ANOKA, Minn. – This week the newly elected Anoka County Commissioners took office. This year sees two new members joining the board. Julie Braastad and Scott Schulte defeated incumbents in November’s election. Commissioner Matt Look was elected as Vice Chair, and Commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah was re-elected as chair of the board.
“It certainly is an honor and a privilege, and I appreciate the support of my peers,” Sivarajah spoke, “I look forward to a wonderful 2013, we have a fantastic team.”
In this first meeting of the new year, the board dealt with a contentious issue regarding the lobbying groups that they are members of. The board unanimously decided to stay a member of the Association of Minnesota Counties at a cost of $43,000 per year, and then voted five to two not to maintain their membership with the Minnesota Inter-County Association, or MICA.
“We are a founding member of MICA, we go back 46 years,” said Jim Kordiak, one of the two commissioners who supported continuing their membership at a cost of $78,000, “We found out in our budget throughout all of those years that we wanted to participate, I don’t know why we wouldn’t choose to today.”
Matt Look voted against membership, citing financial prudence as the reason he was voting no. “We’re trying to reduce our budgets and make sure we’re responsible with taxpayer dollars. To belong to an organization for the heck of it is not a good enough reason, you have to look at the return on investment,” said Look.
Commissioner LeDoux joined Commissioner Kordiak in favor for membership.
