh great appreciation uh words
seem to be uh little response to all the effort and the work that goes in in providing what you do in the highway department. So thank you. Thank you Commissioner G. Thank you so much. Thank you all. Thank
you. Thank you. Thanks. Our next item is going to be presented by Tim Nelson on the Hansen interim use permit. Thank you, Madam Chair, commissioners.
Um, yeah, I've got uh three items before you today. Uh, the first two of which are recommendations from the planning commission and the public hearing that have been held uh previously. First one is the uh Hansen uh interim use permit and this is um actually uh for an
interim use to place a recreational vehicle uh for seasonal uh use um residential use in the Luden Town Center residential incentive zone district which is one we don't really uh enter into a lot um but it was created through
the uh Luden sub area planning efforts when we did the comprehensive land uh used plan um back in the late 90s and and early 2000s. So um that is specifically for that and the actually
the the purpose of that zone district is for uh enhanced or increased uh densities uh that are closer to um builtup areas. So it's it's actually uh to serve this kind of uh purpose. And this the uh intent for this is to go
ahead and place the uh the um um the um recreational vehicle, I'm sorry, for uh a period of of four years to be able to build a second home. Um and uh I I will say and I'll touch on this a little bit
that these both the first two um uh cases here are involve after the fact. And it's just we can gloss over that and it just goes by that, but it's it's kind of jumps out at you on the page that these are after the fact, which is troublesome for folks. And and you know,
we've all heard that adage of it's better to ask for forgiveness than it is for permission. And uh but when um considering uh a request like this or other ones that are after the fact, the tendency for uh any kind of deliberative
body is to kind of think a little bit more adversely upon that request just because it was uh acted on as after the fact. And uh this is certainly not uh an issue limited to Cook County. So, in the past, uh, we've created, uh, committees
and things and have gone over how do we address after the-act land use issues. We've, uh, look at the after the- fact, uh, fees that are associated with that. And that's one way that we do that. And it's in so much a a bigger problem that
the state Minnesota state legislature about a dozen years ago actually changed the statute to create two uh evaluating uh trains when looking at projects. One for normal requests and the other for those that are after the fact. Now,
it didn't take long before that was uh challenged to the courts and the Minnesota Supreme Court actually knocked that down and they they basically ruled that um specifically with land use cases, it's it's the actual impact on the land use that is the at issue and
not necessarily how it came about. So when these are evaluated, these are to be evaluated as to their their actual impacts in land use and in perpetuity and such like that rather than uh the after the fact itself. Now I will say
that this had uh come up uh with some of the planning commission uh members had had kind of approached me on what do we do about this? So we will be discussing this further looking again cuz it's good every few years to take a look at our fees uh and such like that as to how to
basically address the after the facts and see how we can bring them into the full prior to uh the uh placement of of any structures or any construction or impacts on the property. All right, all that being said, we'll get back to the case at hand. Um this is is not
uncommon. Uh and in fact um many years ago uh decades ago when I when I uh arrived here there there was this discussion about um the placement of recreational vehicles. We didn't even used to permit them to begin with. We just allowed them to be placed on there
and the intent was that people would place them on there with the uh per for the purpose of staying in those while they're constructing their second cabins or their homes and such. And that would just give a place to to be able to stay. this one here, you know, we've we've gone through and and have uh kind of
beefed up the permitting process and and turned them, you know, into especially with the uh involvement or the um kind of enhancement of the vacation rentals and all of that stuff that has come up. Um that we've made a more vigorous uh permitting type process for them. And
now uh in circumstances such as this uh we we do have them listed as uh an interim use or we would consider them to be an interim use. And so that's what you have before uh you today is this first one is a placement in Luden for
4-year period uh for um the uh specifically uh to reside in while a uh residence is being built. Um and uh there was the public hearing uh earlier this month. Uh I I didn't have the
opportunity to attend this. We do have Commissioner Sullivan who did attend this um so she would be able to answer any firsthand questions. I did watch the video on that and read all over the report. So, um this is this is one of the more unique type planning commission meetings where the the meeting didn't last hardly long at all. So, there was
not a lot of objection. In fact, there wasn't any objection to uh this particular case. Um and uh it was voted uh unanimously to go ahead and recommend in approval uh for this uh interim use permit. and I can go ahead and read the
