The Polk County Board of Commissioners met inside the Polk County Government Center this morning. 5th District Commissioner Mark Holy was absent from the meeting. They heard from Polk County Sheriff James Tadman on their monthly reports and to request the purchase of 24 Motorola APX Portable Radios, Chargers and Mics, and 26 Motorola APX 6500 Mobile Radios. As well as a presentation from Public Sector & Community Engagement representative Peter Lindstrom to review plans for the Minnesota Property Assessed Clean Energy (MinnPACE) Financing of a Grocery Store in Fertile and to implement them for more projects on behalf of the County, East Polk Soil & Water Conservation District representative Rachel Klein on a Discussion of the Natural Resource Block Grant and a Resolution Regarding the Administration of the MN Wetland Conservation Act, as well as on a bid for MSW Landfill project, and County Engineer Richard Sanders to get a certificate of Performance on multiple projects. The meeting also had other information from Northwest Regional Transportation Coordinating Council Coordinator Lynell Popowski, Environmental Service Agent Jon Steiner, Polk County Assessor Mark Landsverk, and County Administrator Chuck Whiting.
CONSENT ITEMS
The Board opened by approving the Board Minutes of their meeting on March 15th and the payment for Lost Warrant No. 554657 to Blue Cross Blue Shield of $15,661.21. The Board then approved a payment to Andrew Dessellier of Crookston of $59,67 for mileage expenses. The Board then went through their issue forms, recapping some of the events they had done over the past week and plans they had for the beginning of April. Such as Commissioner Jacobson being away for a few weeks for vacation.
The Board approved all motions unanimously.
CHUCK WHITING – HUMAN RESOURCES & ADMINISTRATION
The Board first heard from County Administrator Chuck Whiting in place of Human Resources Director Alecia Helms to approve a Pay Equity Report that is required to be submitted by the County every three years for pay equity compliance. Based on statistical findings, the County should expect the state to pass it in compliance with the requirements. He reminded the Board that the goal is to be within the pay equity compliance, even though positions have changed.
The Board approved the report unanimously.
He continued with a report of the Polk County American Relief Program Allocation, which talked about the funds from the government’s America Rescue Plan that they had given out to U.S. cities to stimulate local spending and boost local economies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We had put in about a million dollars worth of use of those funds in the 2022 budget, much of that is for Social Services, Public Health, Services to Disproportionately Impacted Communities, Infrastructure and a couple of other Administrative things.” Administrator Whiting explained, “We received about $6 million total, and we committed just over a million, and we talked about how to use the other $5 million. We came up with some road projects, some County software items, as well as a number of education and health programs, a water system, and rural septic plans that these funds can be used to either leverage more dollars from recipients or address issues that fit these categories that the Treasury Department guided us on how to use,” The Funds for the 2022 County Budget, 2022-2023 Non-budgeted County Commitments and Provisions and expenses for 2023-24 totaled at $6,090,190. The Polk County American Relief Program Allocation gave the County $6,092,089 to pay the expenses with a leftover balance of $1,899. After much discussion, the Board agreed to begin setting up agreements with the Departments to begin using the money and decide what projects they’ll be using them for.
SHERIFF JAMES TADMAN
Sheriff James Tadman approached the Board next with Deputy Mike Norland and Sgt. Jesse Haugen to report the Monthly Sheriff’s Report for February. He reported that the Department has reported 644 arrests throughout February and that most of the calls they had received over the month have been non-Emergency calls which is normal for this time of year. He also reported that there were new Fraud calls that people were receiving and that the Department was trying to spread the word about them to the public. “It seems like there are always people out there trying to take people’s money.” Deputy Mike Norland explained, “We talked a bit about some of the Fraud calls that we’ve received and want to put it out there that everybody works hard for their money, so take care of it and if you think something’s a scam or a fraud; give the Sheriff’s Office or the Police Department a call and report them as we want to know what’s out there.” The Board informed them that theft of gasoline and drive-offs at gas stations could begin with the rising gas prices and warned the officers to pay mind to the gas stations. Sgt. Jesse Haugen joined them to discuss the purchases of 24 more Motorola APX 6000 Portable Radios, Chargers, and Wireless Mics for the price of $5661.57 per unit and 26 APX 6500 In-car Mobile Radios for the price of $5731 for a total of $284,883.68 to help the officers keep in contact with Departments in neighboring counties and states. The cost will add to the existing budget, and the funds will be taken from the Public Safety Funds to cover them.
The Board approved the purchase unanimously.
