Koochiching County Board Minutes

Board Minutes

for

March 3, 2009

REGULAR MEETING OF THE KOOCHICHING COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Held on Tuesday, March 3, 2009; 11:00 a.m.

OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE: Ann Scholler, Terry Murray, Doug Grindall, Carl Bowman, Russ Tilander, Terry Randolph, Arden Barnes; Reporters Lisa Kaczke and Dave Chapman

2009/03-01 Motion by Lepper, seconded by McBride to approve the agenda with additions and deletions. Voting yes: McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/03-02 Motion by McBride, seconded by Lepper to approve the minutes from the February 24, 2009 regular meeting. Voting yes: McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/03-03 Motion by Lepper, seconded by McBride to approve payment of the monthly County Board expense claims in the amount of $8,834.65. Voting yes: McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/03-04 Motion by Pavleck, seconded by Lepper accepting the recommendation of the County Licensing Committee to approve the following licenses: Almost Lindy’s Inc. for an On Sale/Sunday Intoxicating Liquor License from March 20, 2009 through December 31, 2009; International Falls Country Club, Inc. for an On Sale/Sunday Intoxicating Liquor License and a Tobacco License from April 1, 2009 through October 31, 2009. Voting yes: McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/03-05 Motion by Pavleck, seconded by Lepper accepting the recommendation of the Auditor/Treasurer to write off $2,159.36 of a Sunset Cove Waterline Assessment plus interest due to the final year of the 29 year assessment inadvertently missed for posting to the tax statements and therefore not collected in 2008. Voting yes: McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/03-06 Motion by Pavleck, seconded by Lepper to approve sponsorship of the Ridgerunner Snowmobile Club in the FY 2009 MN Trail Assistance Program for Off Highway Vehicles covering the Blue Ox ATV Trail in the amount of $16,000. Sponsorship by the County requires that a Club/County Agreement be in effect (Agreement on file in the Auditor-Treasurer’s Office). As sponsor, the County is accountable to the State for expenditures charged to the program; sponsorship does not require financial support or liability for cost from the County. Motion further authorizes the Board Chair and Auditor-Treasurer to sign said Grant Agreement. Voting yes: McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/03-07 Motion by Lepper, seconded by McBride authorizing the Board Chair to appoint two members to represent the County at the Custom Border Station Expansion Study Meetings. Voting yes: McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried. (Vice Chair Adee appointed Commissioner Pavleck and Commissioner McBride.).
2009/03-08 Motion by Pavleck, seconded by Lepper to approve the sale of county property described as a part of Lot 10, Auditor’s Plat 5 at a purchase price of $85,000 less settlement costs with sale revenue deposited in the Environmental Trust Fund and further, authorize Board Chair’s signature to the Warranty Deed. Voting yes: McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/03-09 Motion by McBride, seconded by Pavleck to approve a service agreement with Doug Skrief for planning and grant writing for a period of January 1, 2009 through June 30, 2009 for the Koochiching Aging Options Board with services funded through the allocation provided by the County for planning a new non-profit senior solution service organization as recommended by the Community Service Director (Community Services acting as fiscal agent) and upon approval of the County Attorney. Voting yes: McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

000 The Highway Engineer presented a request to call for bituminous bids for three CSAH roads and a proposal for county and township roads east of International Falls. As discussed with the Board at a committee session last week, mix prices are low and the Engineer is hoping to leverage more bituminous overlay work on county roads for the fixed county dollar amount set in the 2009 Highway Budget. Carl Bowman, local contractor, felt that the projects should be broken up and bid separately over a period of time to help local contractors compete with the outside contractors who normally bid all the projects together and obtain the low bid overall. The Engineer stated that the county road project is intended to be tied to one CSAH project because it is in the same area, which makes sense for both the County and the contractor. But whether the bid submitted is on for all projects or for individual projects, the choice is there for any contractor. The Board members discussed the need to support the local economy but has to weigh that with the responsibility to the taxpayer to obtain the lowest cost. The Board requested information from the Engineer on past road project bids to see if the process has a disadvantage overall to local contractors in competing against outside contractors.

2009/03-10 Motion by Lepper, seconded by McBride authorizing the Highway Engineer to call for bids for bituminous work for CSAH 102, CSAH 94, CSAH 2 and county and township roads east of International Falls as recommended by the Highway Engineer with a bid opening of April 6, 2009 and bid results presented to the County Board on April 7, 2009. Voting yes: McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

000 The Highway Engineer reviewed the request to purchase a shouldering machine attachment for road shoulder maintenance as using the grader to do the work scrapes the road surface and pushes material into the slopes, wasting materials. The Engineer stated he would consider using county forces to do the shoulder work for the county road projects to be bid on April 6th if the bid price for the shouldering work is high. Commissioner Pavleck was supportive of the machine purchase for maintenance work but did not support using the machine for shoulder construction work as this should be bid along with road construction work.

2009/03-11 Motion by Lepper, seconded by McBride authorizing the Highway Engineer to purchase a Shouldering Machine Attachment with a cost not to exceed $6,500 as set in the 2009 Highway Budget. Voting yes: McBride, Adee, Lepper; voting no: Pavleck. Motion carried.
2009/03-12 Motion by McBride, seconded by Pavleck authorizing Board members’ attendance to a meeting being hosted by the Chamber of Commerce on Monday, March 9, 2009 at 8:00 a.m. at Rainy River Community College to discuss needs of our area with the MN Chamber Vice President for support in the 2010 state bonding bill. Voting yes: McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

000 The Board Chair called for public comment at 11:50 a.m. Russ Tilander, an employee of Boise’s Processing Center, stated support for the County’s Highway 332 Project as the Burner Road needs to be vacated to Boise for safety reasons. He informed the Board 120,000 cords of wood cross the Burner Road in a year and the concern of Boise employees working in this area for the public’s safety is increasing as the number of crossings increase. Board members stated that due to concerns expressed by the International Falls business owners last week and learning of the Border Customs expansion study, the Board today appointed members to attend the Custom Station Expansion Study meetings to propose an idea of designing the Custom Station expansion to accommodate a redesign of the bridge line making Highway 53 the feasible route to take to get in the bridge line to Canada, which should alleviate concerns that tourists will use the County’s Highway 332 Route to get in line. The Board members stated that there are so many interests that have come into play around this road project and the County Board is doing their best to weigh them all. The Highway Engineer stated that he is moving forward on presenting road design plans to satisfy the MNDot Commissioner’s order to submit plans within 60 days, and knowing the City of International Falls is requested denial of the order through the Court of Appeals. Terry Randolph, VFW Commander, informed the Board of upcoming veteran events such as Vietnam Veteran Welcome Home Day, Veterans Loyalty Days and plans to hold another Stand Down. Aarden Barnes asked whether county roads in French Addition were looked at as possible routes to the Foreign Trade Zone. The Engineer stated that this was looked at when he was asked to review potential routes and it was concluded that this residential area was not conducive to a high truck traffic road. Ms. Barnes asked if the County considered purchasing private property for sale by the Highway 11 Overpass to construct an emergency service road for Ranier and the lake area. Board members stated that talks continue with the railroad and that this option was looked at, however, the estimated cost is high.

2009/03-13 Motion by McBride, seconded by Pavleck to adjourn the meeting at 12:15 p.m. Voting yes: McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.