conditions of the approval or you have them and have had them on the on the document before you ahead of time. It's up to you. Questions or comments? I know one thing when I drive around, I always see, oh, here's a new driveway. I wonder what's going to happen there. So, I've been
curious about that particular driveway. And now and now I know. And when I think about a town center, it's kind of mis misconception in a way because to me town center is clear view. That's the town center of our little town and this is over on Skhill Road. But it's my
nous, you know, that's all it is. So anyway, Commissioner Sullivan. Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, one of the things I did want to point out that came up with both of these cases is the reason for the four years and it's the high cost of construction. Um, and so
there was, you know, discussion about that, but I did want to make sure that all the members of the county board were aware of that reason for the four years. Commissioner Gamble. Thank you, Madam Chair. Tim, you made the comment about the more vigorous permitting process. Is
that related to uh what we're requiring or is that related to the financial aspect of that? In other words, under the determination by the Supreme Court as to what we are allowed to do or not do when we look at trying to be more
vigorous to uh encourage the behavior that we want in making application when you say more vigorous permitting process what does it relate to the financial or the requirements? Uh, Madam Chair, Commissioner Gamble, that's a that's a good question and I would say both actually. We we have increased the level
of of scrutiny on these because especially from the time that I've been here where we did not permit these, we just allowed them as a permitted use with no fees coming in or anything uh to the point now where this particular case is going through uh interim use permit and has received uh the additional fees
of the after the-act fees. Um, and so yes, it's it's additional scrutiny by virtue of even just being reviewed. And we review them particularly looking at the human waste component of it and the septic type uh capacities and things and and the treatments that that have to be
done through this or collection in a tank and such like that. So those kinds of things, the driveways uh make sure wetlands aren't impacted. So there is a more vigorous review of the on ground activity. Plus there is an increase in the fees. Um the the the discussion with
the fees is difficult because um you know we want to be able to maybe establish a criteria where the fee may be uh uh a deterrent uh for somebody to go after the fact and so you want those fees kind of as high as possible. Um but
again the courts have a also come back and said the fees after the fact fees cannot be punitive in nature and so they have to actually reflect the amount of additional scrutiny that is applied to that particular project as opposed to uh trying to throw on as much of a it's not
a fine or a penalty. It is an actual fee. Thank you for that explanation. Any other questions Mr. Sullivan? Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion to approve the resolution for a 4-year interim use permit for a recreational vehicle for seasonal use in the Loot
Center Town Center Residential Incentive Zone District. I'll support. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further questions or comments? All in favor? I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously.
Okay, thank you. Item number two uh then is another uh request for the placement of this time two uh recreational vehicles and for similar reasons for uh to be able to reside in during the construction of uh or being able to
construct and bring on uh to to the property uh other residences. And this is Timothy Johnson. And this is uh over to the east side of town uh more by Wrecking Jays, which this zone is actually a light industrial zone district. And unfortunately, we do have
uh a provision in our zoning ordinance that allows us this flexibility to determine um any use that is not specifically identified as a permitted, conditional, or prohibited use may at the county's discretion be uh processed
as an interim use permit. And that gives us the ability to look at the the property specific and area specific impacts and things like that and determine, okay, yes, in here it would fit. Normally it wouldn't necessarily fit but here we do. So we do have that flexibility for us and that's what we
kind of employ uh in this particular one and this again is very similar. It is also after the fact and all the fees have been paid for it. Uh this also was part of the public hearing that was conducted earlier this month. Uh and there were no uh voices in opposition to
it. Um there was some some issue with regards to the noise and a generator um being employed to recharge um the the batteries and and such like that uh to keep electric going through the night. And so uh there was additional or
restructuring of the uh conditions that um kind of imposed a physical barrier to limit the noise from escaping the property. But then again, it was also pointed out in the that it is a light industrial zone district and so noise is
to kind of be expected in that area, but it was uh agreed upon by the property owner. So it was uh added into the conditions. Again, this was uh voted unanimously in support for recommending approval to the uh board of commissioners. And there you have it.
