The Polk County Commissioners meet on Tuesday afternoon in the Commissioners Room at the Polk County Government Center. The consent agenda included commissioner warrants and sign audit list, approving payment to Card Member Services in St. Louis, MO for $19,167.58 in credit card purchases, authorize payment of $105.50 to READITECH in Grand Forks, ND for display port adapter cables, approve payment of $139.20 for lost warrant no. 525257 dated May 24, 2019, to Ashley Bilyeu. The board also discussed canceling the July 2 meeting but tabled that discussion until their next meeting on June 25.
The board moved to apply for and accept a grant appropriated in the Minnesota State Legislature as a Deputy Registrar Reimbursement Grant. The grant is related to the issues with the development and deployment of the Minnesota License and Registration System (MNLARS) explains Director of Property Records Michelle Cote. “We are eligible for $39,831.83 of reimbursement from the State of Minnesota,” said Cote. “This comes from recent legislative actions where the legislation set aside $13 million for deputy reimbursement for what you could call the pains of MNLARS. Every deputy office across the state has suffered from lower transaction counts because each transaction takes a little bit longer. They’ve had to hire additional staff, so there has been a cost to each office and these funds are designed to reimburse the deputy offices for that. In consideration for accepting the funds each county or office will hold the State of Minnesota harmless from any and all claims regarding MNLARS.”
The License Center is also moving ahead with their remodel, which will utilize some of the current office equipment with an updated design. The License Center operations will need to be moved to a temporary location on the first floor until the remodel is finished. “We are remodeling our License Center to make it more conducive to the way we do business now,” said Cote. “Our customer has a little longer transaction time, and we have to have them there from start to finish. We will have more of a bank teller look where the customer will step up to an employee’s cube to be assisted.”
Beginning Monday, June 24 the License Center will be located on the first floor with signage pointing customers in the right direction until work is complete. The board voted to distribute surplus funds to the Sand Hill Watershed District on two completed bonding items by the district totaling $121,233.95. The board approved Social Services request to fill two soon to be vacated social worker positions and a Highway Department Request to reclassify two unfilled engineer positions to help with filling those vacancies.
The board also approved a resolution to serve as the lead applicant on a BUILD Transportation Grant with Traill County for the Nielsville bridge. Their final actions were to adopt a purchasing policy and an agreement for a procurement card program explains Polk County Administrator Chuck Whiting. “We’re updating our purchasing policies and looking ahead to having a procurement card system approach to purchasing,” said Whiting. “The board approved the policy that made some changes consolidated what we had together. And [they] then approved an agreement through the state with US Bank for procurement or P-cards. We’ll try to capitalize on rebates from purchases that we make and help relieve us of some of the paper systems that we’ve been adhering to for years.”
The board approved one other item, a final plat for Hope Cemetery in Garfield Township, but the action had to be tabled as the plat maps submitted to the county didn’t have the appropriate signature lines.
