The Polk County Board of Commissioners met inside the Polk County Government Center on Tuesday morning. They heard from Assistant Environmental Services Administrator Jacob Snyder on Property Planning and Zoning, Sarah Reese in an update on COVID and ARP Funds for Public Health, County Engineer, Richard Sanders on reports of highway agency agreements, IT Director Evan Bruggeman on a special License Agreement on Microsoft Licenses and Chuck Whiting on a Capital Improvements Plan.
CONSENT ITEMS
The Board opened by first approving the Auditor Warrants and the payment of $620 to Docu Shred Inc. in East Grand Forks for the Facilities Management Department. The Board approved both motions unanimously.
PLANNING AND ZONING
The Board then heard from Assistant Environmental Services Administrator Jacob Snyder, who requested a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to tie a new septic system to a new shed on a backlot on Maple Lake owned by Alan & Corina Pietruszewski. The Pietruszewski’s own both a riparian and non-riparian lot that totals about 46,650 sq ft. in size (100’ x 204’ for the front lot and 100’ x 249’ for the back lot). Snyder also requested for the shed to have a bathroom and to connect a new septic system to the bathroom as the existing house’s septic system hasn’t been checked in the past three years and will need to get a septic compliance inspection, though his department is currently waiting on a visual design of the septic holding tank to show to the Board. The existing impervious coverage factoring in the proposed new shed and backlot’s surface was only approx. 21% while stormwater rules state that 25% impervious or under is allowed on any parcel. So, the Pietruszewski’s were required to complete and record a no-guesthouse waiver before a building permit could be issued, as DNR Area Hydrologist Stephanie Klamm gave her recommendations to the clients if the Board would choose to approve of the project. The existing impervious coverage is approximately 15%, and Klamm recommends that they consider practices that slow down runoff on the shed to protect the water quality of the lake and bay in Maple Lake. She added that if the Board were to approve the application, the DNR recommends that there would be no living/sleeping quarters or kitchen facilities be added to the shed, any future buildings meet all setbacks, height restrictions, and impervious surface coverage of 25%, any bare ground be planted with perennial vegetation, preferably natural, that all future structures and associated septic systems do not block or change any natural drainage way, and that the backlot has an additional location for another septic system in case the existing one should fail or not meet future septic compliance. The Maple Lake Improvement District had no issues with the proposed request for the shed and septic additions.
Snyder then requested the Board to approve to plat a portion of land located in the agricultural, shoreland, and floodplain districts for Ridgewood Estates in Garfield Township for two residential lots and an outlot from two existing parcels that they had created last year for an anonymous developer. The two existing parcels of land are approximately 33.5 acres in total and are both agricultural, shoreland, and floodplain zoning districts, and the outlet is for a parking area to access the remaining property east of the planned plat. The outlot was initially left after the construction of a road that was left to potentially lead as a path for hunters or to build more residential development areas. There are about 1.560 acres available of minimum ground surface for the second tract. Synder reported that Rachel Klein of East Polk SWCD commented that the plat has a very low chance of being hydric based on the National Wetland Inventory and soil maps. Stephanie Klamm again weighed in via comments on an email that there is a DNR-protected watercourse, Sand Hill River, on the north side of the plat and told them to be aware of activities that may affect the River; otherwise, the DNR would require a permit form them. The Planning Commission gave recommendations for the plat that it must be granted Road Authority, so the roadway must be constructed to Township specifications and approved. The roadway agreement must be recorded with the final plat and contain the Ordinary High-Water Level. Then the developer has to secure an NPDES/SWPPP permit from the MPCA if the developer disturbs more than 1 acre of property. And within six months of the preliminary plat approval, the developer has to submit the Final Plat plan; otherwise, the Preliminary Approval will be negated. “The developer actually has the authority once the weather permits to actually construct that roadway, get things built to specifications, and then start the agreement work with Private Road Agreements stuff that was imposed. So, he’s working through an attorney and getting some of those things in place for some of the agreements that need to happen. Then the next stage is basically to do all the checklists that were laid out today, and once that’s finalized, they can bring a final plat to us,” Jacob Snyder exclaimed. The Board approved both motions unanimously.
