The Polk County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday, September 17, at the Polk County Government Center. After reviewing and approving the agenda, the Board moved to approve all Consent Items.
The first item on the Regular Agenda was the monthly Sheriff Reports. Sheriff James Tadman went through the report and highlighted items he thought stood out. “The transport miles that we had for the month of August, we had a total of 4,804 miles, and that’s down just about 1,800 under July,” said Tadman. He also mentioned that they usually have anywhere between 3,000-4,000 miles with in-state prison transport, and that is down to 1,404 miles.
In the month of August there were 691 Calls for Service at the Polk County Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Tadman says the calls that really resonate with him are the motor vehicle accidents. “The thing that really stands out is motor vehicle accidents, we had 22 and two being injury accidents,” said Tadman. “We had a lot of reports of reckless or careless driving, so when the reports come in that way, they are documented that, but they may be something different, but if people are swerving all over the road or driving fast, they consider it reckless in any manner, and it’s logged in that way.”
Sheriff Tadman also brought to the Board a list of retired squad vehicles to sell. “As we are ordering new and getting rid of the older ones with too high of milages, we end up taking them off and out of the fleet budget, and then we turn around and we sell them,” said Tadman. “Right now, we are leasing our vehicles through Enterprise, so when we sell our vehicles, it costs $400, they pick it up, they take care of it, they do the sales, all the advertisement, everything else like that, and try and get us the best that we can do to put back in the budget for our fleet so we’ve got some new vehicles coming in.” The list consisted of 8 vehicles, and the Board of Commissioners approved the sale of the vehicles.
Sam Melbye, Director of Property Records, appeared before the Commissioners to certify that he and his office were compliant with the standards set by the Recorder Compliance Certification, returning documents within 10 days. Melbye also brought an Action Item for approval. This was one of only two items requiring action at today’s meeting: Resolution 2024-67, for the Re-Appointment of Mark Landsverk as county Assessor of Polk County. The Resolution was approved, and Landsverk will serve another four-year term.
The Commissioners heard from Lisa Loegering, Extension Office NW Regional Director, on a Memorandum of Agreement Discussion. Loegering presented an update on the Polk County – U of M Extension MOA. Loegering explained that they wish to keep the agreement at the current level.
Richard Sanders, County Engineer, brought four County Ditch Maintenance Requests before the Board today. “Today, I came to the County Board Meeting with four ditch petitions, County Ditch 40, County Ditch 123, County Ditch 126, and County Ditch 110,” said Sanders. “The landowners along those ditches have requested those ditches to be cleaned, so the County Board gave us approval to go out and survey them, and if they do need to be cleaned, clean them as necessary.”
Last, on the regular section of today’s Board of Commissioners meeting, was John Sorenson from the West Polk County Soil and Water Conservation District. This item was an informational item where he spoke on the Implementation of Delegated State Programs. Sorenson also voiced some frustration with West Polk County. “Issues and concerns that we have had with West Polk and funding for grants,” said Sorenson. “This has been an ongoing issue I guess that we have talked about for a couple months, its’ been resolved, it’s just getting it in front of them so nobody is blindsided.”
At this point, the County Board of Commissioners shifted to starting their budget discussions, which will continue on Wednesday as well and during future meetings.
The next County Board of Commissioners meeting will be on October 1 at 8:00 a.m.
