The Polk County Commissioners met this week at the Polk County Government Center in Crookston.
NEW SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES SWORN IN
Polk County Sheriff James Tadman was excited to give the oath of office to three new Sheriff’s Deputies at the meeting. Deputies Justin Schreier, Seth Senn, and Jacob Hendricks were sworn in. “Deputy Justin Schreier has finished up with all of his training, so he’s out on his own already. But we had Deputy Sessen and Jacob, Deputy Hendricks right behind them. So I figured I’ll add them all at the same time for that. So they’re all in the end of their phases of training and we’re excited to have them. So they bring in a good asset,” said Sheriff Tadman. “Jacob Hendricks comes from North Dakota. and brings over 10 years of law enforcement. And Deputy Seth Senn was in Foston and then moved to the county, bringing about a year of experience. And like Justin Schrier advised, he was our first CO officer, who was a non-licensed officer who came in and helped out with transports and did various things. And then from there, he moved on to becoming a deputy after he finished up with his school.”
OTHER SHERIFF’S OFFICE ITEMS
The board approved the Polk County Sheriff’s Office participating in the Human Trafficking Investigators Task Force Joint Powers agreement again in 2026. “We’ve had this before in our agency, and we’re just renewing that agreement. Our investigators have been part of this. I think it’s now on the second or third year,” said Sheriff Tadman. “We’re just continuing that agreement and it’s great. They look at a big three-pronged approach, which is combat human trafficking, which includes sex and labor trafficking. And then we also have prevention, education, and enforcement with that.”
Sheriff Tadman gave the call report for the month of October. There were 827 calls. The top 10 calls were –
1. Traffic Stop 193
2. Civil Process 152
3. School Patrol 98
4. Animal Complaint 27
5. Motor Vehicle crashes 24
6. Assist other agencies 23
7. Motorist assist 20
8. Public assist 19
9. Traffic complaint 16
10. Reckless driver 12
Other calls – Shooting 1, stolen vehicle 1, sexual assault 1, assault 1, fraud 9.
POLK COUNTY IMPLEMENTING AN INVESTMENT PROGRAM
The commissioners had a presentation on an investment program from Lynn Cornwell of Moreton Capital Markets, LLC. Cornwell. Polk County Finance Director Stacy Grover said this is another way the county can earn some extra income. “So we are implementing an investment program for the county to help us basically take our excess cash and get it invested so we get some higher interest rates,” said Grover. “The good thing is that will bring us some interest income that we’ve not had in the past, and we’re going to use Lynn Cornwell. She’s great. She comes highly recommended from the Minnesota Government Finance Officers Association, and I’m looking forward to working with her, and it’ll be a good thing for Polk County.”
MONUMENTATION OF COLUMBIA TOWNSHIP
Polk County received $200,250 from the State of Minnesota for monumentation of Columbia Township in southeast Polk County. Widseth is doing the work and received an update from Garrett Borowicz of Widseth. “We started a year and a half ago, and we’ll be done in March with the project and stuff, but I know there are people in Columbia Township kind of wondering where we’re at in this point in time,” said Borowicz. “It takes a little bit of process and moving back and forth and getting it done, so by March, we’ll have everything wrapped up, corners set, and paperwork all done. Then that’ll all be a public record for everyone to see and have an idea of where they stand. And we’ve been working with all the landowners, showing them where stuff is and things like that and talking to them when we’re out on the properties and stuff.”
