The Polk County Commissioners met on Tuesday at the Polk County Government Center.
POLK COUNTY SHERIFF’S REPORT
Polk County Sheriff James Tadman started the meeting with the October call report. They responded to 924 calls in October, with Civil Process accounting for 274 calls, traffic stops at 208, School Patrol at 108 calls, Public Assist at 27, and Motorist Assist at 25 to round out the top five.
Sheriff Tadman asked the commissioners to approve a backup dispatch center in the East Grand Forks Social Services building. The are several reasons for adding a second dispatch center. They currently have four telecommunicators who live in and around Crookston, out east, and four who live in Grand Forks/East Grand Forks. “This has been in the works for many years,” said Sheriff Tadman. “We discussed our travel during the winter, and we need telecommunicators to be sitting and answering phone calls and dispatching ambulance, fire, and law enforcement 24/7, and when we have highway closures for two days like we have seen and the wind blowing and we can’t get our telecommunicators to the dispatch center, the other ones have to fill in, and it overloads them.” The other reason is to keep and possibly attract employees. “I think pulling from Grand Forks and East Grand Forks and competing with them would give us more applicants, especially if they don’t have to drive as far,” said Sheriff Tadman. “It is a win-win situation, and nice to have the funds to go forward with that.”
The project’s estimated cost will be around $200,000, and most of the money will come from ARPA (COVID money) funds. “Nothing will affect the levy at all,” said Sheriff Tadman. “We are going to be utilizing ARPA funds that our office has received and also receiving general fund money that public safety already has in it, so nothing will touch the levy, which is nice.” The board unanimously approved moving forward with the project.
Sheriff Tadman also asked the commissioners to approve moving from the Fosston Substation, which is located in the Polk County Incinerator Building, to the Social Services building in McIntosh. Tadman said the smell and flies were too much for the deputies. “We are finding out it isn’t a great working environment, and our deputies aren’t interested in utilizing it,” said Sheriff Tadman. “If we have to bring victims in for interviewing, that is also a distraction, and it isn’t working out the best for us. We are looking at sharing a room with Social Services in McIntosh, and the next thing is to talk to the McIntosh City Council to see if they have any concerns or issues with that so we have room for the deputies to sit down and do the report.”
KONGSVINGER CEMETERY-
Kongsvinger Cemetery proposed to plat an expansion that would create 208 new grave sites east of the existing cemetery on 2.5 acres of land. The cemetery is located in Section 2 of Esther Township and would have road access off County Highway 22, right next to the Kongsvinger Church. The board approved the final plat unanimously. “It has been there a long time, dating back to the late 1800’s and have a cemetery burial site there and are looking at doing an expansion as they have outgrown the capacity of their existing one,” said Polk County Planning and Zoning’s Jacob Snyder. “We did the final plat approval for 208 more gravesites. It is a state statute in Minnesota that cemeteries go through the platting process with a preliminary and final. Today’s action was final approval.”
CROOKSTON AIRPORT ZONING
The City of Crookston has changed the zoning around the Crookston Municipal Airport, and since the airport is in Crookston Township, county approval is needed to change the zoning. “They had to update their existing zoning ordinance dating back to 1975. Basically, it shrunk the districts down, but it is like a sports stadium as the setbacks are increased as you move away from the runway so you could build a building higher in height,” said Snyder. “It’s really a safety zoning ordinance. For the safety of pilots as they move forward. They have some projects with reconfiguring runways, and instead of having smaller planes, they could have the ability to bring in different planes if need be in the future. There aren’t any plans in the works right now, they are just teeing it up so that if a grant was available to increase the airport capacity, they would be able to do so.”
PROPOSED STATE LAND ACQUISITION
Emily Hutchins of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources informed the board that the DNR was in the process of purchasing land next to the Pembina Wildlife Management Area Stoney Lakes Unit in Brandt Township. “We have been working with a landowner for a number of years and he had an interest in selling some property to the state that is adjacent to an existing wildlife area,” said Hutchins. “It is a quarter section of land, so it will be a nice addition and will round out that corner of the WMA. It is an existing habitat already as the landowner has it enrolled in CRP, and it was a real good fit. The board approved the acquisition, so it is a win-win for the landowner, the DNR, and the public.”
The acquired land will be open to the public because it will be part of a Wildlife Management Area. “Wildlife Management Areas are open for public hunting, trapping, and fishing in some cases if there are fishing lakes, rivers, or streams,” said Hutchins. “It will be open to hunting of all seasons and species and will really be a fine addition to the Stony Lakes Unit of the Pembina WMA.”
MISC.
The commissioners approved Terry Sorenson for his fourth term on the Red Lake Watershed Board of Managers.
