The Polk County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday inside the Polk County Government Center. The Board heard from Polk County Sheriff James Tadman about the Monthly Sheriff Reports and the purchase of multiple Chevy Silverados and Chevy Tahoes from Enterprise, County Engineer Richard Sanders on Requests for Maintenance in multiple County Ditches, as well as to approve Agreements for Eden Township and Polk County. The Board also heard from Property Records Deputy Director Sam Melbye and County Administrator Chuck Whiting.
CONSENT ITEMS
The Board opened the meeting by first approving the Board Minutes of their meeting on May 3 and the payment to Acom Solutions in Long Beach, CA, in the amount of $2,472 for the annual EZpay Software License Renewal for the Finance Department. The final item on the Consent Agenda was to approve the payment to the Minnesota State Board of Assessors in St. Paul in the amount of $785 for employee renewal licenses.
SHERIFF JAMES TADMAN
The Board then heard from Polk County Sheriff James Tadman to report the Monthly Sheriff’s Report. He reported that the department had paid $4,154.54 on their North Charge Paid Services and had 821 calls for service, with 222 of them being for Traffic Stops, 78 for School Patrols, and three for Gas Drive Off Thefts. He also reported that they had driven their transports about 7,526 miles for the month of April, which accumulated to 29,329 miles so far for the year. Tadman was then joined by Sgt. Jesse Haugen, who requested the Board to approve the purchase of eight new vehicles for the Sheriff Office’s Patrol, which included 4 2023 Chevy Tahoe 4×4 Vehicles at $52.391 per unit for a total cost of $209,564, 2 2023 Chevy Silverado 1500 4×4 Vehicles at $48,633.01 per unit for a total cost of $97,266.02, 2 2023 Chevy Silverado 2500 4×4 Vehicles at $47,035 per unit for a total of $94,070 from Enterprise for a grand total of $400,900,02. “It’s just an updating and regular routine for us as the vehicles are getting outdated and reaching over mileage,” Polk County Sgt. Jesse Haugen explained. He followed that with a request for the Board to approve the purchase of 3 2023 Chevy Tahoe 4×4 vehicles at $52,391 per unit for a total of $157,173 and a 2023 Chevy Silverado 1500 4×4 vehicles at $48,633.01 per unit for a total of $48,663.01 from Enterprise to replace the 2021 order of 2022 Ram 1500 Classic pickups for a grand total of $205,836, after they heard they had heard they were not going to get the 2022 Rams, so they needed these to replace them. The Board approved the purchases unanimously.
RICHARD SANDERS – HIGHWAY
The Board was then approached by County Engineer Richard Sanders, who reported that the Highway Department had held a public hearing to abandon one mile of County Ditch 25 back in December 2021. As part of the abandonment agreement, both Gasper Family Farms LLLP and John Goodyke Trust had agreed to the easement and asked the Board to approve a permanent easement across the mile. He then reported that they had many requests for maintenance among several County Ditches around Polk County. “We also had many requests for maintenance on different Ditches; County Ditch 41, 48 Branch 2, 83, 103, and 36,” County Engineer Richard Sanders explained. “With all of this spring flooding, we have culverts washing out, and erosion happening, so these Ditch Maintenance requests allow us to go in, do a survey to make sure that the Ditch can be cleaned if it needs to be or, so we can look replace the Culverts if they need to be replaced,” he added. He first requested maintenance for County Ditch 41 to be cleared/grubbed/re-sloped and cleaned as needed. He also requested for County Ditch 48 Branch 2 to be cleaned as needed as well. He then requested maintenance for County Ditches 83 and 103 to fix farm entrance approaches in Rosebud Twp. and Tynsid Twp. between County Rd 80 and Highway 103, as there has been a lot of erosion due to the weather. He then requested the Board to approve for them to move the crossing and repair some of the erosion with Sheet wrap. He then requested maintenance for County District 36 for the Halstad Telephone Company, which wanted to bore a cable under the ditch in Sullivan Twp. He then approached the Board to request that they approve an agency agreement contract the County made for a project in and along an Eden Township Road. He then requested the Board to approve a resolution to accept the retirement of Engineering Technician Brian Hoiseth. He then requested the Board to approve a resolution to enter into a Master Partnership Contract with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to help save Taxpayer funds. He explained that the agreement would have them work together with MnDOT and use each other’s services if needed. It would also allow MnDOT to test all of their materials for assurance testing in their labs in Bemidji to ensure that a contractor’s test results are correct. He explained that the agreement would also grant the County access to Federal Funds for projects. His final item was that Highway Department Accounting Clerk III will be retiring effective on December 16 and that the current Clerk Typist Cashier III has been trained to do the accounting work in the absence of the accountant and currently has the likelihood to take the position. So the Highway will need to fill those positions and need time for further training of the new employee before December 16, hopefully by September 1. The Board approved all motions unanimously.
PROPERTY RECORDS
The Board then heard from Property Records Deputy Director Sam Melbye on a resolution to approve a public sale of property forfeited by the City of Crookston (Parcel #82.02216.00). Melbye reported that the property owner was affected due to a part of the property overlapping with their driveway on Ingersoll Ave. He explained that the option would be for the City to negotiate with the landowner on how they wish to move forward with the sale. He then presented the Board with another private sale on a forfeited parcel (Parcel 74.00529.00) that was going to the Altringer family. He presented two purchase options to them that they could offer to the Altringer family for the parcel. The first option was for the Altringer family to purchase a Triangular piece of land in the parcel in the amount of $19,500. The second option was for the Altringers to purchase the entire parcel in a private sale in the amount of $195,500. The County’s Property Records will then go to the family to negotiate the deal on the property on Wednesday, June 22, at 4:30 p.m.
CHUCK WHITING-ADMINISTRATION
The Board finished the meeting hearing from County Administrator Chuck Whiting, who first gave an update on the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) Status. He reported that they had received new requests for the Program’s Allocation and were now about $745,487 over the Allocation. “I’ve had some new requests, and we’ve had some that have been taken care of with other funds by the organizations, so we’re about $700,000 over our Allocation for ARPA Funds,” County Administrator Chuck Whiting explained. “But we’ll be able to work with that. There’s some flex there that we can do,” he added. He reported that he hoped they would be able to make the final cuts to the Funds to start giving them out to the organizations that applied for them by June. He then followed with an update on the Facilities Department, explaining that Mark Dietz had worked his last day in the Department on Tuesday, May 17, and explained that until they hire a new Facilities Director. Assistant Facilities Director Rick Langlois will be their Interim Facilities Director effective May 23. He suggested that the Board approve a spending authority for him, mainly for the use of the procurement card for his interim position, with a limit of $10,000 and no more than $20,000 accumulated at any one time. He then requested for the Board to approve a disposition of a 2008 Ford F350 that has a blown motor with a snowplow and lift gate as a package to a public auction service to be sold for the highest bid. The Board approved all motions unanimously.
The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 7, at 8:00 a.m. in the Polk County Government Center.