PUBLIC SECTOR & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT/CLEAN ENERGY RESOURCE TEAMS – PETER LINDSTROM
The Board then heard from Peter Lindstrom, who presented the Minnesota Property Assessed Clean Energy (MinnPACE) program to the County. MinnPACE is a program with the goal to help County businesses and non-profits fund building energy, water, and renewable energy efficiency projects and upgrades with little or no up-front costs to help the County and environment. “This agreement would allow businesses, non-profits, and apartment owners to do energy efficacy and renewable projects and pay for it as an assessment on their Property Tax Bill, known as PACE Processing.” Lindstrom explained, “It’s a great tool, there have been about 300 businesses that have utilized this financing across Minnesota, and it’s growing in popularity. We’d love to see it available for businesses all across Polk County.” He gave a few examples of businesses and business owners that are implementing the program around the state, such as the Hyatt House in Rochester and Paul’s Handyman Services in Red Wing. He then explained that Aaron’s Grocery Store in Fertile was one of the latest companies interested in their work and would meet with them soon to discuss building plans. He then moved on to discuss the Joint Powers Agreement between the St. Paul Port Authority and the Rural Minnesota Energy Board that are implementing the MinnPACE program. He then brought up a resolution designating the Port Authority to Implement and Administer MinnPACE Improvement Financing on behalf of the County and providing for the imposition of Special Assessments as needed for the Program. The Board chose to hold any actions but agreed to fill out an application to join the Port Authority of Saint Paul.
NORTHWEST REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION COORDINATING COUNCIL (NWRTCC) – COORDINATOR LYNELL POPOWSKI
The Board then heard from Northwest Regional Development Commission and NWRTCC Coordinator Lynell Simonson Popowski on a group update on the NWRTCC. She explained that her Council worked to coordinate rides between citizens providers and share resources with them. She shared that she was going around to the counties around northwest Minnesota to explain the program to all of them, along with the newest programs and additions they were adding to it. “We have a provider directory online, so if people are looking for a ride and don’t know where to start.” Popowski explained, “We have a website at RWTCC.org, and you can click on your County and find the transportation options available for you. And we also have a number that people can call for any questions.” She shared that the Council had a new service known as Special Transportation Service (STS) to help the elderly or disabled get safe transportation to medical centers in times of need as many of elderly or disabled citizen’s deaths are due to them having a lack of transportation to get help when they need it. She also shared a deal the Council had with the state to develop a new app for the services. “We have a long-term plan with the state. We work with the Council in Transportation Access, and they are developing a prototype for an app on a phone that would allow you to book your ride with your public transit and pay your fare without ever having to deal with any cash on the bus.” Popowski explained. The Board was interested in the presentation and showed their support of the additions of the County’s Public Transportation being mentioned in the program.
EAST POLK SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT – RACHEL KLEIN
The Board was then approached by East Polk SWCD representative Rachel Kline about a Discussion for the Natural Resource Block Grant from the state to implement programs designed to protect and improve water resources and for the County to provide a cash match for the LWM District for $13,468 and the WCA district for $21,641. She then asked for a Memorandum of Understanding Between the Polk County Board and the East Polk Soil & Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors on the Grant, which then led to a resolution regarding the Administration of the MN Wetland Conservation Act and to Delegate the Polk County Comprehensive Local Water Management Plan Responsibilities to the East Polk Soil & Water Conservation District. The Board approved all motions unanimously. She lastly requested the approval of a Feedlot Manure Pit Permit for Landsverk Dairy Inc owner Robert Landsverkt to help develop plans to eliminate the pollution hazards identified at the Facility. But the Board put its approval vote on hold and asked for her to speak to the Zoning Department Administrator Jake Snyder pending a review of any Zoning Issues on the lot.
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES – JON STEINER
The Board then heard from Environmental Services representative Jon Steiner to approve the MSW Landfill Phase 14 Project to have R.J. Zavoral & Sons install the new Leachate Collection System for the amount of $2,026,489.90. The Board approved the motion unanimously.
HIGHWAY – RICHARD SANDERS
The Board then heard from County Engineer Richard Sanders on a request to get a Certificate of Performance/Final Acceptance for the Box Culverts and Triple D Construction of Plummer for a final contract amount of $302,478. He then requested the approval of an Agency Agreement between Polk County and the Township of Brandsvold for a bridge replacement project to be completed during the summer. The Board approved both motions unanimously.
POLK COUNTY ASSESSOR – MARK LANDSVERK
The Board finished the meeting after hearing from Polk County Assessor Mark Landsverk on an Assessment Update on Polk County’s market changes for 2022. “The big thing to remember on our evaluations within Polk County, on Residential especially. There’s going to be a general increase, around 10% on residential property values. But there are several hotspots, especially near the lakes,” Landsverk explained. He explained that while Polk County has raised its property values, other counties rose at much higher rates. Some as much as 20-25%, with Counties near the lake reaching around 15-35%, while others reached even higher! But Landsverk believes that Crookston is on the right track to having the sales prices level out. “Hopefully, it will level out after the changes we’ve made. The sales that we’ve seen have had the values be much more in tune with what the sale prices are, which is a good thing.” Landsverk explained, “And the sales we’ve had show that the changes we made are justified. While agricultural properties didn’t have many changes for this year, next year may be a different story. We’re starting to see signs that sales are a little bit higher than they normally are around here. But for the 2022 assessment, Polk County didn’t have that much of a change.”
The next meeting will take place on April 5th, at 8:00 a.m., inside the Polk County Government Center.