Okay, any questions or comments? If not, I'll hear a motion. Yep. Like to make a motion, Madam Chair, to approve the resolution for a four-year interim use permit for two uh recreational vehicles for seasonal use light industrial zone districted 18 Taylor Lane after the fact with the conditions
included. Support. We have a motion, a second. Any other questions or comments? All in favor? I post same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Thank you again, commissioners and madam chair. And the
final item is a continuation of the item that we discussed at the committee of the whole meeting this last week. Uh and this is regarding the memorandum of agreement with Grand Portage. Again, uh just recapping that discussion. Um we basically for many decades have had um
kind of equal jurisdiction only over those privatelyowned properties within the boundaries of Grand Portage. And um basically that has led to uh some confusions among property owners in terms of they they would come to us and and do we they also need a permit from
from Grand Portage and we would always say yes and we would never provide advice as to what uh their requirements are which we wanted to incentivize them to be able to make the uh contacts with the uh tribe members uh as well. So, uh, basically the this this resolution and I
I did, uh, forward this language on to, uh, both the county attorney's office and the Minnesota county's insurance trust, uh, legal, uh, folks, and we tweaked it a little bit and basically came up with the agreement that you have before it you, which is acceptable to, uh, Grand Portage. Uh and it essentially
turns over um uh all land use regulatory activities or or uh administrative functions to uh Grand Portage for those privately owned parcels that are inside the boundaries of Grand Portage. And you guys should have a map uh that would indicate that this really isn't very
impactful. there's very few uh relatively speaking in those boundaries, but it at least creates then that uh that ability for um clarity in land use regulations. Uh and I would also say that there is a provision in here that
should something down the road, you know, on on the side of either party, this this uh agreement can be terminated. Uh so it's it's not a lock in perpetuity. So guess I would just open up for any questions for you. appreciate you coming to the committee of the whole too to
give us a whole background and be able to ask questions. Then Commissioner Gamble, I would agree and Commissioner Stley that appreciated the discussion with tribe leadership so that we could understand that and have a context moving forward. And having said that, I
would to make a motion to approve and authorize the signing of the proposed memorandum of agreement with Grand Portage where Cook County would relinquish the jurisdictional administration of land use activities on privately owned property solely within the boundaries of Grand Portage.
Support. Any further questions or comments? All in favor? I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Mhm. Okay. Moving on to human resources.
Approval of a job description by Allison. Good morning. Have Robbie come up too just in case there are questions. And then of course as I'm looking at the board agenda, I was like, what a dope. I didn't even attach the job description
to the agenda item. Oh my gosh, it's been a little busy lately within the last couple weeks. Um, so I just quickly emailed that to you all, but I believe you also had a chance to review it at the last week's cow. Um, but again, I just emailed it for your reference. I also emailed it to Janna so she can
attach it. My apologies. Um, all right. So today, now let me bring up my computer. Um, I have a job description uh to bring forth to you. So, this is actually technically a revision, an update to a an existing job
description that we have on file. Uh, we just don't currently have the position filled. So, it is at the highway department. It is the engineering technician supervisor job description. Um, so what was supposed to be in your packet, which is now a separate email,
is the updated job description. Um, and this is also, um, being presented with a change in a grade, uh, after it's been reviewed by DDA and follows the Keystone scoring matrix, just like any of our other job description reviews. Um, in
that process, it has been rescored from a grade 190 to a 200. Um, and in terms of kind of some of the background information, which I believe you're aware of as to like why this is bringing brought forth, again, Robbie's here for
any additional questions. So, currently the structure at the highway department, we have Robbie as the county engineer directly oversees the three engineering technicians. Um, with Scott Benolen um, set to resign and leave us at the kind
of middle of October. um he is taking with him um I think almost two decades I think it's almost 20 years about the same time frame as me um of experience um with that department and kind of just the general operations um especially a
lot of technical um experience and assistance that he has provided the various engineering technicians especially as we've recruited more of the technicians are kind of starting out so Robbie identified that that could actually be a little bit cause for
concern in terms of the workload and the supervision piece. If we bring in a newer technician um and then Robbie already with the workload then with the direct supervision um and and Robbie's workload and work
focus is very different than the engineering technician. So there could be kind of a gap in that ability to have um the experience and that specific kind of technical knowledge to be able to
provide to any um incoming staff. So um he has determined to kind of bring back and fill in that engineering technician supervisor position. This was last filled by Randy Roberts um back in what
was it 2022 when he left the department. Um that at that time because Scott had kind of arbitrarily taken on some of kind of those mentoring roles that they just stuck with the three engineering technicians and didn't refill the supervisor position. So again looking at
bringing that back. So there would be um the county engineer overseeing the engineering technician supervisor and then the engineering tech uh engineering technician supervisor, it's a mouthful, would then oversee the other two engineering technicians. Um yeah, it
