The Polk County Board of Commissioners met inside the Polk County Government Center on Tuesday morning.
CONSENT ITEMS
The board began the meeting by approving the Auditor Warrants and the board minutes from their meetings on August 16, and 23. It also included approving the payments of Lost Warrants to Tom Braulot for $28.80, Kertsonville Township for $17,552.10 and $918, Michael Schul for $31.36, Linda Knutson for $19.28, Robert Haugen for $68.03, and Johnson Controls in Dallas, Texas for $945.63. The board approved the agenda unanimously.
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES- JON STEINER
The board was then approached by Environmental Supervisor Administrator Jon Steiner, on a lease that the board approved in April for the purchase of a 2022 Bomag Landfill Compactor BC773-RB5 from Titan Machinery in Grand Forks in the amount of $689,810. The company provided a lease-to-own option using Kinetic Leasing from Fargo which the board accepted, offering an annual payment of $148,350 for five years and concluding with a final $1 buyout payment. But reported that Kinetic Leasing updated the Lease agreement for the interest rate increases to make the annual payments $151,938, but after some negotiation and due to the county leasing with them before, the company agreed to make it $150,350 a year, which saves the county $1,588 per year and $7,940 over the term of the five-year lease, with a one-time $399 document fee on the first payment. The board approved the lease unanimously.
Becker County Landfill Option
Steiner then began a discussion on the Landfill Option in Becker County, saying that the county makes 20,000 tons of Mixed Solid Water annually and sends 10,000 tons a year to the Resource Recovery Facility in Perham and the Fargo Landfill. The Fargo Landfill notified Becker that it needed to reduce its MSW volume and find a long-term solution. “The City of Fargo has recently notified them that they want them to curb the amount of waste they deliver to the city and by January 1, 2024, they want that number down to zero,” Steiner explained. “Becker County has looked around at different landfills that are willing or able to take that extra 10,000 tons a year of waste, and right now, on paper, Polk is the best option they have. So we help them out when they are in a bind immediately, but long-term, we said we’d have to look at it as it’s a board decision and a decision by the six-county group. We have an advisory board meeting with the other counties coming up, and I want Polk County’s board to know about it before I discuss it with the other counties.” Steiner explained that they wanted to move 10,000 tons of waste to the Polk County Landfill each year. Otherwise, it would cost them thousands more dollars in costs and travel, but the Landfill is uncertain if they’ll partner with Becker to enter a mutually beneficial arrangement as while it has some benefits to the county with it being a potential new revenue source for the county, but many local and state approvals need to be secured and expansion area factors need to be addressed as there is no more space for the Landfill to take the extra waste and there is no property they can purchase to expand it. The board agreed to look at and discuss the item further in a meeting after the County Advisory board’s meeting on September 14.
HIGHWAY- RICHARD SANDERS
The board was then approached by County Engineer Richard Sanders, who came forward with a maintenance request to survey and clean County Ditch 55, north of Fosston.
Maple Lake Property Closed Session
The board then had a closed meeting to discuss the development and consider offers to purchase real property near Maple Lake. Sanders did not disclose any information about the meeting as he has to meet with the property owners to confirm more details.
POLK COUNTY RESIDENT- LINDA HANSON
The board finished the meeting hearing from resident Linda Hanson on a concern they had on a Conditional Use Permit for a resolution on agricultural land south of her property in Mentor was surrounded by industrial sheds. “I have a concern because there’s a Conditional Use Permit that was issued around my residence in Mentor and since 2015-16, there was a resolution passed that trees had to be planted by the applicant by 2016 at the edge of the property. Then in 2017, they amended it, and it was supposed to be clearly stated that there would be three rows of vegetative trees, and what ended up happening is that those threes have not been planting and did not survive. They were supposed to be maintained,” Hanson explained. “The landowner did attempt to plant trees, but they died and per the conditions, he’s supposed to maintain them and so here we are today with a Stop Build permit that was put on his building project, and he erected a solid fence. That is not acceptable to me and per the resolution, it does not state that it is meant to be a fence, it is meant to be trees.” Hanson noted this happened four times, and despite meeting with Planning & Zoning board members, such as Jacob Snyder, no actions were taken by the department, and more buildings were built during that time. She questioned if she was discriminated against in any way due to her being a woman as why her conditions would not be met over six years. She permitted a Stop Build permit on August 26, but it was lifted on September 1 without her knowledge for building a 150 ft. fence separating their property and preventing trees from growing and lowering her property’s value. Assistant Environmental Services Administrator Jacob Snyder spoke on the resolution saying that there were times they planned to plant the trees in the fall as that would be the better time and issued the permits in the spring of 2021 after they were planted. Snyder said he always asked about the trees, but with the lack of watering by the applicant, and with a drought season, the trees did not grow. Snyder noted that there was no discrimination and that he had worked with both parties on the permits and stop work permits. And with the trees continuously dying, they aren’t able to grow to the point they want within just a year or two. Hanson requested the board to remove the fence and plant the trees until they are spaded in like they were listed in the original permits and enforce another Stop Building permit. The board noted that they could not make any motion as this situation had to be between the County’s Planning & Zoning Department and the applicant, so they could not make any actions. Snyder said that he would meet with her and the CUP applicant to see the fence and discuss further ways they can potentially solve the issue, which Hanson agreed to. “I guess I’m going to have to seek legal counsel and see if we can come to some resolve for this and why for five years, for each annual review, the Zoning representative went out there and saw that the trees have not survived,” said Hanson. “Yet each year, he passed it and continued to allow them to continue to construct buildings without this condition being met.”
The Polk County Board of Commissioners will next meet on Tuesday, September 20, in the Polk County Government Center at 8:00 a.m.
