REGIONAL - Incoming St. Louis County Commissioner Paul McDonald had some big ideas on the campaign trail, and now he’s working to find the best way to accomplish his goals.

“Everything takes time,” McDonald said. “I talked during the campaign about focusing on kids; I want to do anything I can to help the next generation.”

To help the next generation of District 4 residents, McDonald said he is sticking with his big three campaign promises - education, mental health and economic development.

How McDonald plans on addressing these issues is a work in progress, but he said he’s been doing his best to find the right people to help him out.

McDonald added that he has been going to county commission meetings and even filling in for outgoing Commissioner Tom Rukavina when he is unable to attend because of recent health issues.

“When you’re new to the board, you need to establish relationships,” he said.

When it comes to how the commissioner-elect will address mental health, he said those plans “are still in their infancy” and didn’t comment further other than to say the county has some plans in mind for adding beds in Duluth and the Iron Range.

“I think we have to exhaust all of our thoughts and work with local medical facilities to put some type of plan together and put together a feasibility study,” McDonald said.

One hospital in the area, the Cook Hospital, has already begun this process, working with other rural hospitals in the Arrowhead Region to begin studying how the communities can best serve mental health patients. While McDonald is aware of the Cook program, he said he hasn’t been to their meetings and prior obligations prevented him from attending the meeting on Dec. 13.

“The Cook Hospital has already been proactive,” he said. “We have some things going on in this area, but we need to look at expanding those and bringing in more partners.”

Those partners, he said, should include other medical facilities in Ely and Aurora.

On the topic of education, McDonald said he wants to expand scholarship availability to students attending community colleges on the Iron Range.

“More than $100,000 has already been given,” he said. “We need to give more.”

To increase those funds, McDonald said he is looking at mineral royalties and diverting more money into scholarship funds at area schools such as Vermilion, Mesabi Range and Hibbing community colleges.

To keep students in the area, McDonald is hoping the region invests in broadband Internet to keep graduates local.

“We need to put some time on developing some partnerships,” he said. “You work with your legislators at the state and with county lobbyists both local and state. You keep knocking on doors to relay the message.”

McDonald said he hopes the county will conduct a survey and hold listening sessions in the region to see where people are having the largest issues with Internet access.

“I wish I had an answer on how it’s all done,” he said. “It will take a lot of work, working with local governments. We need to have a united front to make this a priority for everybody.”

McDonald said improvements have been made in rural areas around Ely, but work remains to be done around Crane Lake and Aurora.

McDonald officially takes office on Jan. 7.