City and county officials return to legislative session with focus on wastewater facility bonding

City and county leaders traveled to St. Paul this week to meet lawmakers during the legislative session, aiming to secure funding for crucial local projects.

Grand Marais City Administrator Mike Roth, Mayor Tracy Benson, representatives from the Cook County Chamber of Commerce, and other county officials had their chance to speak with lawmakers and advocate for city-specific projects.

“Our opportunity to meet with our legislative folks in their place of work is really something that’s significant when we go down there,” said Roth.

The top priority on the agenda is securing bonding for needed improvements to the aging Grand Marais wastewater treatment plant. The city is requesting $5 million in state funding. The entire projected cost of the needed facility upgrades is between $9 and $10 million.

“The city is going to be making sure everybody remembers that our number one priority is getting assistance in funding for our wastewater treatment plant,” Roth said.

City and county officials and members of the Chamber of Commerce with Senator Grant Hauschild | Photo by Cook County Chamber of Commerce

Senator Grant Hauschild and Representative Roger Skraba have in the past supported bills HF3341 and SF 3538 to provide $5 million in state bonding for the project.

“Senator Hauschild and Representative Skraba have been great partners with us on that,” Roth said. “We’re going to be meeting with them and other folks that are involved in that decision-making to help keep the ball rolling.”

A focus of the City of Grand Marais in recent years has been to secure state bonding assistance for the wastewater treatment plant to address deteriorating infrastructure, antiquated technology, odor control, and other issues.

In March 2023, the engineering firm AE2S presented to the Grand Marais City Council an outlined plan for the full rehabilitation of the wastewater treatment plant, which was projected at $9 million at that time. The facility was constructed in the 1940s, with the last major infrastructure improvements completed in 1988.

Given that the Grand Marais wastewater treatment plant is the only public facility in the county, the need for improvements is supported by several county stakeholders, including the Cook County Housing Redevelopment Authority (HRA), Cook County Economic Development Authority (EDA), Board of Commissioners, Visit Cook County, and the Cook County Chamber of Commerce.

At the start of the new year, the city received word that it would receive $1 million in federal funding for improvements to the wastewater treatment plant following congressional approval of an appropriations bill.

Roth said if the city were to secure the $5 million in state funding, combined with the $1 million secured in federal funding, then that would mean, “We’ve only got about two or three more partners to find in order to help pay for this and move forward.”

While the City of Grand Marais has support for the bonding request from Sen. Hauschild and Rep. Skraba, the municipality is competing with numerous others across Greater Minnesota for similar funding.

Across Minnesota, many small towns are facing high costs to repair or upgrade aging water infrastructure and are seeking state funding.

“Pretty much every corner of the state has some water needs,” said MinnPost reporter Brian Arola. “And the scale of it totals about $1 billion dollars in requests for state funding for water infrastructure alone.”

Since the start of the legislative session, Arola has been covering water infrastructure bonding requests across Greater Minnesota. He said aging infrastructure, population growth, and uncertainties about federal funding are driving the expansive funding requests at the state level.

“Many of these projects involve cities trying to piece together a puzzle of funding,” Arola said.

Over the past few weeks, several Cook County commissioners and officials from various departments, including the highway department, assessor’s office, and land services, have also visited the legislature.

At the county level, officials have advocated for state funding to improve the last 10 miles of the Gunflint Trail. The entire 10-mile section needs resurfacing, 16 culvert replacements, and four bridge replacements. The Cook County Highway Department estimates the project will cost $15 million. Another priority has been to secure funding for continued work on the Gitchi-Gami State Trail.

WTIP’s Kalli Hawkins spoke with Grand Marais City Administrator Mike Roth on Monday, March 16 before departing for St. Paul to visit the Legislature. Audio is below.

WTIP’s Kalli Hawkins spoke with MinnPost reporter Brian Arola about water infrastructure bonding requests across Greater Minnesota. Audio is below.

WTIP’s CJ Heithoff spoke with Cook County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Linda Jurek on the morning of March 19 during the visit to the Legislature. Audio is below.

Kalli Hawkins March 19, 2026