Board welcomes 2 new members, organizes

The Carlton County board met Tuesday for its annual organizational meeting.

Sixth District judge Amy Lukasavitz administered the swearing in of newly elected commissioners Sarah Plante Buhs and Dan Reed, along with reelected District 3 commissioner Tom Proulx, representing most of Cloquet.

Plante Buhs represents District 1, including large parts of rural Cloquet and Sawyer, while Reed is the District 5 commissioner, representing the western half of Carlton County, including Cromwell, Wright, Kettle River and Moose Lake.

District 2 commissioner Marv Bodie, representing Carlton, Esko and parts of Scanlon, ascended to the chairmanship as part of a rotation that saw District 4 commissioner Susan Zmyslony, representing the Barnum and Wrenshall areas, give up the gavel. Proulx rotated in to be the vice chair.

"Every year is a new adventure," Bodie said, thanking Zmyslony for her work as chairwoman in 2024.

Reed made his voice heard early, weighing in on the consent agenda, which public boards use for expediency's sake to pass through more benign business items. One item on the consent agenda was the county's transportation department seeking approval to use the county website to post publication of bids and requests for proposals.

"I'm not too fond of consent agendas," Reed said. "I think we should talk about everything."

Bodie told Reed commissioners can feel free to pull any item from the consent agenda for discussion as part of the regular agenda.

Much of the meeting found Bodie overseeing the dissemination of committee assignments. Each commissioner spends a lot of their time sitting on numerous committees - some joint powers boards that feature other counties, such as the Arrowhead Regional Corrections board, and other advisory boards that make recommendations to higher authorities.

Zmyslony said she was involved with 19 committees in 2024, and will be on nearly as many for 2025.

"The committees are important to people, and they're important to us, too," Zmyslony said.

Only two commissioners can be on a committee to avoid board quorum.

Among the top assignments:

• Bodie on the Arrowhead Regional Corrections board, with Proulx as an alternate.

• Bodie and Zmyslony on the Economic Development Authority.

• Bodie and Proulx on the county finance committee, which develops the budget.

• Zmyslony and Plante Buhs on the Housing Trust Fund board, which is tackling the housing shortage.

• Proulx and Plante Buhs on the Fond du Lac Tribal/County Relations committee.

• Reed on the Carlton County planning commission, with Zmyslony as an alternate.

Plante Buhs was all business during her first meeting, quietly advocating for assignments that related to her district, such as the tribal relations committee. Part of the reservation lies within District 1.

One topic that gained immediate attention from the newly situated board: the future of the Carlton County Historic Courthouse, located in downtown Carlton.

The courthouse is home to the Assessor's Office, Auditor/Treasurer's Office, Information Technology, Recorder's Office, and Zoning and Environmental Services. The site also features the old jail, county garages and additional buildings and office space. Since the opening of the new Justice Center in Carlton, the future of the Historic Courthouse site, beyond repairs and renovations, has been a topic of frequent discussion, commissioners said.

"A brief update would be great to have," Zmyslony said. "We get asked a lot of questions about the Historic Courthouse."

County coordinator Dennis Genereau said staff would be "proactive" about updates and that the board would be provided property management reports regularly throughout 2025 during its committee of the whole meetings.

The board decided to keep committee of the whole meetings at 4 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month, with regular board meetings at 8:30 a.m. on the second Tuesday of each month and 4 p.m. on the fourth Monday of each month.

There are some exceptions to the meeting calendar. The Memorial Day meeting will be 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 27. The Veterans Day meeting will be moved to 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12. The annual Truth in Taxation meeting will be 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11, following a 4 p.m. board meeting.

The board approved a joint application of the Pine Knot News and Moose Lake Star Gazette to publish legal notices.