The Polk County Commissioners met on Tuesday at the Polk County Government Center. Scott Sosalla of ARI, Inc. reviewed the bid for the remodeling of the Human Services Building in East Grand Forks and submitted them to the board. ICS, Inc. came in as the low bidder at $610,300.00 including two deductible bids for access control and a video surveillance system. They were the low bid under Comstock Construction, Inc. by $108,100.00 with the highest of the five bides coming in $209,700.00 above ICS, Inc.’s bid.
David Dangerfield, a project developer for the ICS, Inc., was present at the meeting to share concerns the company had with the bid they had submitted. Dangerfield said that they had an error in their sheet, that a cell in the computation didn’t get entered for the final bid. He didn’t provide specifics about what that cell cost was associated with, just said it totaled $102,000.00. He was asking the board to release their company from the bid and by virtue the bid security of 5 percent, which County Administrator Chuck Whiting said would come in at about $35,000. Commissioner Gerald Jacobson said the board would be destroying the integrity of bids if they left money on the table before making a motion to approve the bids minus the deductible alternatives for a final total of $555,765.00 which was seconded by Commissioner Gary Willhite and passed unanimously. Commissioner Jacobson said he feels ICS needs to honor their low bid. “They came in with the lowest bid, and it was quite a bit lower than the other bidders,” said Jacobson. “They apparently found a mistake in it, but I feel at this point that a bid is a bid and they have to honor it, period.”
Sosalla, will draw up the contract for ICS and present it to them to sign. If ICS does not sign, Sosalla said he would be back at the next county meeting to report on the unsigned contract.
The board also approved a major financial undertaking for the County by entering an agreement with Abdo, Eick & Meyer (AEM) for services to help the County through the process of finding and implementing new financial systems. The agreement will be to pay not more than $135,000 for bundled services for development and implementation of Purchasing Cards, Banking Services, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) RFP Development and ERP System Management explains Whiting, “We have been talking with them for a couple of years about evaluating our workflow and financial support for that we provide from department to department. The board approved bringing them in to walk us through some changes and help facilitate over the next couple of years.”
There was some question as to whether the County would get an automated workflow implementation included in their bundle, which Commissioner Joan Lee expressed would be important. In addition to the services provided by AEM, new software as part of these changes would be projected in the ballpark of $200,000-$300,000 or higher. The idea is to have a new integrated system, in one package over the several smaller programs the County currently utilizes and pays annual fees on of at least $41,535.00.
The board also approved the Pay Equity report which the County is required to submit every year to the State explained Whiting. “Cities and Counties in Minnesota are required to comply with State Statutes regarding pay equity that has its genesis back in the early ’80s making sure female-dominated positions are paid equitably compared to male-dominated positions,” said Whiting. “Six years ago we were just barely out of compliance; we got ourselves back into compliance and then went about changing our pay plan and pay grid with a point valuation system unifying all positions on one grid. That has paid dividends, and there are some statistical measurements that show that we will be in compliance on the report that we submitted last week. Going forward we’ll wait for the State of Minnesota to confirm that sometime later in the spring.”
The report shows that the average male class salary is $5,299.48 while female class average salary is $5,081.75 per month although that figure is just one portion of the compliance for pay equity which includes a completeness and accuracy test, statistical analysis test, salary range test, and exceptional service pay test.
The board approved its full consent agenda for auditor warrants and three payments to Kinetic Leasing of Fargo, ND, for an equipment lease for $32,292.21, to Amy Van Den Einde, Public Health for flight reimbursement for $921.90 and to Kim Kron for mileage incurred as a witness for the County Attorney’s Office for $351.48. They approved an amendment to the quote for five Chevy Tahoe vehicles for the Sheriff’s Department Fleet to combine separate checks for purchase and police package into one check to Brost Chevrolet. They also approved the purchase of the current motor grader the Highway Department is leasing, which will include reimbursement for their lease amount totaling $209,710.00, they revoked the current CSAH 3 from CSAH 6 to the Polk-Clearwater line and designated CSAH 3 as from CSAH 30 to the Polk-Clearwater line. This two-step process was required as part of the planned reconstruction in 2019 of 1.5 miles of township road to extend CSAH 3 from CSAH 6 to CSAH 30.
The board also approved Widseth-Smith-Nolting as the County Land Surveyor for another four-year term and agreed to pay for materials in an agreement with Minnesota Northern Railroad to upgrade the crossing at CSAH 112 in Beltrami where Minnesota Northern Railroad will pay for the labor on the work. A conditional use permit was approved for Brian Peterson to construct an accessory structure over 4,000 sq. ft. on a six-acre parcel in Rhinehart Township and an Interim Use Permit for PCIRoads, Joe Miessen, for a concrete batch plant across from Win-E-Mac school for MnDOT project SP 6004-24 to operate May 1st thru October 1st.
Jon Steiner provided an update on the Transfer Plant, sharing with the board that the offices should be completed the week of February 17 with a move in the week of February 24. He also received approval to purchase office furniture for the Transfer Station totaling $31,383.00 from Norby’s Work Perks in Grand Forks, ND and on change orders for interior paint, ceiling material change and ceiling lights in the office area. Steiner also requested and received approval to purchase 18 two-way tour radios for giving tours at the Fosston station, which is asked for rather frequently, so that visitors can hear him and ask questions over the noise in the facility.
The next Polk County Commissioner meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 19 at 10:00 a.m. in the Board Room at the Polk County Government Center.