PUBLIC HEALTH
The Board then heard from Public Health Director Sarah Reese with a short update on COVID-19’s impact on Minnesota and the County’s response. She then brought up the Payroll Costs for Public Health, Safety, and Other Public Sector Staff in response to COVID, giving them recommended preliminary costs for each ARP Category and organizations that work with the community. “Our public health response is most definitely not done with a siloed approach, and so we want to support organizations that support families and people in Polk County and so what we did today was review some recommendations that I’ve made to the board so as they consider how they plan to utilize the ARP funds in Polk County, they can consider the Public Health partnerships that we have,” Reese said. Currently, the County has a budget of $238,672, with $6,018 used for COVID-19 Testing kits and other healthcare needs for COVID. $19,200 for Prevention Settings for congregated areas like schools, dense work sites, and jails with oversight by the TCCC Administration. $207,454 going to the payroll of the staff, and $6,000 going to other COVID Public Health Expenses like Community Engagement and essential services for individuals in isolation or quarantine. She recommended a budget of $570,000 of federal funding from the ARP to utilize the Polk County Public Health partnerships and administrated by the Polk County Public Health Department. $510,000 for prevention of spread in Congregated Settings like Nursing homes, schools, dense worksites, and jails, with $330,000 of that going to the school districts and private schools for COVID-19 prevention, and $150,000 going to long-term care/assisted living facilities for tests and supplies for staff and residents. She also recommended that an additional $10,000 go to COVID Public Health Expenses to help connect Polk County’s diverse communities to COVID testing, vaccination, and COVID-19 related food/housing resources. About $30,000 would be for Mental Health and wellbeing services and $20,000 for Food Programs like food banks and shelves.
HIGHWAY
County Engineer Richard Sanders then approached the Board on requesting a contract and agency agreement that includes a project along a Euclid Township road, which would appoint the County to fund federally and state bridge replacement funds and projects. He then requested to the Board that the GIS Department can purchase block hours with ProWest on all different projects that they do for highway and other departments such as the COVID hub, which sets up a rate for 120 hours of Support for $13,800, which would be less than what they would receive if they just charged by the hour. He finished his time by informing the Board of opening bids that took place in February for contracts on many projects. “First, we had a bid letting for three box culverts in the City of Mentor, one through our County State Highway 113, one through our County State Highway 106, and then one through City Street of Mentor. The lowest responsible bidder for that project was RJ Zavoral and Sons, Inc., so the Board awarded that contract to them for $377,493.50,” Sanders reported, “Next, we had a letting for Wm. D. Scepaniak Inc. for our Gravel Road Stabilization projects. We’re doing on County Road 211, County Road 206, and CSAH 34, and the lowest responsible bidder for that was Wm. D. Scepaniak Inc. for $464,300. We also had a contract for our Route and Seal for our roads, and our lowest responsible bidder for that was Northwest Asphalt & Maintenance out of Thief River Falls for a total of $12,420. And then our last one that we had was a bid letting for Gravel Crushing in our trail pit, and our lowest responsible bidder for that was Ferguson Aggregate & Crushing Inc. out of Alexandria, Minnesota for a total of $70,400,” The Board approved all motions unanimously.
PUBLIC HEARING
The Board then opened the room to public hearings on the 2022 Five Year Capital Improvement Plan to see if the public had any comments. The Plan allows counties to issue bonds under a capital improvement plan for the acquisition or construction of certain projects without a referendum. Projects authorized by the Act include improvements to administrative buildings, jails, and law enforcement centers. The County proposes to finance the Projects through the issuance of CIP Bonds under the CIP Act. The proposed Bonds would be issued in 2022, in a principal amount not to exceed $3,800,000. The Act requires the Board to consider eight factors like the condition of the County’s existing infrastructure: repair or replacement, likely demand, and cost of the improvement, the available public resources, level of any overlapping debt in the County, relative benefits and costs of alternative uses of funds, operating costs of the proposed improvements, and any alternatives for providing services most efficiently through shared facilities with cities or other local governments. With this, the County has money to pay for projects and repairs for certain government buildings that need them. County Administrator Chuck Whiting gave a small list of the things the Board was using the bonds for, “Our intent is to sell Capital Improvement Bonds to pay for the remodeling of the Juvenile Detention Facility and the Law Enforcement Center. You might recall that that building was damaged by rain while we were in a roofing project, so we’ve had to gut the building and start over there, but that bid was awarded a few meetings ago; we’ll pay for it. It’s about a $1.35 million to repair, so the bonds will pay for that. Then we’re going to do some improvements at the Justice Center. We’ve got some light call distribution that has to be addressed, a new roof, and then we’re going to some things with the boilers there. So, all in all, we’re looking at about $3.6 to $3.7 million worth of projects. The bonds will get sold, and since interest rates are so low, it’s almost a no-brainer to do it this way, and we’re already doing the Juvenile Facility right now. We’ll get to the Justice Center later in the year. The bonds will get presented to the Board probably in April, and we’ll select the winning bid and go from there,” The Act was approved by the Board unanimously after much deliberation.
MICROSOFT RENEWAL AGREEMENT
The Board then heard from the IT Director, Evan Bruggeman, on the Microsoft Licensing renewal for the Microsoft O365 Suite and Windows Servers the building uses that had been planned and budgeted for all departments for the year. Which is required for the Server Infrastructure that the County uses for a total of $129,114 to install programs like Microsoft Teams, getting enough subscriptions for each member of the departments, and Enterprise Mobility and Security.
He then asked the Board for their approval of filling the New Media Communication Specialist Position, which helps support technical board meeting needs and manages the needs for the Board and Departments websites. Both motions were passed unanimously.
The next meeting will take place on March 8th, at 8:00 a.m., inside the Polk County Government Center.
