Requests to be sought for locating land survey corners

WALKER - Cass County Board voted Tuesday to seek requests for proposal to located 135 land survey corners to mark the township corners, meandering and witness corners throughout the county.

Approximately 40 of the 135 corners have an existing certificate of location of government corner, but the county suspects it is likely some of these corners have been destroyed over the years. Some are more than 30 years old.

The board expects to select a contractor April 20 to complete the project in 400 days. These corners mark the starting point from which land surveys are located for smaller parcels of land. Re-establishing township corners will lower costs and improve accuracy for people hiring a surveyor to work on their property.

Cass highway department will accept proposals until April 5. Land department funds will pay for the project.

Since 2001, 23 Crow Wing County residents, 39 Cass County residents and 50 in Wadena County have taken advantage of obtaining a 3 percent loan to upgrade their failing individual sewage treatment systems. Region 5 oversees the program that is open to any resident whose system is failing, regardless of income or assets.

The program also helps people who receive a mandatory notice to hook up to a municipal system. Anyone interested in applying for a loan can contact their county environmental services department.

Cass commissioners awarded a contract Tuesday to low bidder of four, Sawyer Timber Company, to shear and remove 25-year-old regenerated aspen trees from 10 acres of county land. Pines will be planted on the site after the clear cut.

They accepted a low quote from Superior Forestry Services to plant 155,000 trees at $54.87 per thousand.

At the February county timber auction, loggers bid $21.17 per cord for aspen, $21.56 for red oak, $13.67 for birch and $28.95 for jackpine, the largest quantity species sold. The county sold a total of 5,498 cords of stumpage for a total of $113,178.

The board awarded a $13,328 (plus tax) contract to Otis Elevator (lowest of two bidders) to upgrade two elevators at the courthouse and one at the social services building to bring them up to current state codes. The quote also covers decommissioning and sealing the elevator in the historic original 1905 courthouse building.

Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry inspected the elevators in April 2009 and provided a list of repairs needed to make the elevators compliant. The extent of repairs needed to make the elevator in the old courthouse comply did not make it cost effective to do the work.

Cass County will serve as fiscal agent for a state grant to have a contractor study the feasibility and cost effectiveness of Aitkin, Cass, Crow Wing and Itasca Counties and Leech Lake Reservation share a regional dispatching center for emergency services.

Ane Rogers, Cass Health, Human and Veterans Services director, reported to the board the county administered 3,010 doses of H1N1 vaccine from last fall through Feb. 19. The board recognized the health services staff with a certificate of appreciation for their efforts to provide the vaccine to residents.

Anyone still seeking to obtain the vaccine can visit the HHVS office in Walker weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.