The Polk County Commissioners met on Tuesday at the Polk County Government Center.
POLK COUNTY SHERIFF REPORT
Polk County Sheriff James Tadman gave a report on the calls they responded to in th month of June. They had 670 calls/stops in June. The top 10 calls are listed below –
1. Traffic Stop – 180
2. Civil Process 173
3. POR Check – 32
4. Public Assist – 28
5. Assist Other Agency – 26
6. Welfare Check – 15
7. Public Nuissance – 14
8. Animal Complaint – 13
9. Motorist Assist – 12
10. Transport – Out of state – 10
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES UPDATE
The commissioners approved low-income septic system grants to four county residents. Polk County has $41,615.00 from Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) funding to upgrade failing septic systems. “The money is made available through an MPCA grant we apply for yearly,” said Assistant Director of Polk County Environmental Services Jake Snyder. “We had five applicants, with one slightly higher in the brackets of the USDA Household income. We were looking at least helping (the person over the income guidelines) them through the loan program, but we also had a healthy discussion about our thresholds about how far over you can be in some of our income guidelines.”
The program is aimed at helping sewers get fixed. “Most of the sewers are in bad disrepair. One of them today was backing up into the house, and that is an imminent public health threat for anybody living in it,” said Snyder.
Snyder added that there is still some funding left for 2024. “I encourage anybody to reach out to our staff at the Environmental Services Department, which has offices located at the Crookston Transfer Station,” said Snyder. We do have a little bit of funding, not enough to fix a full septic, but we would certainly be able to exhaust those funds, and we could see what other additional funds we could get to help them out.”
ZEBRA MUSSELS HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED IN UNION LAKE
Snyder also gave an update to the commissioners that Zebra Mussels have been found in Union Lake near Erskine. “The DNR feels there is an established breeding population of Zebra Mussels in Union Lake,” said Snyder. “What that means moving forward, now we need to centralize how we are going to keep Zebra Mussels in Union Lake.”
Union Lake users will have to be more vigilant when they take boats, canoes, kayaks, boat lifts, docks, bait buckets, and anything else out of Union Lake. “Right now, we are trying to take a proactive approach of getting the message out to our lake users because they will be the ones that really dictate if it spreads within Polk County and even outside our county,” said Snyder. “We need to go back to the basics with the Clean, Drain, Dry. There is nothing that can survive in a dry boat because they are aquatic invasive species, and they need water to survive.”
Zebra Mussels are more difficult to detect in watercraft, lifts, and docks. “It isn’t the adult Zebra Mussel or even in the infant stage. It is actually the veligers which live in water. You wouldn’t be able to see them, know if you are transporting them in bait buckets, billage tanks, live wells, in the ballast tanks in wake boats and that is why it is becoming such a problem,” said Snyder. “These aren’t species that are moving because of birds, and the fallacies with that because that isn’t even realistic. They are moving because people move from lake to lake with water in their watercraft, on gear, kayaks, canoes, and non-motorized boats.”
Signs will be posted at the public access’ to Union Lake. Zebra Mussels help clean the lake by eating algae and are filter feeders, but they leave sharp shells on the beaches.
Snyder added that docks and boat lifts need to stay out of water for 21 days when moving them, as required by state law, and encouraged those lake users to be extra vigilant so the three aquatic invasive species in Union Lake don’t get spread to Maple Lake, Lake Sarah or other lakes in the county. “They spread quickly, and there are things people can do, and that is Clean, Drain, Dry watercraft, equipment, non-motorized boats, anything that is hitting the water,” added Snyder.