would just kind of again kind of support the the varied and very distinct workload between the county engineer and the engineering technicians. In light of our report this morning from the highway department, it gives a
broader perspective as to what your expectations are and what you're looking forward to in the future. For sure. Questions or comments, Commissioner Gamble. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um when we had this discussion and just for
clarification for for us as well as the the public right now we have two engineers in that position. Three three three engineers and so and and so we're changing that one position with an
oversight because of what we're losing in the institutional knowledge. And that was one of the questions that was just raised is are we hiring an addition to whatever? But no, we're not. We're just changing and reformatting. Um I think uh
uh in our in our discussion when this was proposed that uh basically the the learned experience and and moving forward and seeing the shift in the the positions and the history with those individuals that this seemed to make
sense. And uh it's always a healthy thing when there's change. It's an opportunity to step back and re-evaluate in the context moving forward with the pieces that you have. So that that makes sense. Um I think that uh in the
discussion when you're looking at it uh in in my mind part of it was well that supervision role and mentoring can that not defer to your position and your response was that that's not really uh what I'm I'm focused on and the best use
of resources of people and time given what I do relative to generating monies for projects that this seems to make sense. And I and I think um uh to underscore the whole discussion is the evidence
indicators that inform the decisions are what we need to understand in order to support you in that role. And I I felt that uh for the community to see the the difference in how the organizational structure has enabled you to be able to
generate revenues that have benefit to us as a county is one of those evidence indicators that is huge that supports this decision. So, no. And that's a really good point and I know and I appreciated the the chance you and I had
talked yesterday a little bit to see if I could pull together, you know, some some numbers to actually put, you know, a potential value or something on this. Um cuz I do I spend a lot of time looking for money, bring money from, you know, basically from St. Paul or from Washington to here. Um, you know, so
that we can do all the projects that you saw Lisa talk about earlier. Um, so what I did, and this is this is pretty conservative, but you know, historically our department has received like bridge bonds. That's nothing new. I'll say the
quantity of it is probably new, but we've we've gotten that in the past. So, if I take that out of the equation, um, another grant we've received historically is the local road improvement program. So, I'll take that one out as well. Uh but over the last five years, we we've been able to secure
just under 11.5 million dollars in new money uh coming into the county. So these are new funding opportunities that have not been pursued in the past. Um so that averages about $2.3 million annually. Um I think another point and
and it kind of gets to this is going to get a little a little heady, but that's okay. Just kind of my ethos in running the department. Um, I have it written on my little whiteboard if you ever see it in a meeting perhaps. And it's just a couple of words and it's a good reminder. Just says support to plan. Um,
and what that means to me and what I think it means for our department, you saw it earlier in the presentation that Lisa gave was I'm here to support my staff for today so that I can worry about tomorrow. Um, and and I wholeheartedly believe in that. I, you know, that presentation you saw earlier that Lisa gave, you don't want me giving
that. Um she I well and I can't you know uh no different than what we talked about uh you know the other day with that's why we have you know Matt and Jesse and their maintenance supervisor roles and superintendent roles. I can't tell you how to plow a road. They can um you know that that's their prerogative.
So, this to me is the same thing where we can talk construction and I can go through planning and and and all of that, but when it gets to I need help drawing the plans and putting the plans together, um you honestly I can't do that. I can't provide that support to
our technicians. And so that's where I see this role as as vital in that where what you saw from the presentation Lisa gave, what we talk about in our maintenance department, um what we talk about even in our egg side of things with with Tia, you know, also I'll put a plug in. I didn't see any of you at the
invasive species event this weekend. So, but but the contact she gave and the information that was available there, again, I can't do that. Um but you know, we have experts in those fields for that. And so that's really how I see this role is that is the continued um
you know growth where I can still free up to put together the 10-year plan, go to town hall meetings when questions come up. Um do the research to say why we can't set our own speed limits everywhere in the county, that type of stuff instead of getting I can do that instead of getting bogged down and
trying to remember how to do line weights in CAD. Um that's my opinion on how I should run the department. If you guys think differently, I'm I'm open to a conversation. Uh, but that that's how I see this role is is that. So, did you say conversation or
confrontation? I conversation. Okay. Mr. Sullivan. Well, I just appreciate um you sharing your perspective and also Allison, thank you for sending that uh job description or position description to us. And with that, I'd like to make a
motion to recommend approval of the updated engineering technician supervisor job description and grade. I'll support. We have a motion and a second. Any further questions or discussion? All in favor? I oppos. Same
sign. Motion passed unanimously. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you, Robbie. Thanks. We'll be moving on to um administrator uh discussing the bid for the Hovland Transfer Station. Okay.
