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Polk County Board of Commissioners agrees to be the Lead Applicant for RAISE Grant application in hope of replacing three bridges that span the Red River

The Polk County Board of Commissioners met Tuesday, January 21, at 9:30 a.m. at the Government Center.  After approval of consent items and The County Board Members Issue Forum the Board moved on to the regular agenda.

County Engineer Richard Sanders was first up on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting and he came to the board asking for approval to pay Thygeson Construction, Inc. of Thief River Falls for completion of work required on their contract. “Today I came to the County Board to get a Certificate of Performance and Certificate of Final Acceptance approved for our base stabilization projects that we did on County Road 35, and County Road 235 north of Fosston and McIntosh,” says Sanders. “It’s just part of the procedure on finalizing the contracts out, we need board approval.” The Board approved the motion allowing the Sanders to sign the Certificate of Performance, and for Sanders and County Administrator Chuck Whiting to sign the Final Voucher for the work completed.

Sanders also came to the Board Tuesday asking that they approve a resolution agreeing to be the Lead Applicant for the 2025 Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Grant Program, as well as to approve the Polk County Match Assurance letter. “We are applying for a RAISE Grant again for the Nielsville Bridge, along with Hendrum, and Georgetown, all on the County Road system over the Red River between Minnesota and North Dakota,” says Sanders. “We needed to get a resolution approved saying that Polk’s the lead agency, and a letter saying that we would make sure that the match money was available if we were to get the grant.” Sanders says the grant they are applying for is a $25 Million grant, and the cost of construction is about $41 million. “Between the State of North Dakota, and the State of Minnesota, and the five counties, Trail and Cass on the North Dakota side, Clay, Norman, and Polk on the Minnesota side,” says Sanders. “We will have to come up with the rest of the match.” The board approved unanimously of being the Lead Applicant, and of providing the Match Assurance letter.

Next on the County Board agenda was to hear from Public Health Director Sarah Reese.  The first item for Reese was a motion for the board to approve the 2025 Polk County Opioid Settlement Advisory Council. “When we originally established the advisory council, which was required by the opioid settlement funds details from the memorandum of agreement from the state, we asked for an 18 month commitment,” says Reese. “So, over the past six months we have been reaching out to our current members to ask them if they wanted to remain on the council.” Reese said several members were reappointed, and there will also a few new members to be added with this motion. The board approved of the Polk County Opioid Settlement Advisory Council.

Reese’s next item was informational only as she gave the board an Opioid Settlement Fund – Naloxone Distribution Report for 2024.  “As part of the Opioid Settlement Fund we did provide a Naloxone Distribution Report, and talked about the initiative we have been working on the last six months,” says Reese. “ So, we were able to highlight working with community partners, and providing training and distribution.”  Reese also brought to the board a motion to approve the Memorandum of Agreement among the County of Polk, The Crookston Youth Foundation, and Alluma. Alluma will serve as the fiscal host for the Crookston Youth Foundations Opioid Settlement Funds. “The Crookston Youth Foundation was awarded Opioid Settlement Funds this past summer, and we have identified the need to have a fiscal host in order for them to meet the operational agreements,” says Reese. “We did that through memorandum of understanding of them working with Alluma to identify them as the fiscal host for their agreement.”

At Tuesdays meeting Reese also provided the board with a quarterly Communications Report for Q4 of 2024. In this report Reese is able to show how Polk County Public Health engages with the community, their partner coalition work, social media reach, and more.

Reese also brought to the board a resolution accepting financial donations from BluePlus/BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota, to be used for youth programming,  which was approved unanimously by the board. Last for Reese was to get approval for some out of state travel for herself, and colleges.  There is no cost to the board for the travel.  The board approved unanimously of the out of state travel schedule.

Next the board heard from Karen Warmack, Polk County Social Service Director.  She was seeking approval to appoint a lay person to the Social Service Agency Board as there is a vacancy due to the resignation of Paula Waters after 22 years on the board. There are two candidates interested in being members of the Social Service Board.  The board unanimously approved of appointing a lay person to the Social Service Agency Board.

Every three years the County is required to submit a wage data report for pay equity compliance. This report has been submitted, and needed to be formally acknowledged by the board.  Alecia Helms, the Polk County Human Resources Director brought the wage report to the board for approval of the data, and submittal to the state.  The board approved of the motion unanimously.

Jon Steiner, from Polk County Environmental Services, was in attendance Tuesday with a few items for the board’s approval. “We applied for a couple grants last fall and we were awarded two of them,” says Steiner. “One of them had in there as part of the project, was to purchase what we call, a mini payloader.” Steiner says it was either the mini payloader or a forklift so it could go under the super structure where they have containers, as it needs to be small to get under there. “We opted for the mini loader as it’s also the same sort of equipment we run on the tip floor of the waste energy facility to feed the waste combustors,” says Steiner. “So, there is a back up then, each piece of equipment is backed u,p which is why we went with that instead of the forklift.” The board approved unanimously the motion to purchase the CAT 906 from Ziegler Co. of Minneapolis in the amount of $114,622.57, and also approve the motion to purchase SETCO tires from SETCO Inc, of Lowell, AR, in the amount of $9984.88 as part of the Compost Project Grant.

Sheriff James Tadman came to the board with a motion to approve the Professional Services Agreement with LEAST Services/Counseling LLC ,effective January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2026. LEAST provides psychological services including counseling, consultation, and training, to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.  The board approved the motion unanimously.

A motion was brought to the board by Polk County MIS, Levi Webster, requesting the renewal of Splunk.  Splunk is used for FBI/BCA compliance, and gives the county the ability to monitor, search, index, and correlate data from various sources.  The renewal was budgeted for 2025 at a cost of $26,304.74.  The board approved the motion to purchase Splunk and the corresponding hardware unanimously.

Director of Property Records, Sam Melbye, brought a motion to approve the Memorandum of Agreement for 2025-2027 between Polk County, and the University of MN Extension.  The MOA was presented to the Board in September, by Lisa Loegering, the NW Regional Director of the University of MN Extension.  The motion to approve and sign the agreement was approved unanimously by the board.

Melbye also brought to the board a motion for approval that allows him to issue written consent to Sheila Wurden, of East Grand Forks, so she may sublease the property identified as parcel 09.00288 in Polk County, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the signed lease agreement currently on file.  The board approved the motion unanimously.

The Last two items on the agenda came from The Polk County Administrator Chuck Whiting. As routine annual business for the board, Whiting brought to the Commissioners a resolution Designating Official Depositories and Authorized Signers for 2025.  Bremer Bank N.A. is designated as the Polk County official depository.  United Valley Bank and PFM Asset Management (MAGIC) we named as additional depositories for County funds in the resolution, and the Designated Official signer for Polk County, Charles S. Whiting, County Administrator and Heather Ellis, Accounting Officer for Polk County. The board approved unanimously of the Designated Official Depositories, and Authorized Signers.

Administrator Whiting also brought to the board the Auditor Warrant Listing for 2025 for approval. This allows the board to authorize the Finance Manager to pay the listed types of claims made against the County, such as, utilities, lease agreements, and contracts.  The board approved the resolution unanimously.

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