The Polk County Commissioners met on Tuesday morning at the Polk County Government Center in Crookston.
BIDS FOR JUSTICE CENTER
The first agenda items were bids for the entire roof replacement at the Justice Center and bids for the boiler replacement at the Justice Center.
The low bid for the roof replacement came from CL Linfoot of Grand Forks at $721,500, and the low bid for the boiler replacement came from PSM of Bemidji at $353,000. The commissioners approved both bids.
VIKING GAS TRANSMISSION COMPANY PERMIT
The commissioners approved a conditional use permit for Viking Gas Transmission Company for a transmission compressor building. “They are looking at doing a large-scale project in Polk County this year running parallel to an existing line going from south of the Angus compressor station to north of East Grand Forks for an unaffiliated customer over in North Dakota,” said Jake Snyder Polk County Planning and Zoning Administrator. “They need a new compressor building which we did a conditional use permit today with several conditions about construction of the new compressor building, which is needed to push the gas through the lines.”
The new line will be parallel to the current line, so there should be little effect on the surrounding land along the line, but the project needs Federal permitting.“It is crossing some waterways, ditches, and other things in Polk County, and that project requires a Federal permitting process, so landowners within a half-mile of the project should get notices, and they will have to go through an extensive review process,” said Snyder. “There shouldn’t be any tree removal or anything because there isn’t any vegetation running along the line.”
24-UNIT CAMPGROUND PROPOSAL ON CROSS LAKE
Curtis Olson came before the board to get approval for the construction of a 24-unit campground on Cross Lake, north of Fosston. The 24 units would include septic, water, and electric hook-up. The board approved the construction of the campground after a lengthy discussion and many questions.
Polk County currently operates a 34-unit campground on Cross Lake called Tilberg Park. “Tilberg Park has been a very successful campground. It is more of a remote area on a small lake in Polk County, and people love going out there. It is a small water body, more waterfowl, Loons, and things, and there is a public access on the site, and that led to a lengthy discussion on boat activity on a lake of that size,” said Snyder. “We put several conditions to address this based on public comments and public safety issues with watercraft of high speed on a small lake like that.”
Snyder added that public feedback is important for the county to help gain an edge in the permitting process. “Without their knowledge of the area and the locality, that is how we determine that property values won’t diminish,” said Snyder. “These people like it out there because it is a solitary place, and we know campgrounds have their issues, but I would like people to go visit Tilberg Park and see how it is a setting in the woods, and the lake happens to be nearby. We need to extensively protect our smaller lakes, and really it becomes a balancing act and it is important to get the public feedback.”
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT
The commissioners approved the quote and ordering of a loader for the Highway Department. Titan Machinery of Crookston was the lowest bid at $201,950 and after a credit of $63,570 for a trade-in the cost would be $138,380.
The bids for FEMA flood repair work on County Ditches 103 and 126 were opened on April 28 with three bidders. The lowest bid was by Gladen Construction of Laporte at $266,556.90, which was over $131,000 lower than the next bid.
The county received four bids on repairing damage from 2022 flooding on County State Aid Highway 61, located three miles west of Highway 75. The lowest responsible quote was from Higher Ground – Paul Zavoral at $19,885.35.
“From last year’s flooding in April of 2022 we have been working with FEMA, and we had one road issue that we haven’t repaired yet on County State Aid Highway 61 as a center-line culvert had washed out, and we got quotes on that to get work done before August 1, and we will get full reimbursement for that from FEMA,” said Polk County Highway Engineer Rich Sanders. “We had issues with County Ditch 103 and 126, and Gladen Construction will work on that.”
