The Polk County Board of Commissioners met inside the Polk County Government Center on Tuesday morning. Three of the Commissioners, Gerald Jacobson, Gary Willhite, and Mark Holy were absent from the meeting, so there was no Quorum. Due to the lack of it, the Board was unable to vote on any resolutions; however, there were a few items that were discussed.
CITY OF FOSSTON EDA GRANT APPLICATIONS
Jerry Bolin, a representative from Karvakko Engineering and Surveying, approached the Board to request grant funding through the EDA EAA program to modernize and expand Fosston’s industrial park and provide infrastructure to the neighboring airport. “Utility park expansion as well as running utilities out to the airport will include the development of a new hanger. The hanger will store aircraft, and Fosston is in dire need for new hangar space and development of its aviation community,” Jerry Bolin explained. “The project is anticipated to hopefully kick off in the next year. Hopefully, it’s done with construction within two years all pending EDA support and funding.” Their hope is that the project will attract businesses with new freight corridor access, regional transportation routes in every direction, and access to unit train facilities and highway routes for tourism and business.
Bolin explained that the hope was to get Polk County’s support with the project. “We did get a letter of support, not just with Polk County here, but we also have to reach out to some townships and surrounding communities as well, so it’s a process that we’re preparing to go through, and hopefully it continues to go well,” said Bolin. Polk County Administrator Chuck Whiting explained, “There are two projects there, and it’s fairly normal when you go for federal money that you have letters of local support,” said Whiting.
Bolin explained what the estimated cost of the projects will be. “The cost for the other portion of the project is $12 million, this industrial park expansion and airport infrastructure expansion per say is an additional $7 million, so total funding requests between both projects, we’re looking at $19 million,” Jerry Bolin reported.
This is due to the city working with several food-processing companies that require significant wastewater treatment and facilities. The process of these facilities being expanded would greatly benefit the community and those businesses as they will create jobs and attract residents to the community to live and thrive there.
Whiting explained after a few questions from the Commissioners; they were happy to sign a letter of support for the project. “We heard about the two projects and had a couple of questions from the commissioners that were here, and Chairman Lee then went ahead and signed the two letters, and hopefully that’ll help the city with their application process,” said Polk County Administrator Chuck Whiting.
OTHER ITEMS
Dana Johnson of the Victim Assistance Committee then updated the Board on the Polk County Coordinated Victim Services Program, explaining that they have served over 900 victims across the County and how they assist victims in court, with insurance assistance, and other situations victims may find themselves in. The update from Johnson was informational only.
Other items that needed approval from the Board this week will be back on the agenda for the meeting next week when the other Commissioners return.
The Board will meet again next week on February 22, at 8:00 a.m. inside the Polk County Government Center.