The Polk County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday morning inside the Polk County Government Center. They heard from County Engineer Richard Sanders on Awarding multiple contracts for highways, and quotes for lawn mowers and signs, Planning and Zoning Commissioner Jacob Snyder on a Discussion about the Planning Commission and a purchase for Loader Tires, Property Records Representative Michelle Cote to approve a private sale on a forfeited parcel, and County Administrator Chuck Whiting for a resolution on the American Rescue Plan, and to review the County’s Budget Calander for 2023. The meeting also heard other information from Assessor Mark Landsverk, MIS Department Director Evan Bruggeman. It also held a Public Hearing on the new Ward Redistricting Plan the Board discussed at their last meeting on April 5.
CONSENT ITEMS
The Board opened by first approving the Commissioner Warrants and Sign Audit Lists and their Board minutes from their meeting on April 5. The Consent Agenda also included approving a payment to the US Bank in St. Louis, MO, in the amount of $131,960.87 for procurement card purchases. The final item on the Consent Agenda was to approve a payment to the David Drown Associates (DDA) Company in Minneapolis in the amount of $15,000 for consulting services for the Finance Director position.
PUBLIC HEARING
The Board then opened a Public Hearing about redistricting for the County. The Board heard from Property Records Director Michelle Cote, who continued the discussion from the last meeting with the new changes to the Redistricting Maps for the Commissioners. After going over the options again for the Board, including one the Board asked her to create. She noted that Option 7 was the best statistic-wise, but Commissioner Strandell believed that Option 6 and 6A were the most equal in terms of balancing different types of townships. Other Board members voiced similar thoughts saying their preference was either Option 6, 6A, or 7. After closing the Public Hearing, the Board then moved to adopt the Option 6 Plan for the new Redistricting Map until 2034.
The Board approved Option 6 with a 4-to-1 vote in favor of it. Images of the Districting Maps can be seen below.
HIGHWAY
The Board then heard from County Engineer Richard Sanders, who was looking to award many contracts for different CSAH projects around the County. The first was one for CSAH 72 (from Bygland Road to Trunk Highway 220 on the Southeast side of East Grand Forks), 73(which runs from the Truck Station on Highway 2 up to CSAH 19), and 76(which runs North of 220 from 2 up to County State Highway 17), and as a part of that contract, they will complete a half-mile of Crookston Twp. road from Old Highland Road up to CSAH 11. Reporting that he opened bids on Friday, April 15, and the lowest responsible bidder was Anderson Brothers Construction Company of Brainerd LLC in the amount of $859,335. The next one was to Award a contract to Knife River Materials in Northern Minnesota as the lowest responsible bidder in the amount of $1,736,887 to work on CSAH 1 (from the east limits of Beltrami to Trunk Highway 32 in Fertile) as a part of their Federal Aid Project. He also reported that Knife River Materials out of Bemidji was the lowest responsible bidder for the projects on CSAH 34 (Trunk Highway 2 North to the Erskine City Limits and Trunk Highway 59) and 35 (Trunk Highway 59 near Erskine to CSAH 8, north of McIntosh) in the amount of $1,139,949.60, as well as for the projects on CSAH 44 (Norman County Line to CSAH 1 between Beltrami and Fertile) and Norman CSAH 30 in the amount of $657,124.90.
He then asked for a motion to approve a quote for Mower Tractor Rentals for summer projects. He reported that Valley Plains Equipment and John Deere of Crookston was the lowest responsible bidder in the amount of $33,000 or about an average of $500 per tractor. His last item was to approve three quotes for sign replacements. “Every fall, our sign man goes around and determines what signs need to be replaced, and the following year we replace them.” County Engineer Richard Sanders explained, “We brought forth a quote, and Newman Signs out of Jamestown, North Dakota was the lowest responsible quote for our sign quote in the amount of $15,924.20.”
The Board approved all motions unanimously.
MARK LANDSVERK
The Board was then approached by Mark Landsverk, who came forward with an Abatement Request for Robert W. Brekke Jr. from Nielsville. He was asking for a tax reduction in the amount of $2,782 on Parcel 39.00233.00 (Section 19 Twp 147) for an incorrect TAG and that the property was to be approved to be detached from the City of Nielsville into Hubbard Township. He then came forward with a request from the Riverview Healthcare Association in South Crookston to ask for a tax reduction in the amount of $168,860 on Parcel 82.01713.00 (South Crookston Blocks 23 & 24) for a Tax Court Stipulation.
The Board approved both motions unanimously.
