The Polk County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday to discuss the proposed Active Transportation Plan and tobacco ordinance, receive the monthly sheriff’s report, and discuss updates to the status of the 2027 budget.
ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION PLAN/TOBACCO ORDINANCE
Polk County Public Health Director Sarah Reese brought two resolutions to the county board for approval. The first item up for discussion was the approval of the county’s Active Transportation Plan. Reese and her department have spent considerable time developing this plan with assistance from Polk County Engineer Rich Sanders.
The plan serves as a roadmap to identify and prioritize opportunities to expand residents’ ability to walk, run, bike, or roll through their communities, creating a safer, healthier community. A community survey was issued earlier this year, and 90 percent of respondents reported engaging in active transportation for recreational purposes. Using data from the survey and other community engagement events held by Polk County Public Health, Reese developed a list of priorities to create more transportation opportunities and identified short- and long-term projects to build multi-use trails and widen road shoulders to provide safer ways to travel around the county.
Overall, Reese was pleased with the responses the department received and thanked everyone involved in developing this plan, which will help the county apply for grants and other funding sources for road widening and trail creation. “In order for people to be safe to use the road in lots of different ways in our rural setting, of course, we need to think about agricultural equipment. We need to think about semis and large equipment, as well as we need to think about people who want to use the road for walking or biking or rolling or any sort of assisted device as well, and so there’s a lot of planning considerations when we think about speed and vision and so forth. It was a great opportunity to engage with the community, and one of the requirements to apply for certain state and federal funding sources is that we have this very intentional community input, and we were happy to be able to facilitate that.”
The second resolution was to approve the amended Polk County Tobacco Ordinance, renamed the Polk County Sale of Tobacco and Related Devices Ordinance. The amended ordinance includes revisions recommended by the county board at their October 19 meeting, including prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products, except mint, menthol, and wintergreen; maintaining the county’s tobacco license limit at 8; and requiring electronic identification verification for anyone purchasing tobacco products. Reese had previously identified the need to update the tobacco ordinance to comply with state and federal law and to adapt the language to incorporate newer tobacco products, such as vapes, to keep Polk County residents healthier and smoke-free. “The Polk County Tobacco Ordinance had remained unchanged since 1998, and so updating the ordinance meant that we were aligning our local regulations with current state and federal law, as well as addressing tobacco and nicotine products, and incorporating strategies to reduce tobacco use and protect the health of Polk County residents. We have had good discussions at both the public hearing and in follow-up to hear all sides of the conversation. And so today, the Polk County Tobacco Ordinance was approved by the board, and we will look forward from there.”
The board approved the vote with Commissioner Ross Pape as the sole no vote. He had concerns that prohibiting the sale of certain types of tobacco could lead minors to seek other alternatives to purchase those products, including through online sales, and wanted to see if an amendment could be added that would charge minors in possession of tobacco products. Reese told Pape that since the ordinance is specific to retailers, Pape’s suggested amendment would need to be reviewed by the county attorney.
OCTOBER SHERIFF’S REPORT
Polk County Sheriff James Tadman presented the October sheriff’s report to the county board. The department conducted 4,111 miles of prisoner transports over 105 hours in October, lower than September’s total of 7,696 miles over 183.05 hours.
The department responded to 796 calls for service in October, including 16 animal complaints and one animal bite, 110 school patrols, 212 traffic stops, and 26 motor vehicle accidents, including three with injuries. The department had only nine motor vehicle accidents in September, and Tadman attributed the increase to more trucks and farming equipment on the roads during the sugar beet harvest season. “We don’t want any injury crashes, or we don’t want any crashes at all. But we had 26, and when it got to that rainy part is where we seemed to get a lot of them coming in. All in all, I think it was a pretty good harvest, and it was kind of hit and miss because of weather. It was done and gone, and everything else seemed to be just about average with our calls and stuff like that. I think it could be because of weather, or it could be because of all the different vehicles on the road, but we had 11 reported careless driving calls. Otherwise, it was a good month for the sheriff’s office.”.
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT UPDATES
Polk County Engineer Rich Sanders had multiple agenda items to bring before the board. The first item was a resolution awarding a tractor quote to Valley Plains Equipment of Crookston for the purchase of a 2025 6M 165 tractor in the amount of $240,350. The quote from Valley Plains was the only quote received by the department, and upon the purchase of the new tractor, the old tractor would be sold at auction. Commissioners Paul Reese and Ross Pape had concerns that the highway department was looking to buy a brand-new tractor and asked Sanders to contact Valley Plains about purchasing a slightly used tractor to keep costs down. Sanders agreed to their request, and the measure was tabled for a future meeting. “Typically, we buy new because we know what the maintenance cost for that piece of equipment is going to be over the 15 years. And once you get to 1,500 to 2,000 hours, how much more maintenance is there on those. So, purchasing equipment that’s older with more hours sometimes isn’t always the best bang for your buck, but we will go back to the drawing board. We’ll do some more discussions with our equipment people around the area and see if there are any of those tractors out there.”
