Hauschild wins recognition for North Shore infrastructure funding efforts
Hauschild’s latest recognition rests on millions in North Shore bonding money, from Two Harbors Highway 61 work to Silver Bay, Knife River and Grand Marais water projects.
Grant Hauschild’s latest recognition from the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities is tied to a session that pushed millions of dollars into North Shore roads, sewer systems and public works. For Lake County, the clearest payoff is concrete: Highway 61 work in Two Harbors, an emergency valve replacement in Silver Bay and inflow-and-infiltration repairs in Knife River.
The Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities will hand out its annual Legislative Awards on July 24 in New Ulm during its summer conference. The nonprofit, nonpartisan group represents more than 100 cities outside the Twin Cities metro and uses the awards to single out legislators who advance Greater Minnesota priorities, especially the capital projects local governments cannot easily finance on their own.
Hauschild’s recognition comes after the Legislature approved the 2026 bonding bill in the final minutes of the session on May 18. The capital package was reported at between $1.2 billion and $1.24 billion and required a three-fifths vote in both chambers. It cleared the House 122-11 and the Senate 60-7 before Gov. Tim Walz signed it on June 6 at the Third Street Bridge construction site in St. Paul. Walz said the bill capped eight years of more than $8 billion in infrastructure investment across Minnesota.
For Senate District 3, which the Minnesota Senate describes as the state’s largest and most rural district, the bill delivered a long list of project funding. In Lake County and nearby communities, that included $2 million for Two Harbors Highway 61 infrastructure, $1.07 million for a Silver Bay emergency valve replacement, and $958,000 for Knife River area inflow and infiltration improvements. The bill also set aside $1.908 million for the Grand Marais wastewater treatment plant and $1.5 million for City of Cook public infrastructure.
The district list stretched beyond Lake County but underscored the same pattern: state help for basic systems that affect daily life. It included $1 million for Cook County Gunflint Trail improvements, $3.9 million for Ely water supply improvements, $4.8 million for the International Falls water treatment facility, $3.5 million for Proctor I-35 commercial development utility extensions, $554,000 for Ranier’s public works maintenance facility, and $2 million for the Duluth airport control tower.
The North Shore has already seen how state participation can reduce local costs. In 2025, state policy cut about $808,500 from Two Harbors’ share and about $730,000 from Lake County’s share of the Highway 61 corridor project. For a district where water, sewer and road work can quickly strain local property taxes, Hauschild’s recognition reflects a legislative record with direct cost and service consequences for residents from Two Harbors to the Gunflint Trail.
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