The Polk County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday morning inside the Polk County Government Center.
POLK COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH
Polk County Public Health Director Sarah Reese sought a motion to approve the advertisement and hiring of 1.0 FTE Nurse (Registered Nurse RNI or Public Health Nurse RNII) and a 1.0 FTE Clerk Typist Cashier III within Polk County Public Health. The board approved both requests from Reese unanimously.
Reese also gave the board an update on the COVID-19 situation within Polk County. “I think we’re in a great spot in terms of seeing the cases go down,” said Reese. “We are watching it very closely because we see cases across the county, and this time of the year, we see a lot of sicknesses. It’s kind of like a virus soup, and there are things that we can all do to try and avoid getting sick or spreading sickness. If you are sick, please stay home; if you have COVID-19 symptoms, please consider getting tested, and if you’re eligible for the vaccine or booster, please consider getting that as well, as it’s our best protection against Covid.”
The cases have dropped over October, and there were 151 New Cases in Polk County between October 22-28.
CHUCK WHITING
Polk County Administrator Chuck Whiting once again updated the board on another Collective Bargaining Agreement, this one with the AFSCME Social Services Department. Whiting said the terms of this contract also align with the other Collective Bargaining Agreements, but this one was a little more important to get approved by the board. “This is our Social Services Department, and we have over 100 people in this department, so it is by far our biggest department,” said Whiting. “This group has experienced quite a bit through the pandemic, and we do need to be competitive in our wages to try and retain some of these people. That has been the goal of these contracts from the start. We’re trying to stay within the taxpayers of Polk County while also keeping the quality of people we have to perform functions because we do have great people.”
The board approved the Collective Bargaining Agreement, leaving just two Agreements left for approval. Those will be before the board sometime this upcoming month.
Whiting also updated the board on American Relief Program Funding and a few potential decisions that could be coming down the road. “Our Public Health Department has been looking at several categories these funds would be eligible for, and Social Services as well have a few ways they could use the money,” said Whiting. “So, we did review that and reviewed it in the context of how it could help our budget. Some of these funds could also be retained if the county experienced losses in revenue due to the pandemic. So, there are a lot of options, and now it comes down to trying to bring some order to it as we put the budget together in the next month.”
OTHER ITEMS
Other items included Polk County Engineer Richard Sanders asking approval for a Ditch Maintenance Request on County Ditch 32. The request was to clean the ditch in Sections 7 of Lowell Township, and the board approved the request.
Karen Warmack of Social Services had three motions for the board to act upon. The first was an approval of the contract with the Department of Employment and Economic Development in the amount not to exceed $9,272 for the SNAP program. The contract period is from October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022. The second item was board approval of the 2022 contract with the Village Family Service Center for $50,000. The third item was board approval to refill a Social Worker position and any internal subsequent position vacancies occurring because of the action. The board approved all three requests.
Michelle Cote of Property Records had three items for the board. The first was the approval of a 2022 forfeit mowing & snow removal quote from Bob’s Lawn Care for forfeited properties. The second was a resolution for a repurchasing of a forfeited tax property on parcel number 82.01346.00 for Nanette Wilson in the amount of $9,082.71. The third item was to set a partial abandonment hearing date and time for the petitions received on County Ditch 25 in Fanny Township. The abandonment hearing dates will take place on December 21, at 10:00 a.m. The board approved all three requests unanimously.
The next Board of Commissioners meeting will take place on November 16.
