Resident asks Beltrami County to name one-mile stretch the 'Jim Wooster Parkway'

Joe Aiken, a Bemidji resident, urged the Beltrami County Board to approve no-cost signs dedicating a one-mile stretch around the east side of Lake Bemidji as the "Jim Wooster Parkway." He told commissioners he has lived in the community since 1967 and asked the board to move the idea forward.

Aiken described the history of a contested road connection between Lavinia and County Road 20 and said Jim Wooster, hired in 2000 as interim county engineer, "basically solved what was an unsolvable situation" and in doing so "saved a lot of people, a lot of organizations, a lot of money." He said Wooster served in the U.S. Air Force from 1951 to 1955 and suggested the board consider an appropriate roadside dedication.

The request was submitted during the meeting's public comment period. Aiken asked for two moderate-size signs at County Road 20 where it intersects Big Bass Lake Road and at a bridge crossing a bike trail roughly a mile down the road. He characterized the proposal as a one-time, no-cost designation and apologized to the county for bringing it late after the events he recounted took place years ago.

The board did not take a formal vote on the naming request during the meeting. No board member committed to a follow-up timeline during the public-comment response recorded in the transcript.

Aiken provided his name and address for the record and spoke for longer than the five-minute guideline noted earlier in the meeting; the chair had stated that public comments are limited to five minutes and that personnel complaints may not be heard initially at a board meeting.