PLANNING AND ZONING
The Board then heard from Assistant Environmental Services Administrator Jacob Snyder, who discussed that they planned to grant five people that serve on both the Planning Commission and the Board of Adjustment a Tier 2 Per Diem of $90 per meeting to compensate them for serving in both capacities rather than just a Tier 1 per diem of $75 per meeting. To compensate the Board of Adjustment members for meeting on the same date as the Planning Commission’s meetings. “The way that we’ve had it set up historically is that we piggyback our meetings to save on mileage and for the Board Committee members from having to come into the facility twice a month. We piggyback our meetings so we can streamline things and make sure that everyone comes to the facility one time a month.” Environmental Services Administrator Jacob Snyder explained, “Then we have a Planning Commission meeting and, as needed, a Board of Adjustment meeting. But this creates an issue with Per Diem as it’s a per-day thing, so we pitched to the Commissioners to tier those Pre Diems to have a Tier 1 that will be for all Planning Commission members to receive the same as a County Commissioner for Per Diem and a Tier 2 which will be for those serving on both the Planning Commission and Board of Adjustment.” Snyder reported that he would return to the Board at their next meeting for a final discussion on the matter.
He then showed four bids for new tires for the front-end loader at the Crookston Transfer Station, but due to the distributers not bidding on tires for longer than two weeks as inflation prices are moving so quickly, they cannot guarantee bids for more extended periods than that, and their current tires are in disrepair and only have a few months left on them. “The interesting thing with the supply and demand chain now is that there’s some really strange things going on. Prices change daily, or within a week, and some of the major tire companies have contracts with government agencies.” Administrator Snyder explained, “In 2021, Bridgestone and Firestone had government rates, but our local distributor is telling us that they are no longer honoring those in 2022, so they gave us a 24-hour bid on the exact match of our loader tires that we currently have.” He requested the Board a bid of under $30,000 for four new foam-filled loader tires. From Todd’s Tire Service Inc with two potential quotes of $24,753.10 and $22,353.50.
The Board approved the motion unanimously.
SOCIAL SERVICES
The Board was then approached by County Administrator Chuck Whiting, who stood in for Social Services Director Karen Warmack. Who requested a replacement of a Family-Based Service Provider due to a retirement of a Family-Based Service Provider Position and any internal subsequent position vacancies that occur because of this action.
EVAN BRUGGEMAN
The Board was then approached by MIS Director Evan Bruggeman, who gave the Board some information about the Polk County Security Awareness Training being done by the TCCC staff to prevent people from tricking and scamming officials into giving money away. He reported that 79% of the members have completed the Training and demonstrated to the Board how they could begin it, requesting that they and their departments complete the training.
MICHELLE COTE- PROPERTY RECORDS
The Board then turned to the Director of Property Records, Michelle Cote, to approve the Private Sale of Forfeited Parcel No. 82.02216.00, a triangular-shaped parcel that is adjacent to two other parcels owned by the same owner in Crookston for $500. The sale date of the parcel is Thursday, May 12 at 2:00 p.m. She then came forward with a request to post and advertise the opening of a new Chief Deputy Assessor position and any subsequent opening due to the retirement of Wes Oian.
The Board approved the motions unanimously.
CHUCK WHITING- ADMINISTRATION
The Board then heard from County Administrator Chuck Whiting, who had received two eligible requests under the American Rescue Plan Federal Plan. However, as dollars are limited and both requests exceed the fund levels, Whiting came to the board with plans for the amount of funds needed for each component and in funding priority for the Board to decide on what they should fund. The first request and highest priority is a project run by the Fosston Resource Recovery Facility (RRF), which is asking for money to upgrade its equipment for a total of $1.5 million. If the project was chosen to be funded, the funds would be held until the State Bonding Bill status is determined, as these funds will fill a large amount of the local match requirement and serve as a ‘double-benefit’ to the County. The other request is the Construction of a Landfill Liner & Leachate Collection System for a Landfill Complex for a total of $2.4 million. After much discussion, the Board chose to fund the Landfill Complex as if it was funded, in part or in whole; the project is scheduled to move forward in May and will be a great public benefit to Polk and five other Counties. “While both are important projects, the one that we think would fit the use of the ARPA money best would be where we have to fill up the Landfill sell, which is about $600,000 in estimated cost.” County Administrator Chuck Whiting explained, “After going through this, the one that makes the most sense if we were going to use the funds at all for either of these would be for the Landfill.” The Board then discussed if they would fund the Resource Recovery Facility and chose to see if they would be getting money through the State Bonding Bill to see if they could match the equipment’s prices needed for it.
He then requested the Board to approve the hiring of a new Finance Director, John Robertson, and to move funds for the Deputy County Administrator into the Finance Department’s budget for expenses associated with his position in the approximate amount of $125,000 to secure his position starting in June.
He then came forward to discuss a notice of retirement of Property Records Director Michelle Cote on August 26 and asked for a motion to begin advertising for a new person to fill the role. However, she currently does not have it confirmed by the Human Resources Department.
He ended the meeting with a discussion of the 2023 Budget Calendar, with the Board making benchmarks, key dates, and adjustments for the Commissioner’s budgets for the rest of this year and next. He reported that discussions on the finances would begin in June, and the input sheets would be given to the departments at the same time. They would then receive them back in July. Whiting also reported that he would then meet with the departments in early August to discuss and refine their initial budgets. Then he will do the same with the County Board and prove the preliminary levy in September, which will be shared with all property taxpayers on a statement as to when the Budget Hearing will take place on Tuesday, December 13.
The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 26, at 8:00 a.m. inside the Polk County Government Center.
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