New police officer hired

With the appointment of new police officer Jacob Bubb at Tuesday’s Cloquet City Council meeting, the Cloquet Police Department is nearly at full strength — 24 sworn police officers — after being decimated by a wave of disability retirements several years ago.

Police chief Derek Randall said Bubb was the top candidate, and will be a good fit for the department, which he said is young and passionate about community policing.

Bubb was born and raised in Esko, and attended Hibbing Community College to get his degree in law enforcement. He is close to his parents and four siblings.

“This was part of his dream that he’s talked about with his family for quite some time, wanting to make a difference in the community and be a police officer,” Randall said.

The department now has a chief, two commanders, four patrol sergeants, two full-time detectives, an “officer in investigations” position, one school resource officer and 11 patrol officers plus Bubb, who will do three months of field training initially.

Also Tuesday, resident Joseph Mayasich addressed the council for a second time regarding parking issues with a group home on Slate Street.

Mayasich, who lives on Linda Lane, again expressed concern that group home employees are not using the available space in the driveway and frequently parking too close to stop signs, creating a safety hazard. He suggested a three pronged approach of having staff park in the driveway first and only use the street for overflow parking. Creating more off-street parking could be part of a long-term plan, he said.

City administrator Tim Peterson pointed out that parking on the street isn’t illegal, unless it’s overnight during the winter months. He promised the city would reach out to the owners, however.

In other matters, Peterson shared that the city of Cloquet — its finance department in particular — received a certificate of excellence in financial reporting for its 2021 financial report from the Government Finance Officers

Association.

City finance director Katie Bloom said GFOA has a checklist of almost 45-pages of requirements and a lengthy review process to get the award.

Peterson pointed out the city also received the award multiple times under finance director Nancy Klassen. “That being said, it’s not like a normal thing,” he said. “Not every community receives this.”

The council will not meet July 4, so the next scheduled meeting is 6 p.m. July 18.