County board thanks transit committee members

The Crow Wing County Board thanked members of the countywide transit system task force for its time and effort Tuesday.

Marty Sapletal, chair of the task force, said it is time to recognize these members since grant money for transportation has been approved and the project is ready to move forward.

In the next month a joint transit coordinator will be hired to manage the program and vehicles will be ordered for the county's portion of the transit system, said Peter Herlofsky Jr., county administrator.

Herlofsky said the delivery time of the vehicles is four months and the county will get vehicles similar to Brainerd's current system.

The county and the city have been working on a proposed countywide bus service. The proposal is to expand transit service to the county and increase Brainerd's current service, Dial-A-Ride.

Commissioner Ed Larsen said the county will need to form an implementation team to work with the coordinator by the next county board meeting.

The interviews for the coordinator will be Jan. 23.

In other county business, the commissioners:

Heard a semi-annual report from County Attorney Don Ryan on the pending or threatened litigation against the county for last year. Ryan said many of the cases closed and there was no pending litigation. He said there were a number of matters, however, that came up under investigation.

He said there was some threatened litigation, including four matters with the Human Rights Department and a threatened litigation on a claim where a person died in the jail of a drug overdose.

Agreed to an unlawful detainer action with a parcel of tax-forfeited property in the Unorganized Territory. The county foreclosed the land and there are people still living at the property.

Agreed to use $1,000 of the juvenile diversion funds for after school programs for grades six through nine at the YMCA.

Reorganized the board and named John Ferrari as chair and Gil Dewes as vice chair.

Extended a lease of the tax-forfeited lands by Whipple Beach in Baxter used by Camp Vanasek for 10 years. Land Commissioner Thomas Cowell said the lease agreement was updated to include language for liability or claims with the county. The lease also asks the camp to contact Cowell of any planned development that requires removal of commercial timber.

The lease does not include a 183-foot strip of property to the south of the camp. Cowell said the camp does not need this portion of the property and Baxter has expressed interest in acquiring the land. The camp pays $1 a year for the land.

Agreed to designate a piece of property in Perry Lake Township as part of Memorial Forest.

Approved a zoning change in Ross Lake Township. James and Dawn DeMars requested to have 40 acres off County Road 105 rezoned from green space to agricultural.

Approved a two-year natural resource block grant for the water plan. The grant includes $18,750 for the water plan update and budget; $36,000 for the Wetland Conservation Act; $21,946 for the shoreland program; $7,500 for the county feedlot program; and $988 for individual sewage treatment system.

Approved an amendment to the Enhanced 911 agreement for services between the county, the state and Consolidated Telephone Co. This amendment will add the monthly recurring charges from the telephone company for its portion of the 911 circuits installed to integrate the service with other telephone companies into the county's system.

Agreed to give the Cuyuna Range Economic Development Inc. Board its 2002 appropriation of $20,000.

Agreed to allow out-of-state school requests to the sheriff's department. Deputy Phil Stoll will attend the Basic FBI Bomb Technical School from Feb. 4 through March 8 in Huntsville, Ala. Investigator D.J. Downie will attend a kinesic interview and interrogation class in Sioux City, Iowa, from May 20-24.

Set the minimum salary for elected officials at $8,000.