By: News Director Larissa Donovan
BEMIDJI– The Bemidji City Council met with the Beltrami County Board of Commissioners yesterday for a collaborative discussion.
Both sides came to the table with some monetary asks, but no decisions were made during the meeting.
Mayor Rita Albrecht said she would like to see Project Pride return, but said the city wasn’t able to provide the pick up service of furniture, appliances, and other items due to the county’s tipping fees for disposal.
County Administrator Kay Mack said that the disposal of those items costs the county money, and when they do clean up days at rural locations, those residents have to pay fees and it wouldn’t be fair to them to have free citywide pickup of the same items.
The two governing bodies also discussed out of home placements, and County Attorney David Hanson said the office was working on gathering the grants necessary to start a Drug Court.
Hanson requested the city and the county match the grant from the state and the department of justice so they could service more than 25 families.
At the end of the two hour meeting, both governing bodies expressed their interest in meeting again in the near future for more collaboration.
