A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Sorted by date Results 151 - 166 of 166
Thanks to a more competitive bidding process, Carlton County stands to save a lot of money on the cost of hauling garbage from the county transfer station to the landfill. Zoning and Environmental Services administrator Heather Cunningham told Carlton County commissioners during their March 12 meeting that hauling costs to the Superior, Wis. landfill have been bid openly for several years. The transfer station produces about 16,000 tons annually, and those costs went up in 2017 when SKB Environmental was the only bidder. However, last year,...
This has been one of our old-style winters with lots of snow and at times high winds. Locals complain of the inconvenience of it all: slippery roads, poor snowplow service, and high heating bills from the subzero temperatures. Yet we can go back to other winters such as the winter of 1940-41 and the famous Armistice Day storm. In this photo from Lila Kaski Schwoch of Barnum, the Carlton County snow removal truck of the period, a powerful but slow Oshkosh truck with cables running the front plow...
The county may be taking up residence in Cloquet City Hall before summer comes. “Our goal continues to be a building for County occupancy with little cost to the county taxpayer,” county coordinator Dennis Genereau said at the Carlton County Committee of the Whole meeting earlier this month. “Cloquet officials still say they will be out of the present City Hall late spring.” Genereau said plans center around installing an elevator in the new building to provide easy access to the large basement, adding that the County Coordinator and Human R...
Carlton County commissioner Mark Thell and assessor Kyle Holmes spoke to the Carlton County Board of Commissioners during Tuesday's meeting about their appearance at a hearing at the State Legislature regarding the issue of repayment to utility companies for years they were deemed as overtaxed on their properties. The two men testified in support of a bill authored by State Rep. Mike Sundin that would make the State Commissioner of Revenue fully responsible for any paybacks if litigation goes ag...
The unexpected expense of a special primary and general election for the Minnesota Senate District 11 seat was an unpleasant surprise for more than one Carlton County official. “Why do the costs for a special primary and special election fall solely on the local counties and townships involved?” asked Carlton County Commissioner Gary Peterson at the Adjourned Session of the County Board Monday, Jan. 28. “The state of Minnesota should cover the costs.” Auditor/Treasurer Paul Gassert explained the makeup of the more than $50,000 in costs,...
Marking the end of another year, the Carlton County Board of Commissioners reorganized and elected new chairs and vice-chairs for the board and the Committee of the Whole, and made committee assignments. Following the tradition of rotating the chair position among the five commissioners, Cloquet’s District 1 Commissioner Dick Brenner was unanimously elected chair for 2019. Brenner was elected 26 years ago and is the longest-serving board commissioner. He spent most of his working career first at Northwest Paper and then later at Potlatch. He c...
Another Minnesota tax court settlement has been finalized, and county residents will pay higher future taxes as a result. According to Carlton County auditor Paul Gassert, Great Rivers Energy utility will now be assessed less for its line that crosses Western Carlton County north and south — affecting the townships of Split Rock, Automba, Lakeview, Eagle, Red Clover and Beseman. Gassert explained that the recently passed 2019 budget for Carlton County will not change as a result of the settlement; rather, the 1.5 percent impact will be borne by...
“I am proud of the work all county departments have done to finalize the 2019 budget,” Carlton County board chairwoman Sue Zmyslony said Dec. 26 at the final board meeting of 2018. “We started with a projected 9.83-percent levy increase at the beginning of work on the budget but have now set the levy increase at 2.98 percent.” A total of $27,429,683 will be levied in Carlton County property taxes for 2019. The 2.98 percent increase is the lowest in the last six years, when increases ranged from 3.48 percent in 2016 to a high of 4.95 percent in...
“The stars are in alignment,” said Twin Lakes Township Chairperson Diane Felde-Fink at the Dec. 11 Carlton County Board of Commissioners meeting, “and we are now preparing for our proposal for the state bonding bill.” The Highway 210 Waterline and Infrastructure proposal will provide water to the Carlton Junction area, paired with a new water tower, well, and water main work in the City of Carlton. The plan is projected to cost $9 million with a large portion paid from a grant from the state bonding bill. At least 20 percent of the money n...
Carlton County’s Truth in Taxation Hearing was held Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 6 p.m. with the Transportation Building Meeting Room about three-fourths full of onlookers. No decision about the final levy on property taxes for county services was made that evening but residents did address the board. “We as a Board make a final decision the last meeting of the year,” Commissioner Dick Brenner explained. “We may call a special meeting as has been done sometimes in the past. Each one of the Board members takes this decision seriously and knows that it...
The Carlton County Board of Commissioners are considering a rather novel use for the current Cloquet City Council Chambers, once the city employees move down the street and the current building becomes county property. “Let us see if Sixth District Chief Judge [Sally] Tarnowski would be open to having a courtroom established in the purchased current Cloquet City Hall boardroom,” said Commissioner Dick Brenner, chair of the Committee of the Whole (COW) at the Dec. 4 COW meeting. “We, as a County Board, are having pressure from our Sixth Judic...
Changes to the county’s snowplowing policies have some rural residents worried they’ll be left out in the cold. Carlton County Commissioner Gary Peterson opened a discussion about the newly implemented County Transportation Policy for opening private driveways at the adjourned session of the Carlton County Board of Commissioners Nov. 26. “I received a few phone calls from concerned Carlton County residents that have depended on the snowplowing service but question the new cost schedule, the sign-up date, and the $450 per winter fee (for the fir...
The Carlton County Board of Commissioners voted Nov. 13 to sell the Shaw Library building to its longtime tenant, the Carlton County Historical Society, for exactly $1. And that is not much more than what the county paid for the building when it took possession of the historic property from the city of Cloquet. It was a decision months in the making, a debate that started when county officials decided they didn’t want to make the large investments required to renovate the former library and solicited proposals for the building — home to CCHS si...
This was the second time in my life that the police called about a friend close to me. This time it was Harold Haapoja, dying unexpectedly, and they were seeking relatives to contact. I searched for phone numbers or tried to think of a way to contact the relatives. I remember staring at the wall for quite a while. I could not cry but just let the sadness settle in. Harold came to me, alive as can be, and spoke to me in my thoughts, saying it would be OK. More than 20 years ago, Harold and I started to collaborate in plays and perform in...
Carlton County Board of Commissioners aim to make a decision in early December on funding the Carlton County Historical Society for budget year 2019 and where to house the Society's future activities. An architectural firm has offered $50,000 for the building and is willing to commit to a major upgrade to the building, resolving major structural issues. Major water damage occurred in the 2012 Flood and neither the county -- which owns the building -- or CCHS has the money to invest in the...
The Carlton County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved buying the present Cloquet City Hall for $750,000, paid over six years with no interest, at their meeting Monday, Oct. 9. “Opportunities to find space at a reasonable price has been our goal,” explained County Coordinator Dennis Genereau. “This building is adjacent to the Health and Human Services complex and its parking area. We first hoped to sign an agreement at the $600,000 figure but several private parties were interested in the building. Fond Du Lac Band was eager to buy b...