So, um as you know, we have a number of capital projects going on right now. Um but the Hovind Transfer Station is probably one of the first ones we're going to see getting done. Um I believe all of the groundwork is done and the area is cleared and it looks pretty
amazing. last time I I got there. I see Commission Commissioner White shaking her head. Yes. Um so this is a bid for the fence to fence it in and uh it came in under what we had estimated by about $15,000. So that's always good. Um so
the um fencing itself is not only tall enough to keep critters out and and and people that want to steal garbage. I don't know who they are, but um but uh it also will have privacy slats all around it, so it won't be something that
the neighbors have to like stare at. Um that's obnoxious. So, um it's it's just simple kind of a thing. We just wanted to bring you this bid and uh as soon as you approve it, it'll be ordered and we'll see that going up shortly. Okay.
Any questions or comments about this project? I'll hear a motion on um the trans the bid for the Hovand transfer station. So move support. Any questions or comments? All in favor?
I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. How about some uh administrator updates? How about could I do the um addendum that we added first and I'll do the updates last? Um this as an item we added to the agenda today. It was just
handed to me right before the meeting. Um it's basically an addendum to our master contract with this uh Sawtooth Mountain Clinic. Um we have a master contract. They uh particularly PHS to provide um different services for public
health, you know, like wick, things like that. So this particular one provides us some redundancy um for uh our uh mental health supervision. Um we uh it it provides some supervisory redundancy up there. So
um it's just uh it's an old contract. We're just updating some amounts and uh redoing it. So that's all I got on that. Any questions or comments? uh make a motion to uh approve the um
addendum to the Satuth Mountain Clinic contract. Support. Any further questions or comments? All in favor? I I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Now we'll have some updates. All right.
So, uh, I mentioned capital projects and I was, uh, wandered down to the basement the other day and in, uh, in between meetings. I don't know if you've all had a chance to do that, but I think they were painting. Um, and so, and I saw a cabinet truck outside today. So, I think
um, we're still on track to be ready to move people down there the first week of July. So, it's very exciting to be able to use that part of the building as a professional space and and use the resources we already have. So, I applaud um Brook's leadership on that and
keeping that moving and doing such a great job with that. Um I mentioned the Hovland Transfer Station, which is moving along. That's very exciting. Um and when I go over to the one array, of course, where we're going to be building something, huge piles of dirt. Have you
been by there? Yeah. I mean, you know, cuz they're digging, you know, they have to get it a trench that's 17 ft deep for the tops of the trucks to be able to move the garbage in there. And so all of that dirt and rock and whatever else
they're pulling out of there, they've got a big machine over there that's like sorting it, you know? So like gravel comes out over here and sand comes out over here and, you know, top soil comes out of here. And what that means is a lot of money being saved because instead
of hauling all of that in when they go back and do the roads in there, you know, they're they're creating it on site. So, um it's very exciting and um there's some bedrock in there. They're trying to figure out how to maybe use that and reduce the amount of concrete.
So, there's a lot of things going on there that um lead to some more money savings. So, very excited about that. I think, you know, we're we should be looking at like pre-cast panels end of July, early August. So, it's going to
start becoming remarkably different over there soon. Very exciting. It's a, you know, a project that's been near dear to my heart for almost two years. So, it's uh it's fun to see an idea come to life and appreciate all of your support for that.
