In the summer of 1995, I worked a three month internship at The Warroad Pioneer, which I'm sorry to say has since ceased operation. This was the first professional newspaper that I worked for in my career, and it turned out to be a wonderful experience. I had only worked at Bemidji State University's newspaper for about a year and half before landing the internship. At The Pioneer I gained experience in sports, feature, beat and government reporting. I designed pages, took and developed photographs and was responsible for community relations. The best part is that I remain friends with the owners nearly 30 years later.
July 18, 1995
By Devlyn Brooks
The July 12 County Commissioners meeting proceeded as usual. The Board approved the minutes from the past four meetings, approved the the county's bills and, as usual, someone had questions about the courthouse.
Commissioner Doran Horner told the rest of the Board that he had a couple of questions to be answered before they moved on to other business.
His first question was about why he wasn't allowed to vote on the awarding of contracts for the courthouse by a conference call.
This was a result of two earlier meeting when the lawsuit was first served on the Board.
At the June 19 meeting, the commissioners decided to reconvene their meeting until Friday, June 21, so that County Attorney Michelle Moren would have time to see whether it was OK to proceed with the awarding of the bids.
It was also decided that since Horner would be gone during the reconvened meeting on June 21, he could call at a specified time and join the discussion by telephone.
Later, at the reconvened meeting, Moren informed the rest of the Board that it didn't matter if Horner called because his opinions would not be official due to his absence. So, in the end, the Board voted without Horner being able to voice his opinions on the contracts.
"Is there a law that says I can't do that," Horner asked Moren.
"That's just my understanding of the law," Moren said.
Horner's second question concerned a change in the contracts that was sent to the contractors. The contracts that were approved by the Board were not the same contracts that the contractors would ultimately be signing.
When Horner asked Moren about the changes, she said the changes were not different in "material," and that "it protects the county in the pocket."
Horner asked, "What has this changed?"
"It hasn't changed anything," Moren said.
"Then why is it there," questioned Horner.
Moren told him that "it protects the county in the eventuality of a law suit."
At this point, Commissioner Dick Jackson interrupted, saying that the commissioners had a motion stating that the contracts would be signed pending the county attorney's approval.
This seemed to answer Horner's question, but he had one more item to discuss before the Board moved on.
"Then I was reading in the paper, Michelle, that you were saying Taxpayers' Choice was just harassing us," Horner said. "I don't think we would be hiring a $300 an hour man for a harassment case."
He asked that he didn't think the Board should move ahead until the situation was settled. Moren told him, "Who knows how long this will take."
Horner said that none of this would have been a problem for him if he would have only been allowed his conference call.
"We knew what your stand was," Commissioner Orris Rasmussen said. "That fact of the matter is that your vote couldn't be voted over the phone and that's the rule."
Rasmussen also said that since the last Board meeting, he had Moren call the Chief of Public Safety about the county's responsibility concerning the American Disabilities Act.
Moren said that she asked the Chief of Public Safety if there was a possibility that the county could get an extension on the time in which it could comply with the ADA. She said that the chief said courthouses are not allowed extensions any more, and that the county would be "wide open" for a lawsuit.
"The liabilities are much stronger if the county doesn't go on," Moren said.
"It would be stupid on our part to not continue on Shelly's suggestion," Rasmussen said. "I don't think we would be fulfilling our responsibility to protect the people of Roseau County."
However, Horner said, "It seems strange to be worrying about a lawsuit when we are already in one."
The Board also discussed how the contractors felt about the situation with the courthouse. Moren told the Board that they all knew about it, and all had said they were all going to sign the contracts. However, Moren said that if the Board kept delaying the contracts that the contractors would probably start to grumble.
The Board managed to finish some other business Wednesday also.
Rasmussen informed the rest of the Board that the shelving they ordered for the courthouse was in. The Board voted to update the older resolution concerning the shelving to approved this purchase. Rasmussen said that the total cost for the shelving will be $2,000, and if they would have bought the shelving new, it would have been $30,000.
The Board also discussed where the best place to store the shelving would be. Several places were discussed such as a Quonset at the fairgrounds and different privately owned buildings.
The commissioners voted to reappoint Carol Hallan to a three-year term on the Northwest Regional Development Commission Arts Council.
They also approved accumulated vacation and sick time for former Deputy Sheriff Stacy Paulseth in the amount of $6,661.84.
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