The next items on the agenda were certificates of performance and final acceptance for the County State-Aid Highway 2, 74, and 8 overlay projects. The CSAH 2 and 74 project was completed by RJ Zavoral and Sons and was originally quoted at $2,178,437.80 but had an overrun to $2,329,308.21 due to incentive payments. The CSAH 8 project also had an incentive payment overrun, increasing the project cost from $1,226,763 to $1,253,650.12.
The board approved the reappointment of Garrett Borowicz from Widseth as a county land surveyor for four years, ending on December 31, 2030. Sanders told the council that a request for proposals was issued for this position, but Borowicz was the only person to submit one. Sanders appreciates the work that Widseth has provided to the county over the years and looks forward to their continued partnership. “Garrett’s done our land surveying for as long as I’ve been here, or Widseth has with their previous land surveyors. It makes it easier to work with them when they have an office right here in Crookston. They do great work for us. I know there’s always the discussion about change, but with change comes other things. And so, from my standpoint, I’m perfectly happy with Widseth and mr. Borowicz.”
The final agenda item for Sanders was the campground fees for the 2027 and 2028 camping seasons at the Maple Lake and Cross Lake Tilberg campgrounds. Sanders met with the Parks Committee on October 22 to review the campground fees, which is typically done every two to three years. The committee initially proposed increases in 2027 and 2028 for both campgrounds, but after further discussion, they agreed to recommend a decrease in the 2027 fees and an increase in 2028. The Maple Lake seasonal rates with full hookups will be $2,750 in 2027 and $3,350 in 2028, and Cross Lake Tilberg’s seasonal rates with full hookups will be $2,400 in 2027 and $2,760 in 2028. The new fee structure will allow for additional work to be done at the campgrounds, including installation of Wi-Fi and new electrical hookups. “We looked at campground fees in the region within Polk County. We made our recommendation back in September on what those fees were going to be. The campers came in, and we had some discussions about the use of those fees and what those fees are going to go towards. After having a campground meeting in October, we decided to reduce the fees for 2027 down slightly, but raise the fees for 2028, so that the income coming in would be about the same as previously proposed. This will allow us to do future work at the campground as needed.”
PUMPKIN PATCH CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT
Polk County Environmental Services Administrator Jon Steiner brought a resolution to the board regarding a conditional use permit for Eden Acres LLC’s seasonal pumpkin patch and corn maze. Farm owners John and Kristine Rusten operated the pumpkin patch and corn maze on their 160-acre property in Eden Township and applied for a conditional use permit after the county informed them they would need one to operate the business there. The county’s planning commission recommended approval of the permit at its October 23 meeting, with conditions to be met, such as proper insurance, a 300-person capacity on the property, and parking considerations. The board unanimously approved the permit, and even though their operating season is over, Steiner was pleased to have the conditional use permit approved so the Rustens wouldn’t face potential fines for operating without one. “We always try and remind people, the county requires permits anywhere in the county, so we want them to come and talk to us before they start doing things. Otherwise, oftentimes they impose a penalty fee on doing things after the fact. So it was unfortunate with this one that it kind of happened after the fact, although they were very good to work with. Once they realized they needed a permit, and they were doing all the things that we would have required with the permit anyway, it went pretty well.”
2027 BUDGET STATUS
Finance Director Stacy Grover provided a 2027 budget status update to the board, as County Administrator Chuck Whiting was not able to attend the meeting due to illness. Grover informed the board that, based on the board’s preliminary 5% levy set in September, the budget would have revenues under expenses by $5.8 million. The board appreciated Grover for stepping in to present the budget status update and agreed to sit down with Whiting for a finance meeting on Tuesday, November 17, following the regular county board meeting, to discuss the budget ahead of the upcoming public hearing on Tuesday, December 1. Grover was encouraged by the discussions during the meeting and knows that the budget process is very difficult to navigate for all the departments involved. “I think we’ve got some budget work to do. We’ll be doing a more extensive budget work session with everybody on the 17th. So we look forward to having some more open conversations and getting some clarifications on where we’re at with the budget and what the numbers are looking like.”
The next Polk County Board of Commissioners meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 17, at 9:30 a.m. in the boardroom at the Polk County Government Center in Crookston.