um the administrator uh recruitment process. Um as you know, we have um made an offer to um Kristen Treble Hollers. I think she was busy over the weekend running the uh Duth um Grandma's
Marathon. Um so, and she still looked alive when we saw her yesterday after doing that. Um, and those those conversations are progressing and I feel like we're getting very close uh to uh working that through. Um, I was hoping
maybe we could finalize that by today, but we're going to we'll be uh pushing that to another meeting. Um, there is a just to let the public know there is a jury trial starting today and so the courthouse will be kind of busy. The
parking lot will be busy. So, just note that. And uh we anticipate that to be going on through Friday. And um kind of on that same note, um next week is the July 4th holiday. So a week from Friday, so the courthouse will be closed that
day. Um and it's sort of an amendment to that. On the 3rd, I'll be not here because I'm going to be picking up my puppy. So just right wanted to let you all know that. Um so um we are I think moving into July and um perhaps uh Brady
can comment on this more. We'll be starting more conversations about the budget. Um we've received those from the department heads. So there'll be uh probably more um presentations and opportunities to discuss that. So that's
what I've got. You have any questions for me? Okay. No questions. We'll move on then to um employee concerns or commissioner concerned reports. We have something big to share. Maybe
Commissioner Sullivan. All right. Um well, a number of us went down to our AMC District 1 meeting and I'm sure other commissioners that were um who were there will share as well. But one of the things I wanted to bring up related to our um work here in the
county is that um there is direct pay for counties for clean energy projects. And if you'll recall, our law enforcement center is um solar ready and um eligible projects that are turned in
for direct pay, it will pay for up to 70% of the cost of solar installation. And the other thing is that um other eligible projects include electric vehicles and chargers. So, I'm going to
share that information with Brook Lassard uh because I think there would are potential applications here in our community. Um the HA met last week and uh Commissioner Gamble may have some additional information, but one of the
things that um came up there as a discussion about the establishment of a local housing trust fund. And there has through state legislation um been some changes in the way that you dedicate local public revenue for
housing. Um but it provides a consistent flexible resource for housing within our jurisdiction. So there was discussion about that. And then a little update on things at the airport related to storing our apartment modules for the heights.
We heard back from the FAA twice. We heard once that they received all our letters of support. There were five of them that came. And then late yesterday um we got the following um from Marcus
Watson who is um our contact for the FAA here in Cook County. And he uh just says the following. Thanks for reaching out to our office about the proposed interim non-eronautical use of airport property. were interpreting the proposed interim
non-aronautical land use to be within parcel 2 as identified on exhibit A which was turned in and it showed that there was federal funding participation back in 1950 that results in us having to submit some
additional paperwork. So, we have been asked um and this is a requirement to um have a map with a very specific identification of that portion of the property. Documents on how the land was acquired back in the 50s
through federal conveyance, current use of the property, current and future aeronautical demand of the airport, including a copy of the master plan, weight list, forecasts, etc., which the FAA has but in a different department.
Um proposed use of the property, length of the use, environmental documentation to support the FAA land use change approval and um it will likely be called a documented categorical exclusion.
So, I am trying to digest this and we'll be spending the next couple of days gathering what they want and maybe reaching out to Brady and our county attorney and the airport to get that all in order and send it on its way quickly.
Commissioner Gamble. Yeah, thank you. Um, thank you for your your work on this. Housing is our number one priority. Nothing is nothing is easy. Um, did they give any indication if we
provide the things that they're looking for as to how much time they would take in determination to get back to us? No. Because that that sometimes is is problematic. And and what I would say is that if we're looking at our options and
our timeline and everything else, weighing all of that as to which direction we would go if in fact we have options. Um, not to say that we don't appreciate they're considering it as a flatout no as opposed to a flatout no,
but the incumbrances um might be prohibitive, especially if we don't have an idea as to how much time they're going to take in deliberation before they get back to us. I I um don't know how much time they by statute have up to
45 days. Um, but they gave me a contact who I will be calling this morning and I'll try to get more information on that. Um, other updates just real quickly, we have the Gunflint Lake Property Owners Association and Jim Morrison, who is
the, um, head of our volunteer fire department on the Gunflint Trail, shared some information about sheltering in place, um, which is new to kind of all the evacuation work that we have been focusing on in recent years. And um so
it was quite a lengthy presentation and um there was no one there from the sheriff's department and of course the sheriff is the one who actually calls an evacuation. So I'll be trying to uh meet with Sheriff Elias and others to get more information for all of us and for
