The Polk County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday and took action on several items, including insurance proposals, a preliminary plat approval, and the connection of a rural water system to a county shop building in Angus Township.
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
Environmental Services Director Jon Steiner led off the staff presentations with a proposal to renew insurance for the county’s resource recovery facility in Fosston, effective August 1. Steiner reported to the board that the Mahoney Group is their insurance broker and receives a $25,000 payment for their services, which the board approved for the 2026-27 proposal. Starr Insurance provided insurance and reported a $16,082 decrease in the county’s premium, despite the facility’s value increasing from $60,412,630 to $63,319,505. “Normally, the insurance goes up, especially when they’re reevaluating the value of your buildings and equipment, so we saw about a $2.9 million increase in the value of the facility, and we saw a decrease of about $16,000 a year in the premium. So we did pretty well,” said Steiner.
Steiner had a last-minute addition to the agenda as well, which was seeking the approval of the final two payments to Titus MRF Services for the organics and recycling projects funded through grants from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). The projects will improve the sorting of food waste at the Fosston facility and add additional recycling equipment. “Both projects really kind of languished,” said Steiner. “We had issues with tariffs and things like that along the way, so being able to close that out with the vendor goes a long way. We have some reports and things to do before we get to the end of the grant period, where we can close out the grant with the state, but right now we just closed out with the vendor on both projects.”
PUBLIC HEALTH
Public Health Director Sarah Reese brought several items before the board, including a new three-year renewal of the county’s agreement with the Polk County Developmental Achievement Center (DAC). The agreement is similar to those the health department has with local school nurses to assist students. “We have a three-year agreement that, as I mentioned in the board meeting, is very similar to our school health services agreement for those that we do contracted services with as well, and so happy to work with Jean Ann and her team at the Polk County DAC, and look forward to it,” said Reese.”
Reese also informed the board of the timeline for the Opioid Settlement Advisory Council’s third round of request for proposals (RFP). “We are looking forward to a third round of funding for the calendar year of 2027, January through December, and so hoping to get that process started a little bit earlier this year in terms of the application release process, so folks have a little more time to work on applications and submit ideas for how that funding might be utilized,” explained Reese. “We have great partners in place, and we also know there are other partners that are perhaps interested in future funding, and so want to make funds available.”
The fund allocation is currently set at $275,000 but could be increased to $400,000 from reserve funds if necessary.
HIGHWAY
Polk County Engineer Richard Sanders asked the board for approval of a connection to the Marshall & Polk Rural Water System for a shop in Angus Township. The connection cost would be $11,550, plus up to $1,500 for a meter well. The board approved the request. The water hookup was suggested to Sanders, as a nearby company was getting a connection. “Marshall Polk Real Water is going to be supplying water to the Bean Company, and they came to us and asked if we would want to be hooked up as well to save both entities some money,” said Sanders. “I went to the county board and got approval to hook our Angus shop up to Marshall Polk Rural Water, along with providing a hydrant there, so that we can use our own water and not pay others for water for our noxious weed program.”
Sanders provided an update to the board on the status of a multi-county grant funding proposal to rebuild the Nielsville, Hendrum, and Georgetown Bridges. The office of Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach contacted Sanders last week to inform him that the $24 million funding proposal was approved, providing $8 million to help cover around half of the construction costs for each bridge. Sanders and the board celebrated this news, as the Nielsville Bridge has been out of commission for over 11 years. “Every year, we’ve applied for federal grants to help replace them,” said Sanders. “This year, Norman County put in a build grant application, the same thing we’ve been doing in the past, for $25 million, and Federal Highway and USDOT is awarding that build application for $24 million instead of the $25 million, which is still a great number, and so now it’s time for Polk, Norman, and Clay County on the Minnesota sides and Cass and Traill County on the North Dakota side to get to work, hire a consultant to design the bridges and get them constructed, so it’s exciting news.”
PLANNING AND ZONING
Planning and Zoning Director Jacob Snyder had multiple items to bring before the board, including a resolution to replat a portion of the townsite at Lakeside Park on Maple Lake. The triangular parcel of land had been platted in the late 1950s or early 1960s and needed a replat before it could be divided and sold. “It was one large triangular tract, and in its history, it was a part of Lakeside Platte, which is an old plat with a lot of different lots in it,” explained Snyder. “This one encompassed half of lot 16, and basically one through 16 on an old plat that was no longer valid and was one parcel, so working with the landowner came up with a plan to subdivide it into buildable parcels, and so we issued preliminary plat approval for three parcels today that would be buildable for home septics, accessory buildings, those types of things.”
Another agenda item included the purchase of a pre-owned front-end loader from Ziegler CAT in Crookston for $87,440. This front-end loader would replace a 1998 model that had an engine malfunction, resulting in a small fire back in May. After receiving a quote for the repairs, Snyder decided the best option was to consider replacing the old front-end loader, which had around 10,000 hours on it. “It was a pretty simple decision to make,” said Snyder. “We were going to spend over half of the money that we could use to buy a used piece of equipment with some low hours on it, around 3,900 hours on a front-end loader. We did have a quote to add in a three-year powertrain warranty to that, and so we got a little protection there for at least 500 hours or three years.”
Snyder also told the council that a request for proposals (RFP) regarding the demolition of the old McIntosh School Building would be published on Wednesday, and a pre-bid open meeting for contractors has been scheduled for Tuesday, July 21. The old school building partially collapsed in May, and Snyder has been working with county officials to move the process forward and have the remainder of the building torn down before any further collapses occur. The project timeline remains on schedule to begin later this year.
The next county board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 21, at 9:30 a.m. in the county boardroom at the Polk County Government Center in Crookston.
