The Polk County Board of Commissioners met inside the Polk County Government Center on Tuesday afternoon. They heard from Polk County Sheriff James Tadman on a State Boat and Water Grant and give the Emergency Manager 2021 Award MIS Director Evan Bruggeman on two quotes for the Government Center Door Security Project and Polk County Administrator Chuck Whiting on the status of the American Rescue Plan funds, a rate change for IRS Mileage Reimbursement, and reviews of the Intranet Positions Descriptions and the Annual Audit Options.
CONSENT ITEMS
The Board began the meeting by approving the Commissioner Warrants and Sign Audit List and approving a payment to the US Band in St. Louis, Missouri, in the amount of $102,360.18 for procurement card purchases.
The Board approved all motions unanimously.
POLK COUNTY SHERIFF JAMES TADMAN
The Board was first approached by Polk County Sheriff James Tadman, who was joined by Chief Deputy Mike Norland, Sgt. Jesse Haugen, and Sgt. Thomas Hibma. Sheriff Tadman first requested the Board to approve their annual MN State Boat and Water Grant of $10,482 to go towards maintenance of their fleet and training for their Boat and Water program. The Board approved the Grant unanimously. Sheriff Tadman then invited Emergency Manager Jody Beauchane to be awarded the 2021 Emergency Manager of the Year Award for leading Polk County through three separate Presidential-declared major disasters, one Gubernatorial State-Disaster, and protecting and preserving public safety during the Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline replacement project. “I feel good about it, and I appreciate it, and I’m humbled by it.” said Polk County Emergency Manager Jody Beauchane, “I’m really glad to bring it back to Polk County, and it shows how well we all work together and make good teams in all of the different departments like the Sheriff’s Office and the Polk County Highway Department all working together, and all of the area Emergency Managers from other counties in our territory.” Pictures of Jody receiving his award can be seen below.
MIS DIRECTOR EVAN BRUGGEMAN
The Board then heard from MIS Director Evan Bruggeman on a request to approve a $27,300 quote for Bergstrom Electric and a $5,656.94 quote for Johnson Controls to install and configure cable and hardware for six interior, exterior, and panic buttons for an Add-on to the Government Center Door Security Project. The Board approved both quotes unanimously.
PROPERTY RECORDS
The Board then heard from Property Records Director Michelle Cote, who reported that she was looking to innovate a new Canvas office for new member Jon Robertson joining the department and replacing her office for $12,462.03. The Board approved the motion unanimously.
CHUCK WHITING- ADMINISTRATION
The Board finished the meeting after hearing from County Administrator Chuck Whiting, who first gave an update on the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds with a couple of agreements for the Board to approve. The first was to the Mentor Fire Department, which requested $28,000 for shelter and generator improvements in the community’s storm shelter, which they would then bring to the Mentor City Council. The Board approved the motion unanimously. The other was for the rural water project in Climax called the West Central Regional Water District project, which would pump water from North Dakota to Climax and then to other cities around the County. Whiting was joined by the project manager Sarah Sesselman of Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services (AE2S), who gave a presentation on the project and its impact on the County. She presented a series of resolutions from Beltrami, Neilsville, and Climax in their support of the project and a report from Neilsville that asked her to make a preliminary engineering report on the pipeline. Sesselman then showed how the project pipeline would work with its population of 243, which would use about 300 gallons a day for the City of Climax, and that the pipeline would be guaranteed to last for at least 75 years. She requested ARPA Funds from the Board to contribute to the project, requesting at least $584,674 or a maximum of $659,674 if they chose to purchase a 12” pipe to help funnel the water to rural parts of Polk County. After much discussion, the Board decided to hold off on a motion until next week to allow Sesselman to try to set up Special City Council meetings in Climax and Nielsville and parts of North Dakota to approve the project before they return to the Board with a final proposal. “Two weeks ago, the Board had committed $250,000 to Climax, there was a lot of discussion about upsizing the pipe so that it could serve rural Polk County, but that cost more funds. So, the Board will revisit it next Tuesday,” County Administrator Chuck Whiting explained. “The City of Climax said that they are interested in seeing the funds go to help the Rural Water Distribution System, and then the North Dakota side also has to discuss it, so that’s coming,” he added.
Administrator Whiting then brought up that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced an increase in the optional standard mileage from the first six months of the year of 58.5 cents per mile to 62.5 cents for the final six months of 2022 for businesses and from 18 cents per mile up to 22 cents for medical/moving. He noted that taxpayers might use the optional rates to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business and certain other purposes. His next item was that Human Resources has put the County’s job descriptions on their internal network and requested for the Board to review and have an action to adopt all the positions as the official descriptions for the organization in their next meeting on June 28. He then reported that in each even-numbered year, the County, according to the statute, must notify the State Auditor if their auditor is to change by August 1st. He was joined by Fiance Director, Ron Denison, who reported that Polk County has been using the Office State Auditor (OSA) since the prior auditor took Polk County back in 2018. If they did not change, they would automatically default to the State Auditor. Denison believed that it was not the right time to switch auditors yet, as they had good relations with the State Auditor, Rebecca Otto, and that it would be better to change them in 2024. After much discussion, the Board decided to hold off on the decision until their meeting on July 5 to discuss and potentially make a decision on it. They finished the meeting with a report of a foundation leak along the Southwest corner of their building that is leaking water into the building and some employees’ offices. “We’ve reviewed what’s causing the leak. It appears that the water is coming in the foundation. So, we’re going to get a contractor to clear some of the foundation, tile it, then reflash it to get the water away from the building. Hopefully, that’ll dry it up,” Administrator Chuck Whiting explained, “Then we’ll have to look to see what we have to fix inside the building itself.” He reported that they plan to hire Palmer Excavating LLC for $44,640 to come and repair the foundations. The Board approved the motion unanimously.
The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 28, at 8:00 a.m. in the Polk County Government Center.
