Brenner elected chair of Carlton County Board

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 continues to be an active force on the Arrowhead Regional Corrections Board, local economic development, the county building/facilities committee, and county finance issues.

Esko Commissioner (District 2) Marv Bodie was elected the new county board vice-chair and the chair of the Committee of the Whole. District 3 Commissioner Tom Proulx was elected vice-chair of the Committee of the Whole.

This was the first meeting for newly elected Fourth District Commissioner Mark Thell. Thell served the Soil and Water Conservation District for many years. He is now the county board’s liaison for the SWCD and will be the board’s representative — along with Commissioner Gary Peterson — for the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline project. Thell will also be the board representative on the County Fair Board, and is on the County Extension Committee.

The Moose Lake Star Gazette, the only legal newspaper published in Carlton County, continues as the Carlton County official newspaper for publishing board meeting minutes at a rate of $6.03 per column-inch, with other official notices at $7.50 per column-inch and the delinquent tax list at $6.03 per column-inch. The rate to publish board meeting minutes was increased from $5.82 per column-inch last year, according to County Auditor/Treasurer Paul Gassert.

The board determined that meetings will continue to be held at the Transportation Building with regular County Board meetings at 8:30 a.m. on the second Tuesday of each month and adjourned meetings at 4 p.m. on the fourth Monday of each month. Exceptions to this schedule are adjourned meetings on Jan. 28 and May 28 at 4 p.m., and the regular meeting on Dec. 10 at 4 p.m.

Committee of the Whole meetings will be the first Tuesday of each month at 4 p.m. starting in February.

Approval was given for the County to enter into a reconstruction agreement with Cloquet and Scanlon for Washington Avenue (CSAH 16) in Cloquet from Trunk Highway 33 to CSAH 45 for bituminous paving, paved shared-use path, storm sewer rehabilitation, ADA improvements, and paving of municipal facilities for Scanlon between 22nd Street and 26th Street.

A Safe Routes to School project for the Cromwell-Wright School District is supported by the County Board, and Carlton County will be the fiscal agent for the project. Approximately 2,000 feet on the west side of Highway 73 from Highway 210 to the entrance of Villa Court Senior Living will be paved for a Safe Routes to School path.

Commissioner Gary Peterson addressed the crowd during the commissioner comments portion of the meeting. Peterson said he continues to be deeply concerned about the latest statistics showing that vaping, the use of a supposedly non-tobacco product, is increasing dramatically, but felt changes in the law must be spearheaded by the Public Health staff, physicians, health care providers, educators and concerned parents to make an impact.

Peterson also said the veterans’ property tax exclusion is having an impact on the local property tax base.

“This needs to be compensated by the state of Minnesota to relieve a burden on our other property taxpayers,” he said.

Peterson is the county’s representative on the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency’s board. Under its auspices, about 41,000 meals were served this last year. Arrowhead Transport gave more than 72,000 rides for county residents, with about 4,600 rides given in the rural areas. Twenty-five of the AEOA’s employees work in the Carlton County Workforce Center.