The Polk County commissioners met on Tuesday in the Polk County Government Center.
The meeting began with the commissioners unanimously approving the reappointment of Polk County Commissioner Warren Strandell to the Grand Forks and East Grand Forks Metropolitan Planning Organizations Executive Policy Board for a two-year term effective until January 31, 2026.
POLK COUNTY HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT
Polk County Engineer Richard Sanders asked the commissioners to accept an agreement with MnDOT (Minnesota Department of Transportation) to allow them to detour traffic within Polk County Roads 19, 66, and 21. “This is for the reconstruction of Highway 220 north of East Grand Forks,” said Sanders. “When their construction project is ready to be built, they will set up a detour on our county roads, and because of that, there is a formula the state uses on the traffic volume and length of miles you get paid for it.” MnDOT will pay Polk County just over $32,000 to use Polk County roads for a detour route.
Sanders also had the 2024 diesel fuel quotes approved by the commissioners, where Polk County awarded Northdale Oil for fuel distribution throughout the county. The Crookston estimated cost share for fuel in 2024 is estimated in the amount of $178,950, and the Fertile cost share is estimated in the amount of $169,200.
The last item Sanders brought to the board was regarding a joint ditch maintenance request for tree removal. “Joint ditch 60 is a joint ditch between Polk County and Red Lake County,” said Sanders, “This actually crosses our CSAH 11 west of the Gentilly Bridge, and since it’s a joint bridge, it is owned and maintained by both counties. There is an agreement that if we do minor maintenance on it, we don’t have to get the full joint board’s approval.” Sanders ultimately got the approval from the Polk County commissioners to search for contractors to start tree removal for the joint ditch.
FACILITIES UPDATES
The commissioners received updates from Facilities Director Richard Langlois. The Juvenile Center door frame repairs will possibly be completed by Monday, December 18.
The re-roofing of the Justice Center is near completion. “The finishing touches are on the edge of the roof, and it took some time to get the metal clips and some of the materials,” said Langlois, “We’ve been sitting in limbo for a while, but my guess is they could have this tentatively all done by December 19.” The Justice Center also had repairs done to the boiler system, and Langlois projects all of those renovations to be completed by December 19.
The Polk County Government Center needs a roof replacement in 2024. Langlois informed the board that bids range anywhere from $440,000 to $750,000. “This got a little pricy because all of the insulation had to be removed,” said Langlois, “It needs all new tapered insulation installed with a new membrane, and we’re coming close to determining who was going to be going with on that.”
The lowest bid came from Equity Builders out of Rosemount, with an offer of $440,000. This project will not begin until spring 2024 or when the weather allows. Langlois expects the roofing project to be completed by late June 2024.
PUBLIC HEALTH
The commissioners also heard from Public Health Director Sarah Reese, who brought two items to the board for approval.
The board approved the Public Health Department to advertise and hire an Office and Support Services Supervisor due to a resignation within the department. The final item was the agreement regarding PH-Doc maintenance and support. “This is relative to our software support in which we receive PH-Doc,” said Reese, “PH-Doc is our public health documentation system. It’s a public health form in an electronic medical record, and we work with a user group within the state of Minnesota that also uses PH-Doc, so what I presented was for us to be able to act as software support, and the board ultimately approved it.”
The consent agenda included the approval of minutes from the November 28 meeting. It also had the approval of bills and disbursements in the amount of $90,344.67.
