The Polk County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday, February 18, at 9:30 a.m. at the Government Center in the County Board Room. Tuesday’s meeting started with Sheriff Tadman’s Monthly report. Tadman said there were 744 calls for service in January. Some of the top categories for January’s calls to service were assisting other agencies, civil processes, school patrol, and traffic stops.
Mark Landsverk, the County Assessor, came to the board to get approval for the date and time of the 2025 County Board of Appeal and Equalization Meeting. This will take place June 17 at 6:00 p.m. Sam Melbye, Polk County Recorder, says this meeting is for people who may want to dispute the valuation placed on their property. “That meeting is for taxpayers who have appealed their value through their local township or city and didn’t get the result they wanted,” says Melbye. “It’s another step in the process of appealing values. Values will be coming out in March, so people should watch for those valuation notices and be ready to appeal if they feel their values are too high.” If a resident wants to appeal their valuation, it is by appointment only; otherwise, the meeting is open to the public. Melbye says you can contact the Polk County Assessor’s Office if you want to be on that agenda. Often, though, Melbye says, problems can be worked on with the Assessor’s office before the meeting, so don’t wait if you have a question or concern.
Next on the agenda was Levi Webster, Director of Information Systems, who asked the board to approve the Annual Renewal of Microsoft Licensing for the County for $191,727.96. This is the final year of a three-year contract for these services. The board approved unanimously, as this item was part of the budget for 2025.
Annette Storm of Abdo Financial Solutions presented the 2025 County Ditch Assessment to the board. This item had a motion to approve ditch levy assessments totaling $429,036.94. “We levy each year for county ditches; they go on a special assessment onto taxpayers’ tax statements,” says Melbye. “It is for work that has been done already. So, say work was done on a ditch for cleaning in 2024, that would be billed out in 2025.” The board unanimously approved the levy assessments.
Jon Steiner, Director of Environmental Services, came to the board with multiple items Tuesday. First up for Steiner was a motion to approve Landfill Phase 15 withholding for R.J. Zavoral & Sons of East Grand Forks, MN, to be reduced to $13,207, as well as a motion to approve Zovoral & Sons’ Pay Request of $92,944.42. “Normally, we have a withholding; it was a rather big project, a $2 Million project, so the withholding was pretty large,” says Steiner. “The state certified the construction, which is usually what we wait for before we release the retainage.” What was retained for now, $13,207, is enough to cover the seeding and grading done in the fall if it does not emerge. The board approved unanimously.
Steiner also motioned to approve Elemental Air to conduct the 2025 Stack Test and RATA. The cost for the testing is $49,220 and budgeted in 2025. “We have to do a full stack test at the incinerator in Fosston every three years. This is the year we have to do it,” says Steiner. “So, we brought the testing company proposal up and had that approved.” The stack testing will take place by the end of April.
Steiner’s remaining items for the board were all related to Grant Funds and getting things moving on using them. “We spent a lot of money today,” says Steiner. “We have two grants that were awarded last summer. One was to make improvements at the material recovery facility in Fosston to do more with getting more recyclables out of garbage.” Steiner says this includes putting in a bag opener and specially designed screens for fines to capture more small recyclable items so they don’t end up in the landfill. “That was the one grant,” says Steiner. “We approved the contract to hire the company that will do that for us,” says Steiner. “And then the two pieces of equipment, the bag opener and the screen.” The items approved were contracts for Titus Manufacturing for $499.000(Facility Improvements), Viability for $481,627(Bag Opener), and Spaleck for $128,680(Screens). The three contracts are for improving material recovery at the Fosston facility.
More money was spent with the help of an Organics Grant. This grant is being used in a program Steiner says is similar to one they use in Ramsey and Washington Counties. Ramsey and Washington counties give residents bags to put their food scraps, tie the bags up, and put them in the same garbage container they use to dispose of trash. “So, the waste hauler will take both bags. They are not doing anything different and will bring them to Fosston,” says Steiner. “Then we will have robots actually identifying those special bags and pulling them out, we will divert those, and they will go out to our compost facility at the landfill.” The items approved were a contract with Titus Manufacturing for $996,000 and the purchase of Waste Robots for $550,000 for the Fosston facility.
