The Polk County Commissioners met Tuesday morning at the Polk County Government Center.
Annalee Jones started the meeting with a request on behalf of several levying authorities for levies for taxes payable in 2024 in the amount of $2,641,196.21. This included watershed levy requests, Northwest Regional Development Commission and Northwest Minnesota Multi-County Housing and Redevelopment Authority levy requests, and Maple, Union, and Sarah Lake improvement budgets.
The board also approved increases in ambulance levies. “The ambulance districts request a levy on a yearly basis per household,” Jones said. “The county board approves the levy and enters it into the tax software, and we collect the dollars and distribute them to each respective entity for their yearly budget.” Crookston Ambulance did not request an increase, but Fertile requested a $10 increase per trip, and Fosston requested a $40 increase per trip.
The board also heard from Nick Arends, Director of AG Operations, and Roger Moe of American Crystal Sugar about getting new equipment for hauling sugar beets in the next legislative session. “Our current routes from our North Dakota piling sites into the East Grand Forks yard where you’re using 97,000-pound trucks,” Arends said. “We’re looking at proposing a pilot project to increase that to 122,000-pound trucks, which would reduce our overall trips into the city by about 30%.”
The benefits of the new equipment include increasing the number of axils, which will reduce wear on the roads and increase brake capacity, making the trucks safer on the road. There would also be a 30% labor reduction, equaling 4,500 fewer truckloads per season. “The issue has to do with reducing the number of trips that will need to be made. It will reduce fuel consumption and, as every employer is experiencing these days, a shortage of labor,” Moe said. “They are having a difficult time getting truck drivers, so this would help in that issue as well. So overall, we think it makes some sense. We have to convince the legislator that it’s an important thing to do, and we’ll do that this upcoming legislative session.”
The board then heard from Polk Highway Engineer Richard Sanders and approved the acknowledgment of sponsorship for road improvement and protection grants for Fosston, Reis Township, and Liberty Township. “I had the county board approve resolutions sponsoring grant applications for the city of Fosston and the Townships of Reis and Liberty,” Richard Sanders said. “What happens is that because they have a population of less than 5,000, they can’t receive grant funds themselves; it has to come through the county as a recipient. The resolutions that were approved were for a Fosston grant application for a Protect grant and Reis and Liberty Township for a road project. They’re applying for a local road improvement grant application and also a Protect grant. The county board approved all those resolutions so that they can send in their grant applications.”
Sanders presented an application for DNR Trail Assistance Programs. Richard applies for funding for the trail every year in order to maintain it. The board approved this application.
The board also approved the purchase of new equipment that includes a new trailer for transporting equipment and a snow pusher that clears parking lots. “We have a trailer that’s getting old and starting not to work the way it’s supposed to when we put equipment on it, it’s flexing too much, having to replace parts,” Sanders said. “We’re replacing that trailer. We sent out quotes, and we’ll be purchasing that trailer from Iron Hide at a price of $17,361. Then we had a snow pusher that goes on the front of the loader and allows us to push snow efficiently in parking lots and such. We received quotes, and we’re going to be purchasing a snow pusher out of RDO in Grand Forks at the cost of $18,000.”
The consent agenda included the approval of the October 24 Board minutes. It also included the approval of bills and disbursements in the amount of $25,216.96.
