County reimubrsed for fire efforts

Talk about it

The Lake County Board held its committee of the whole meeting Tuesday evening at the Clair Nelson Center in Finland. The board convenes a committee of the whole meeting once a month at different venues throughout the county in an effort to reach more constituents and township or city officials. The next committee of the whole meeting is Sept. 18 at the Little Marais Community Center at 6 p.m.

Township and city officials present had questions for the commissioners and administrator about the fiber optic installation. Administrator Matt Huddleston answered technical questions as well as permission card concerns. He advised constituents to wait for their permission cards, which will be mailed to all affected residents, and said the county isn’t certain how far the service will reach yet. The second phase of installation, which won’t begin until this fall or next spring, will likely include Finland. The current phase of construction includes only parts of Two Harbors and Silver Bay.

The county was finally reimbursed for some of the costs of fighting the Pagami Creek Fire, according to Huddleston. So far, they’ve received a little over half of the funds requested from the U.S. Forest Service and the county now has the responsibility of distributing the funds to entities that assisted in fire-fighting efforts.

Commissioner Tom Clifford brought up the issue of an emergency alert system. Last week, the City of Two Harbors issued a boil order for water in parts of the city. Clifford questioned whether citizens had been informed quickly enough and whether there is a more efficient way to release emergency alert information.

Next Monday, the board will hold its action meeting at the board room in the Lake County Courthouse at 9:30 a.m.

Tags: county board, finland