REGULAR MEETING OF THE KOOCHICHING COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Held on Tuesday, September 23, 2008; 10:00 a.m.

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

MEMBERS ABSENT: None

OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE: Doug Grindall, Michael Malachi, Terry Glowack, Allen Kruse,
Jane Besch, Richard Lehtinen, Scott Anderson, Phil Miller, Tom Sutch, Pam Tomevi, Justin Berg, Krystina Meyer; Reporter Lisa Kascke

2008/09-23 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Briggs to approve the agenda with additions and deletions. Voting yes: Pavleck, Hanson, Adee, Lepper, Briggs. Motion carried.

2008/09-24 Motion by Briggs, seconded by Adee to approve the minutes from the September 16 County Board meeting. Voting yes: Pavleck, Hanson, Adee, Lepper, Briggs. Motion carried.

2008/09-25 Motion by Hanson, seconded by Lepper accepting the recommendation of the County Insurance Committee to approve a Non-Union Hourly Employee Group Representative seat on the Committee and appointing Nancy Lee to the position. Voting yes: Pavleck, Hanson, Adee, Lepper, Briggs. Motion carried.

2008/09-26 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee to approve payment of the Auditor claims in the amount of $40,151.54, to approve payment of the Health claims in the amount of $21,129.05 and to approve payment of the Community Service Department financial and social service program claims and administrative claims as presented. Voting yes: Pavleck, Hanson, Adee, Lepper, Briggs. Motion carried.

2008/09-27 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Briggs to approve publication of the 2007 County Financial Statement Summary as recommended by Administration. Voting yes: Pavleck, Hanson, Adee, Lepper, Briggs. Motion carried.

000 The Committee working on the County Veterans Memorial Project provided 4 options for Board consideration after receiving the cost of the concrete work for the project. The concrete work is specialized and includes painting of a star in the center and only one quote was received for the work at a cost of $28,059, which was over the original estimate. After reviewing options as to whether to cut back on the project or add the extra funding to complete the original design, the Board agreed to adjust the $75,000 budget by $15,000 adding $6,000 for 2008 and $9,000 in 2009 to complete the star painting and landscaping in the spring. Commissioners also discussed the potential of family and/or organization memorial donations to help offset cost.

2008/09-28 Motion by Briggs, seconded by Lepper to adjust the Veteran Memorial Project Budget of $75,000 to $81,000 for 2008 to complete work planned for this fall and to allocate $9,000 in the 2009 Budget to complete the landscaping and do the concrete painting in the spring; further to campaign and accept memorial donations through the County Veterans Services Office. Voting yes: Pavleck, Hanson, Adee, Lepper, Briggs. Motion carried.

2008/09-29 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Hanson to renew the Northeast Entrepreneur Fund Non-Financial Agreement as recommended by the Community Service Director and upon approval of the County Attorney. Voting yes: Pavleck, Hanson, Adee, Lepper, Briggs. Motion carried.

2008/09-30 Motion by Hanson, seconded by Lepper to approve an amendment to the Minnesota Care Contract correcting the amount paid to the county for services which was determined to be higher than what was in the original agreement, as recommended by the Community Service Director and upon approval of the County Attorney. Voting yes: Pavleck, Hanson, Adee, Lepper, Briggs. Motion carried.

2008/09-31 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee accepting the following recommendations for Foster Care, Day Care and Adult Foster Care Licensing: Forrest and Holly Nicholson to relicense home for foster care of one child; Jahn M. Carlson to relicense home for foster care of three children; Clifford Hall and Patricia Kellner to relicense home for adult foster care; Val and Dale Olsen to relicense home for adult foster care. Voting yes: Pavleck, Hanson, Adee, Lepper, Briggs. Motion carried.

000 The Environmental Service Director stated that $3,000 was needed for repair and improvements on the county-owned house and yard for resell (property purchased to retain a section of land for the Jackfish Sewer Project with the intent to resell the remaining property). It was agreed the Director and Coordinator would review funding options within the existing budget and come back to the Board if a budget adjustment is necessary.

000 The Director requested direction as to the next step in pursuing the option of extending municipal sewer to the Island View area after hosting the public meeting on September 10th. Cost estimate from the feasibility study is $11 million. About eighty people attended the public meeting and there appeared to be a general agreement that sewer would be an acceptable wastewater treatment system for this area but household cost would be the determining factor. The Board was in agreement to have the Director organize a work group to brainstorm and plat out a course of action for moving forward on the proposal to include research on potential environmental protection/quality funding sources from the federal and state government.

2008/09-32 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Hanson to close session at 11:25 a.m. for attorney-client privilege review of the pending litigation of Jacobson vs. Koochiching County with MCIT’s assigned legal counsel and the County Attorney. Voting yes: Pavleck, Hanson, Adee, Lepper, Briggs. Motion carried.

2008/09-33 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee that due to scheduled public comment period, to open session at 11:30 a.m. to conduct public comment business. Voting yes: Pavleck, Hanson, Adee, Lepper, Briggs. Motion carried.

000 The Board opened public comment. Tom Sutch addressed the Board on the CSAH 2 Shoulder Widening Project in which a couple property owners were allowed to keep the trees and fences that are in the right-of-way and resulted in deeper ditches in these areas. He felt the County has the opportunity to fix the road with ditch slopes to road standards for safety purposes and he feels road safety is being compromised because exceptions were made for a couple of property owners. The rest of the property owners on the road lost the trees in the right of way so the shoulder and ditch work could be done properly to make the road better and safer. The Highway Engineer stated that the original proposal was for reconstruction of the road which was heavily opposed by property owners due to taking of land for right of way purposes. The Highway Engineer with support of the Board proposed a reduced shoulder widening project and some compromise was done to minimize impact with property owners to get the road condition improved overall and that safety and design were not compromised in this plan. The Soil and Water Coordinator Pam Tomevi introduced Justin Berg as the new District Technician and Krystina Meyer as the new Program Assistant.

2008/09-34 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee to add review of the CSAH 2 Shoulder Widening Project to the agenda in which the Board members will review the road at lunch and consider the public comment on the project in the afternoon session. Voting yes: Pavleck, Hanson, Adee, Lepper, Briggs. Motion carried.

2008/09-35 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Briggs to return to closed session at 11:55 a.m. Voting yes: Pavleck, Hanson, Adee, Lepper, Briggs. Motion carried.

2008/09-36 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee to open session and recess for lunch at 12:30 p.m. Voting yes: Pavleck, Hanson, Adee, Lepper, Briggs. Motion carried.

000 After viewing the CSAH 2 Road Project and considering the public comment received on the project, the Board concurred that discretion was given the Highway Engineer to get the shoulder widening project done to improve the road condition and that the Board will support the decisions made by the Highway Engineer in determining this project.

2008/09-37 Motion by Hanson, seconded by Lepper to adjourn the meeting at 3:30 p.m. Voting yes: Pavleck, Hanson, Adee, Lepper; absent for vote: Briggs. Motion carried.