County Board approves seeking Construction Manager at Risk for CIP projects

The county board approved issuing requests for proposals for construction management services on November 14 by a 5-0 vote, but it took about an hour of discussion to get to a final vote. The county seeks to hire a Construction Manager at Risk to coordinate and manage 25 projects on the deferred maintenance list over five years.

Backstage Buzz

Grand Marais Playhouse has a plateful of holiday plays The Playhouse is swimming in the holiday spirit with two plays in rehearsal with a combined cast of 32 community members as actors and stage crew! The two-play event is a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the publication of the A-List from St. Nicholas, more commonly referred to as Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Moving on

As I write, sunbeams stream through my window and I revel in our snow-free yard, a mid-November rarity. We’ve had a balmy few days, and my husband Jerry has both biked and kayaked this week. I’m a little jealous. My activities have been limited to long walks and running around the thrift store. We still have our dock out, a favor for a few friends who’ve stationed their fishing boat on it for easy access to their whitefish nets, which have to be checked every twenty-four hours. We might make it another week before the ice sets in. Hopefully. It would be a challenge to pull our dock out after the ice sets in, which I remember happening quickly the past few years.

Matters of Record

The Cook County News-Herald publishes Matters of Record to inform the public of arraignments and dispositions of criminal cases in which the punishment exceeds $150 and/or ten days in jail and/or includes one year of supervised adult probation. It is the Cook County News-Herald’s policy that this information contains a complete record. Requests for items to be withheld will not be granted.

Conservation Officer Tales

Although the Cook County News-Herald knows that the majority of sportsmen and women are law-abiding folks, there are a few that run afoul of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Conservation Officers. Periodically, the DNR provides a report of some of the miscreants the Conservation Officers (CO) have encountered. The News-Herald shares these stories as a reminder to all to be safe and to follow the rules!

Wildlife Matters

Beaver: Adaptations Beaver are far more than just another warm blood mammal. They are very well designed for their lifestyle and have numerous adaptations that help them survive in their aquatic habitat.

LEAP for clean energy

On October 10th the City of Duluth, Ecolibrium3 and the Department of Energy (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) co-hosted a historic meeting in Duluth which highlighted Duluth’s participation in the DOE Community Local Energy Action Program (C-LEAP). Duluth is one of 16 US cities initially participating in this project, developing plans to achieve a 50 percent reduction in 2005 Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) by 2030 and a “Net Zero“ level of GHG by 2050 to meet our 2015 UN Paris Climate Accord commitments.