County Board agrees to hook up to Highway 210 waterline expansion

“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 needs to come from commercial and residential assessments in order to be exempt from taxes. Under the terms of the agreement, the county will commit to 1,000 gallons per day for the transportation building and 5,000 gallons per day coming from the anticipated development of the county’s industrial park to the east of the transportation building in the old railway pit. Those commitments will have an impact on the size of the water line.

Peterson asked what would be gained by joining the project as the county already has two wells and a holding tank at the Transportation Building to handle emergencies.

“I do know when we built the Transportation Building we had to drill five wells, as I remember, until we got enough water for this building’s needs,” Commissioner Dick Brenner responded adding that he didn’t think the county should commit to a level of usage until the Fond du Lac Band commits to a figure for the casino complex.

County Engineer JinYeene Neumann said the county building has an adequate supply of water currently.

“There is no assurance that there will be no well trouble in the future,” she added.

While the total project cost is known, the cost for individual users is still an unknown. A letter from the Twin Lakes Board explained that the estimated cost to the county may be adjusted, once the Fond du Lac Band commits to its requested gallons per minute for the Black Bear Casino, when eligibility and scope of financial assistance from the state is determined, and once final project costs are estimated.

County Board Chair Sue Zmyslony pushed along for a vote and a motion to participate in the Waterline Expansion project passed unanimously.

In other business:

• No one commented on a proposed buffer ordinance which was adopted unanimously later in the meeting. A state grant of $50,000 was accepted to fund implementation in 2019. The ordinance states its purpose is to protect state water resources from erosion and runoff pollution, as well as stabilize soils, shores and banks. The ordinance also coordinates to implement and enforce requirements of Minnesota statutes in relation to shoreline management and public drainage systems. Read more online at the Carlton County website.

• Goodwill Industries is raising its rate for each mattress it recycles. The transfer station contracts to haul clean and dry used mattresses to Goodwill. After Jan. 1, dry mattresses will be charged $13 and, in order to encourage recycling, landfilled mattresses will be received for $17.

• Discussion continues on what software program will be used by county departments for electronic timesheets that will replace paper versions. The transportation department uses its own electronic timesheet program and probably will not participate in the change.

“We have looked at nine different options and all of them will not work for us,” County Coordinator Dennis Genereau said, adding that a new service called Paycom may be the answer, although is not being used in any other county in the state.

“We do not want to be the guinea pig to test out this system,” Peterson said.

Action was tabled on the software implementation.