REGULAR MEETING OF THE KOOCHICHING COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Held on Tuesday, February 04, 2003; 10:00 a.m.

MEMBERS PRESENT: Commissioners Lepper, Adee, Hanson, Chezick, Pavleck

MEMBERS ABSENT: None

OTHERS ATTENDING: Einar Sundin, Florence Hervey, Ann Scholler, Susan Congrave, Nancy Lee-Schafer, Doug Grindall, Dennis Hummitzsch, James Palm, Tim Flaherty and Carrie Felber via conference phone; Reporters Laurel Beager, Jen O’Reily, Roger Jerome

2003/02-01 Motion by Adee, seconded by Pavleck to approve the agenda with additions and deletions. Voting yes: Lepper, Adee, Hanson, Chezick, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2003/02-02 Motion by Hanson, seconded by Adee to approve the minutes of the January 28, 2003 special meeting. Voting yes: Lepper, Adee, Hanson, Chezick, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2003/02-03 Motion by Hanson, seconded by Chezick to approve payment of the Auditor bills in the amount of $54,538.08, to approve payment of the Board’s monthly per diem and expense in the amount of $5,941.52, to approve payment to Johnson, Killen & Seiler P.A. in the amount of $4,106.80 for negotiation and personnel legal services with payment from the Administration Legal Budgets, and to approve payment in the amount of $2,400.00 for the January Board of Prisoners claim. Payment detail on file in the Auditor’s Office. Voting yes: Lepper, Adee, Hanson, Chezick, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2003/02-04 Motion by Hanson, seconded by Chezick approving a two-year contract with MAXIMUS, Inc. for production of the County’s Indirect Cost Allocation Plan for seeking federal reimbursement for administration of federal programs for the calendar years 2004 and 2005. Voting yes: Lepper, Adee, Hanson, Chezick, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2003/02-05 Motion by Pavleck, seconded by Hanson to set the 2003 Board of Equalization meetings as follows: open session on Monday, June 16, 2003, take initial appointments on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 in the afternoon and closing the session on Friday, June 27, 2003. Voting yes: Lepper, Adee, Hanson, Chezick, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2003/02-06 Motion by Pavleck, seconded by Adee to submit Board’s support for President Bush’s proposal for Healthy Forests Initiatives including allowing land managers to respond to natural disasters to avoid more severe consequences down the line, allowing the Forest service to use science-based forest plans to manage National Forests and revising the Forest Service Appeals Process to improve public participation. Voting yes: Lepper, Adee, Hanson, Chezick, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2003/02-07 Motion by Pavleck, seconded by Adee authorizing expenditure of $920.00 plus sales tax from the 2003 Sheriff Building Improvement Capital Budget (code 6661) to replace a wire plate glass in the jail cellblock which was broken by an inmate with cost reimbursement from the County’s Insurance Trust after the $500 deductible. Motion further directs that all efforts be made by the Sheriff and Court to seek restitution from the individual for the damage. Voting yes: Lepper, Adee, Hanson, Chezick, Pavleck. Motion carried.

000 The Public Health Director requested approval to fill a vacant Home Health Aide position due to an upcoming March 14, 2003 resignation and the need to replace the position to serve their clients. Discussion was held on allowing private agencies to pick up this service and the status of Public Health in the home care business. It was agreed to set committee of the whole time for February 25, 2003 for the Public Health Director and Board to again discuss Public Health’s role in providing home care service.

2003/02-08 Motion by Chezick, seconded by Hanson authorizing the Public Health Department to hire one Home Health Aide to fill a vacancy due to an upcoming resignation. Voting yes: Chezick, Hanson; voting no: Lepper, Adee, Pavleck. Motion fails.

000 The Highway Engineer reviewed the bid results for bituminous and bridge work with the Board. Hardrives, Inc. came in with the lowest bid for bituminous work for the west portion of the County and includes the Nelson Park Landing, which is incorporated in the Land and Forestry’s 2003 Budget. The Land Commissioner recommends award of the bid as it is well below budget.

