---

   WALKER — Cass County Board Chair Rick Haaland began the regular Tuesday, March 4 meeting by presenting Penny Vikre, Assistant County Assessor with the Excellence Award for outstanding service to Cass County. Vikre was nominated by County Assessor Mark Peterson for consistently going above and beyond her normal duties, is a great supervisor and plays a pivotal role in managing the staff by making sure work is done correctly and statutory deadlines are met. She also provides excellent service to the public by always communicating and responding respectfully to customers.

Chairman Rick Haaland presented Assistant County Assessor, Penny Vikre with an Excellence Award from the County Board for outstanding service to the County and citizens from the County Board. Photo by Josh Stevenson

   Citizens Mark and Barb Anderson requested to be heard at the beginning of the meeting concerning the Stop Work Order placed on their construction project on Gull Lake back in November 2024. The Anderson’s previously attended a meeting in December requesting the commissioners remove the stop work order. During that meeting the Anderson’s informed the commissioners they have sought out professional advice from an Environmental Engineer, whom supported their project.     

   However through discussion the commissioners felt there was not enough information given to them in order to over-rule the planning commission and remanded the request back to the planning commission for consideration. The previous story from this meeting is available on-line at pineconepresscitizen.com in the December 10, 2024 issue.

   During the current meeting the Anderson’s were given three minutes to present in which they mentioned to the board they currently feel they have three options: continue with the project, let the project sit for the next 20 years or tear the structure out of the hill (which they stated would not happen). They requested again for the board to reassess the stop order and let them proceed with the project. Commissioner Rusty Lilyquist stated he wasn’t familiar with the situation and he trusted the planning commission, but asked if the Anderson’s would consider sitting down with staff to resolve the issues. Environmental Service Director Jeff Woodford was present at the meeting and welcomed the opportunity. The Anderson’s stated they have tried, but she felt experts not pertinent to the project were brought in and they have full support of an environmental engineer saying they are doing what they need to do. 

   Board Chair Haaland then asked Woodford if he would give him and all the commissioners all the information regarding this issue to further access the situation. Commissioner Neal Gaalswyk also asked for clarification on the lines of authority in regards to this situation and requested input from the county attorney. Therefore, County Administrator Josh Stevenson was asked to let the Anderson’s  know the next steps after the commissioners have had time to review all the information. 

   Stevenson also shared the summer meeting schedule with the board and asked for approval. The summer “Road Show” is as follows: May 20 at Powers Township, with a road revocation on the agenda; June 17 at Wabedo Township; July 15 at Ottertail Peninsula Township, with a road revocation on the agenda; August 19 at Lake Shore City and September 16 at Pine River Township, with a road revocation on the agenda. The board approved the meeting schedule unanimously. 

   During the meeting, Woodford shared a proposal from Deckard Technologies/Rentalscape as the short-term rental vendor for a cost not to exceed $19,700 for the first year with a possible 5% CPI annual increase. Deckard Technologies will use the Rentalscape platform to prepare real estate property data for short-term rentals on all identifiable properties within Cass County based upon publicly available data and such other data relevant to the designated geography. They will also provide a registration/licensing portal; an online complaint form that alerts these complaints to Code Enforcement and a 24/7 Live Hotline that can dispatch to responsible parties depending on identified call flow. 

   Some of the questions from the commissioners included whether permit fees would cover this cost, if all of the information Deckard Technologies acquires is public information and if there are more short-term rental properties found in the data bases than what is quoted for would the price go up. Rob Piskorowski with Deckard Technologies, joining the meeting on-line, stated their searches were through all public sites and the cost would not go up if more properties were found. Woodford stated he anticipated permit fees to cover the cost of this agreement.

   A motion was made by Gaalswyk with commissioner Scott Bruns seconding the motion. A role call vote was made with Gaalswyk, Haaland and Bruns voting aye and Lilyquist and Kangas voting nay. 

   In other business, the county board:

   • Awarded the Deep Portage carpet replacement project to Kensack Karpets in the amount of $40,091.59 with the addition of disposal included written in the proposal. 

   • Authorized the sale of two blighted parcels  in an “as is” conditions at estimated market value from Mar. 17 through Apr. 15.

   • Heard from Land Commissioner Mark Gossman information regarding fifteen land sale parcels currently for sale on public surplus and the next step if they do not sell.

   • Approved Round Two Opioid grant applications fund in an estimated total of $250,000.

   • Approved an agreement with BNSF Railroad for County State Aid Highway 1 approach work for an estimated cost of $86,400.

   • Approved an agreement with BNSF Railroad for County State Aid Highway 36 east approach work for an estimated cost of $36,000.

   The next meetings are as follows: Walker ambulance service district board meeting, 11 a.m. Friday, Mar. 14 at the boardroom in the courthouse annex in Walker; commissioner’s board meeting, 9 a.m. Tuesday, Mar. 18 at the Land Department meeting room in Backus and commissioner’s board meeting, 9 a.m. Tuesday, Apr. 1 at the boardroom in the courthouse annex in Walker.

---