The Polk County Board of Commissioners met Tuesday, November 5 at 8:00 a.m. in the County Board Room at the Government Center. Once the Board approved the Consent items and had their County Board Issue Forum the Commissioners moved on to the main agenda for the meeting.
James Offerdahl – Mayor of Fosston
First on the agenda James Offerdahl, the Mayor of Fosston, updated the commissioners on the status of the City of Fosston’s issues with Essentia Health. “I came to discuss a fundraising effort that the First Care Taskforce. The City of Fosston has initiated to raise money for the continued effort to secure local healthcare in the community and the communities that First Care Medical Services, the Fosston Hospital serves.” Mayor Offerdahl explained that he is seeking a donation from the Polk County Board to that fund. Offerdal updated the board of the City of Fosston’s dispute with Essenia Health, who is the hospital operator at this time.
Essentia Health in Fosston is one of two hospitals in Polk County, and the other is RiverView Health in Crookston. Over the past 10 years the services provided by Essentia Health in Fosston have been on a steady decline. One example Mayor Offerdahl used was in 2014, Essentia Health of Fosston delivered 68 babies. In 2024, Essentia delivered one baby due to an emergency. The facility no longer has a maternity ward or obstetricians on staff, so mothers have to find doctors in another town and hope that they can get there in time.
Mayor Offerdahl asked that the Commissioners consider a $20,000 donation. Right now, an anonymous donor is matching every dollar donated by $2, tripling all donations. The Board let Mayor Offerdahl know that they would consider the request.
Kayla Schumacher – Taxpayer Service Center
The board heard from Kayla Schumacher from Taxpayer Services. Kayla came to the board with a resolution for St. Joseph Catholic Church in Fertile, MN. St. Joseph’s was seeking a permit for gambling in the form of a raffle. St. Joseph had submitted the application, and the board voted unanimously to approve the permit.
Richard Sanders – Polk County Highway Department
Richard Sanders, Polk County Engineer, came to the board of commissioners with three items that needed Certificate of Performance/Final Acceptance. “The first one was our district-wide calcium chloride project,” says Sanders. “It was a three-year contract for applying calcium chloride in Norman, Polk, Clearwater, Red Lake, Pennington, Marshall, and Kittson Counties.”The board unanimously approved this item.
The next was for work done in both Erskine and McIntosh. “Then we had the contract for the Mill and Overlay on CSAH 8 in McIntosh and CSAH 105 in Erskine, and that was work Agassiz Asphalt did out of New Folden.” The board unanimously approved the final contract for this item.
The last Certificate of Performance/Final acceptance item was for work done in Fisher, MN. “We had the work in the city of Fisher on CSAH 15 by the Cenex station,” said Sanders. “We had to move County Ditch 26 to the north slightly, replace the culvert with a box culvert, and did an overlay on that stretch.” Gladen Construction out of LaPorte completed the work required on the contract, and the board unanimously approved this item.
The final item that Sanders had for the board was to ask for approval of resolution 2024-75. “We have the ATV trail between Crookston and Fertile and then south of Beltrami on the old railroad tracks,” says Sanders. “Every year, we have to apply for grant funding through the DNR, so the board approved a resolution making Polk County the sponsor for those trails.”
Sarah Reese – Polk County Public Health
Polk County Public Health Director Sarah Reese came in front of the County Board Tuesday to both recommend funding to an organization from the Opioid Settlement Fund and to amend and Restate a contract already approved for funds from the Settlement. Reese explained. “So, back in June, Polk County Public Health, along with the Polk County Opioid Advisory Council, presented recommendations from our requests for proposals for applications to release opioid settlement funds to partners in our county,” says Reese. “We had one partner whose request was to go back and have some follow-up about what was proposed in their work plan and budget.” The contract was with the Care and Share and it was for $50,000.
The Second Contract was with the Regents of the University of Minnesota. “Upon further review, the Regents of the University of Minnesota did a more thorough review of their contact and requested some alternative language,” says Reese. “After a consultation with the Polk County Attorney’s office we did agree to their alternative language.” Reese brought their contract back to be amended and restated. The board unanimously approved the motion. There were no changes to the original settlement amount.
The final item of the day was the Youth Advisory Council. “The third item is my favorite item of the day,” says Reese. “That is the appointment of our Youth Advisory Board Members.” The Polk County Public Health Department has had a Youth Advisory Board that has provided us with consultations with our department since 2018.
There were eight members up for approval. Those new members are Halle Nicholas (Crookston), Jade Boyd (Climax), Ada Swenson (Climax), Annalise Wellumson (Sacred Heart), Lexi Mahlen (Fosston), Addison Jeuch (East Grand Forks), Sofie Grunhovd (Fertile) and Maci Hasket (Win-E-Mac). Reese was happy that seven of the eight were in attendance for the meeting as well as Teagan Duppong of Fosston, who is a current Youth Advisory Board Member.
What is the role of a Youth Advisory Board Member? “We look to those young folks to be providing us with feedback from their own lived experiences about what’s happening in their schools, how can we provide our services better, how can we make sure they are connected with resources that their peers or their school or community might need,” says Reese. “We are happy to provide them with an opportunity to learn about governmental public health.”
The board unanimously approved the motion appointing the youth to the Advisory Board.
Jake Snyder – Environmental Services
Jake Snyder, Assistant Environmental Services Administrator, had one item he was seeing approval for during Tuesday’s meeting. “Today I came in front of the board for approval to seek a Secretary/Bookkeeper for the Environmental Services Department,” says Snyder. “Shelly Erdmann has served in that position for over 33 years so we are trying to fill some big shoes there.”
Chuck Whiting – Polk County Administrator
Polk County Administrator Chuck Whiting brought a few items to the board regarding Abdo Financial Services, a possible service agreement with Abdo, and how to use the remaining American Rescue Plan Act Funds before they expire on December 31, 2024. KROX will have more on these items at a later date.
Whiting was meant to lead a budget discussion at this time but instead needed to get the board online for a closed session with Attorney Kendra Olson (Pemberton Law) to discuss pending litigation.