2003/02-09 Motion by Pavleck, seconded by Chezick to award low bid to Hardrives, Inc. in the amount of $729,625.30 for bituminous work for SAP 36-600-09 (UT 392), SAP 36-618-08 (CSAH 18 Koochiching), SAP 39-618-02 (CSAH 18 LOW), SAP 36-685-02 (CSAH 85), SAP 36-718-02 (CSAH 118) as recommended by the Highway Engineer and Nelson Park Landing as recommended by the Land Commissioner. Motion further directs the Highway Engineer to secure proper documentation for legal and liability purposes for the bituminous work on the portion of CSAH 18 in Lake of the Woods County. Voting yes: Lepper, Adee, Hanson, Chezick, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2003/02-10 Motion by Pavleck, seconded by Chezick to award low bid to Hardrives, Inc. in the amount of $62,532.80 for bituminous work for SAP 36-624-16 (Van Lynn Road) as recommended by the Highway Engineer. Voting yes: Lepper, Adee, Hanson, Chezick, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2003/02-11 Motion by Hanson, seconded by Chezick to table bid award for SAP 36-598-20 (Silverdale Bridge) due to high bids and further review needed by the Highway Engineer. Voting yes: Lepper, Adee, Hanson, Chezick, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2003/02-12 Motion by Pavleck, seconded by Chezick awarding the following bulk delivery bids for 2003: propane (firm price) for all County sites to Ferrellgas, furnace oil and diesel fuel for all sites except Silverdale to Bergstrom Oil and diesel fuel for the Silverdale area to Nagurski Oil; motion further awards service station bids for unleaded gas to Holiday Station, diesel fuel to Freedom Value Center, unleaded gas for the Birchdale area to Nelson’s Store and out-of-county service station service to Freedom Value and Holiday Station as recommended by the Highway Engineer. Voting yes: Lepper, Adee, Hanson, Chezick, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2003/02-13 Motion by Pavleck, seconded by Adee that the County of Koochiching enter into an agreement with the State of Minnesota, Department of Transportation to request that the State perform certain technical, transportation-related services identified in the Available Services Section of the agreement and that the County will submit a brief written request for each service in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth and contained in the Partnership Contract, a copy of which was before the Board. Be it further resolved that the Highway Engineer and Board Chair be authorized to execute such agreement and any amendments and thereby assume for and on behalf of the County all of the contractual obligations contained therein. Voting yes: Lepper, Adee, Hanson, Chezick, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2003/02-14 Motion by Chezick, seconded by Adee to add an ATP report to the agenda as requested by the Highway Engineer. Voting yes: Lepper, Adee, Hanson, Chezick, Pavleck. Motion carried.

000 The Highway Engineer stated that the Area Transportation Partnership (ATP) will meet on February 14, 2003 in the boardroom to review local projects. Proposed are railroad crossing signals for the Ericsburg area, a ten mile upgrade of Trunk Highway 11 west of the junction and upgrade of Hwy 332 (truck route) from Hwy 71 to Hwy 53. MnDot staff will meet with the Board on March 25, 2003 at 11:00 a.m. to provide their annual report and review the ATP proposals. Commissioner Hanson requested that Bemidji MnDot staff be present as Trunk Highway 11 west of the junction is breaking up causing hazardous driving conditions.

000 Lobbyist Carrie Felber and Tim Flaherty provided the Board a legislative update via conference call. Not a lot is going on at this time in the House and Senate for the first phase of balancing the State Budget except that they conducted side by side comparisons and met to talk philosophy about how to achieve the cuts. There are no plans at this time for further meetings, which makes the Governor’s unallotment plan a real possibility (50/50 chance). If unallotment occurs, the norm is that the State budget is permanently reduced by the unallotted amount and will serve as the base for the Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005 State Budget. The LCMR grant for the County’s Water Coop Project appears to be in tact as they are looking at a five-percent across the board cut of all projects, not picking individual projects to cut. The Governor’s tax free zone proposal continues to move forward for Greater Minnesota, however, metro counties are also pushing for tax free zones putting competition into the mix. The Governor’s initial proposal calls for about ten tax free zones but our lobbyists feel by the time it is all said and done, there will be about four or five. The lobbyist stated that County officials should review the tax free zone criteria as those thinking they would meet the criteria are finding they do not. At this time the funding for the Jackfish Bay Sewer Project (WIF Dollars) are secure as these are state bonded dollars for specific purposes and it would be difficult to reallocate them, but the possibility still exists. The lobbyist also stated that they did not think a bonding bill was likely this year. The Port Authority Bill for Koochiching County appears to have good support. After discussion, the lobbyist was directed to monitor and report on this bill. With regards to the Senate’s proposal to place a public employee pay freeze, the lobbyist felt this proposal is a formula to cut aid based on the amount of pay increases a local unit of government provides and leaving local units of governments to decide how to administer the funding cut to avoid the State having to deal with the legalities with freezing public employees pay. The lobbyist requested that a list of all state and federal aids be provided them so they can track funding cuts to the County’s revenue sources. A Governor’s pre-budget document will be available on February 11 with the final budget available on February 18th. It was agreed to set the next legislative update for February 18, 2003.

2003/02-15 Motion by Adee, seconded by Hanson to adjourn the meeting at 12:15 a.m. Voting yes: Lepper, Adee, Hanson, Chezick, Pavleck. Motion carried.