our community about sheltering in place. And uh then Saturday um our former county surveyor Wayne Heni's memorial service occurred. uh Commissioner Stoley and I and a number of other county employers employees were there and it
was a very nice service and I did go to the invasives booth. Um I was at the event but I didn't go and talk to anybody. I just kind of cruised by very well attended and exciting. And um yesterday we had our safety committee meeting and we're looking at
just reviewing potential overlap from wellness and the safety committee making sure we're all um kind of streamlining our processes and doing the work that we need to do. And that would be my report. Anyone else? Commissioner Gamble. Thank
you, Madam Chair. To follow up on Commissioner Sullivan's comment relative to the HA. H had its uh strategic planning session in conjunction with its regular meeting monthly meeting and uh so I participated that it was in
conflict with the AMC meeting on that day but I felt it was important to participate in that uh as one of two commissioners and um so looking at that process we got through quite a few things to identify where we want to
focus our attention. Um and we will conclude that um at at a subsequent meeting the strategic planning and our focus basically as on what kind of housing should we be providing with the housing that we have
seen that we've provided uh how are we doing in that regard? How is that meeting actual need? And um uh affordability is is a significant issue when it comes to the housing. And so um
understanding uh what information informs our direction uh is best served when it comes from the people that actually live in our county. And there are studies and things that we can extrapolate information from, but it's always best to ask the people that you're trying to
serve. Um, the other thing when my wife and I had crossed the border the other day and I just asked border patrol on this side as far as housing goes, I guess 1976 75 something like that, 4 acres are set
aside. So there is that acreage that is up there that I was not aware of. Um but that was one of the things that certainly were identified along with um uh assisted living uh for people that are moving from homes or apartment
complexes into assistance before they would move into um a care center. So that's that's beneficial. It's always good to step back, especially when we have a new director, Jeff Brand, in that position to be able to look at and
receive direction as to where we're going to invest our our resources, both time, energy, and and money. Um and we did touch on the uh the trust fund and I mentioned this before but there uh in in
many seminars and workshops are just saying for organizations to be able to look at in developing trust funds uh tapping into the wealth that exists is how a lot of organizations will moving forward be successful because they
create those funding mechanisms. And it can be for individuals that choose to invest in something that they want to leave a legacy to which is important. And I mentioned in the last meeting that our university extension uh we had a gentleman from the University of
Minnesota present on the wealth that exists that uh should be should be considered. So telling your story is hugely important in that regard for people that want to invest in something that will live beyond their their lifetime.
And then also um the last of the fiveweek uh course with no on budgeting concludes tomorrow, Wednesday. And um uh it it's it's been um very informative uh
again uh counties um number of staff from different counties throughout the United States that have participated in that that it would be my intent to take uh the notes and the information that I've received in attending this course and uh share that um at least have a a
discussion uh depending upon timeline and different things with our new administrator and just look at this. I think anything that we can do to inform ourselves and and um uh bring evidence to the community whose dollars we spend
is is very beneficial. So, thank you. Anyone else have a report? The um district meeting was um really uh well attended and um a great update and there was so much information that we asked Julie to forward that. So all of
you have received that especially I was concerned about Medicaid and SNAP which um is discouraging but you know time will tell yet. July is when they're going to um supposedly Congress will act
on part of it. Um so it was you you know always good information and you like I said you received all that. Um this coming Thursday I will be attending the PILT meeting and I believe Gary is going to join us. Are you? Yes. Okay. And that
uh discussion is going to be um the point is that we really need a qualified assessor who would have background in minerals and all of that. So St. Louis County has put a lot of information together which we'll receive on Thursday
and or I mean yeah tomorrow Wednesday yes it was going to be another date. Okay. Yes. said, "We'll receive some info. We'll bring it back to you and just see, you know, there possibly will be cost in this and how we need to look
forward to someone outside of Minnesota to be looked at for higher on that." So, more to come on that. Anything else for reports? Okay. Upcoming meetings to note today we have our budget meeting. So, now we're
getting into the thick of things and um that's at um 3:00 with the Zoom. Otherwise, um normal regular regular meetings coming up for the um end of June and now we're looking at July
already and July 4th is coming fast. Celebration and toy. Uh we also have correspondent memos, sales tax comparison through April of 25, lodging tax comparable through April
of 25. And there be no further business. We're joined. Thanks everyone. Got inspection with the Duth Host July. I've got to have everything in.
It was so cold. Me too. My house.