Commissioner's meeting

Red Lake County Commissioners meeting was held on December 8th at 4:00 p.m. The reason for the time change was that after the regular board meeting, the Truth in Taxation meeting would be held at 6:00 p.m. Commissioners in attendance were: Chuck Simpson, John Lerohl, Ron Weiss and Anthony Flage. Dave Sorensen was absent.

Chairperson Simpson opened the meeting with the pledge of allegiance. There were no changes or additions to the agenda and it was approved as is.

County Treasurer Nick Knott came before the board to report on the investments he manages for the County. The Bonds and CD’s have been performing well.

The LELS Union contract was presented to the board and it was approved with a motion by Weiss and seconded by Lerohl.

County Attorney Mike LaCoursiere had looked over the paperwork concerning the VEBA plans and he recommended that the County not sign the VEBA request to accept risk if other persons in the family of the VEBA owner use the funds. The IRS is leaning toward family use will be not allowed. Lerohl and Flage motion to not sign. Carried.

The Commissioners gave their committee reports. Weiss was at the NW Regional meeting with Lerohl and was going to let Lerohl report on it. The other meeting he had scheduled for the 1 Watershed, 1 Plan, was canceled due to weather conditions.

Flage had attended an Extension meeting, where evaluations were performed. 4-H Director Sharon Weiss had a printout of the year’s events. The RLC Fair Board President reported that there will a rodeo this year. 

Lerohl had attended an Inter County Community Council (ICCC) meeting and there was not much to report. Grants are coming in. ICCC is looking at buying the SuperOne building in TRF to use for Head Start and also to rent out offices to PIC, DEED, and Pennington County offices. The Holiday Train is coming once again to Plummer on Monday, December 12th.  Lerohl also attended a NW Regional meeting. They reorganized and the only changes was that Kevin Harmoning is now off the board since his position was for the Mayor of RLF, and his term is over.

One other meeting Lerohl attended was the AMC Convention. The keynote speaker was Andrew Fastow, who was the chief financial officer of Enron Corporation. He thought his job was to make people think they were a #1 company and he knew it wasn’t, and hid that fact. Other things at the Convention were the many booths with information on all kinds of items counties would be interested in. Lerohl passed around items and information and was going to bring information to the county departments it pertained to.

Simpson did not have any meetings to report on.

The expenditures were looked at and approved with a motion by Weiss and seconded by Flage.

Jennifer Maleitzke, from Enbridge Energy Company, came to the meeting to update the commissioners on Enbridge’s projects. The Sandpiper project was canceled in August and is temporarily shelved for now. They are now moving forward with a Environmental Impact Statement on Line 3 and have applied for a certificate of need and a route permit from the Minnesota Public Commission to construct and operate the line replacement. Maleitzke handed out a packet of information that detailed the project and other items of interest for the commissioners.

Korky Kleven joined Maleitzke to discuss the Eco FootPrint program Enbridge offers. The program is selecting projects in March/April to pursue to help local communities. The Eco FootPrint project Kleven has put together is to open up access to the local rivers that flow into the Red Lake Corridor. Starting in Oklee at the Omar Sundrud Park the plan would widen the road entrance and add gravel to the roadway, install a seasonal dock and to build a 16’x 24’ concrete covered structure, bring electric and lights and a shallow well. In Plummer at People’s Park the road would be widened, add gravel, put up a 16’ x 30’ covered structure, adding electric and lights, shallow well, seasonal dock. At two bridge sites in the county, one near Terrebonne and one near Plummer, the road entrance would be widened, gravel and parking installed. And one would get a seasonal dock. The final two place are in Red Lake Falls. The Swimming Beach site would get a widened road entrance, gravel, parking, and a seasonal dock. The Sportsman’s Park would get gravel added, a 24’ x 30’ covered structure, lights & power, improved boat ramp, seasonal dock, and additional camp sites. All the projects would cost $125,000 . Kleven was looking of a resolution to put the project in for the Eco FootPrint program. There was a concern about county costs, and was explained other than some county labor, it would only be the normal maintenance of the parks/docking areas. Brooks, Oklee and Plummer are all ready on board and willing to maintain the projects once completed. Weiss and Lerohl made the motion for a resolution for support.

Auditor Robert Schmitz had a couple of items for the Commissioners to decide on. First as a Procurement Policy, which is the same as Beltrami County. It has a protection clause where bids are needed on any project over $100,000. Lerohl and Flage made the motion.

The Contract for Coroner Service was renewed with a motion from Weiss and Lerohl. The GIS system needed to be renewed – Lerohl and Weiss made the motion.