Cook County staff and commissioners visit legislators in St. Paul
The state legislative session kicked off in mid-February, and during the Association of Minnesota Counties (AMC) Conference, state representatives and senators took time to meet with leaders from their districts.
Cook County Board Chair Ginny Storlie, and Commissioners Ann Sullivan and Garry Gamble met with Sen. Grant Hauschild and Rep. Roger Skraba. County Administrator Kristen Trebil-Halbersma, Zoning Administrator Neva Maxwell, Assessor Bob Thompson, and Highway Engineer Robbie Kimmel-Hass also headed to St. Paul for the conference and meeting.
While there is a list of state-wide priorities put together by AMC, the Cook County board has also identified specific items they hope that legislators will back this session. Among those items are funding for a project that would repave ten miles of the Gunflint Trail and support for the Gitchi-Gami State Trail.
In a statement from the county, Storlie said, “The annual AMC Legislative Conference offers a unique and valuable forum to have productive conversations with state lawmakers in a coordinated effort.”
Trebil-Halbersma previously told WTIP that this visit was not the only effort from the county to encourage legislators to prioritize the Cook County projects. She said that the county was working with a lobbyist, and that some individual staff, including Kimmel-Hass, have already taken trips to the capitol to make the case for the county’s priorities.
Though the county board has discussed at length the need to make the Gunflint Trail project a priority, that project and work on the Gitchi-Gami State Trail are by no means the only items that the county and other municipal and community organizations hope to see addressed this session. Additional priorities to modernize public health and human services systems, supporting Payment in Lieu of Taxes funds for public lands, and addressing housing affordability problems in the area have all been identified by the county. The human services modernization issue was also identified by AMC as one of the organization’s legislative priorities.
The City of Grand Marais has made securing funding for a wastewater treatment plant project their top priority this session. North Shore Health is lobbying in favor of the Rural Health Transformation Program. ISD 166 has opted to make several funding items its top priorities this year.
Hauschild told WTIP that support for rural health care, support for education, and changes to the property tax code were all priorities for him this year. He also said he will support funding for the Gunflint Trail project, establishing and Office of Inspector General, and increasing the 1854 treaty payments for the two tribal nations in his district to keep up with inflation rates.
Kirsten Wisniewski March 6, 2026
