The Polk County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday at the Polk County Government Center.
POLK COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE MONTHLY REPORT
Polk County Sheriff James Tadman gave the monthly report and statistics from November. The monthly call report which included 2,170 calls to the dispatch center, 623 of which were emergency and 1,547 were non-emergency.
Tadman also reviewed the November service calls for the Sheriff’s office. We listed the top 10 reasons calls were made-
Civil Process-148
Traffic Stops- 130
School Patrol- 85
Inmate Transports- 25
Assisting other agencies- 23
Public Assist- 18
Motor Assist- 15
Animal Complaints- 15
Property Damage- 13
Suspicious Activity- 13
The board approved a contract regarding the State of Minnesota Snowmobile Safety Enforcement grant. Each year, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office prioritizes snowmobile safety, providing training for those taking snowmobile training or employees working with the DNR. The board approved the acceptance of this grant, where the Sheriff’s office will receive $5,890 over the next two years for snowmobile safety.
The last contract was regarding the State of Minnesota Off-Highway Vehicle Enforcement grant program. “This is the same thing; they give a two-year grant, and with more trails coming up in different counties, it’s segmented by how many miles you have in your county,” said Tadman, “They also give extra money to go out and do enforcement for that.” The Sheriff’s Office is expected to receive $9,860 in grant funding allocated toward off-highway vehicle enforcement over the next two years.
PLANNING AND ZONING
The board heard from Jacob Snyder of Planning and Zoning and reviewed the application from Ronald Gagner, who is looking for a conditional use permit for a new septic system for a new accessory structure. Snyder explained that Ronald Gagner is looking to build the septic system in his shed, an accessory structure.
“To have a shed within a septic system in our shoreland district is through the conditional use process,” said Snyder, “That is what Mr. Gagner was applying for today was to have a shop/shed (also an accessory structure) into a septic system. Our ordinance requires a conditional use permit because we have a no guest house clause.” Snyder said the lot is not large enough to hold a guest house. Therefore, the applicant must abide by the ordinance in place. The board ultimately approved to award Ronald Gagner the conditional use permit.
The commissioners also approved the 2023 Polk County Aquatic Invasive Species Program review and the 2024 program plan.
“Polk County, how we combat aquatic invasive species is through an AIS task force,” said Snyder, “That task force is made up of different representatives like the sheriff’s office, highway department, our improvement districts, and the board of commissioners have a representative (Joan Lee) who is also on the task force as well.” The program receives allocated money from the Minnesota DNR based on the county’s access sites in a given year, which helps the cost of inspections.
FACILITIES DEPARTMENT
Polk County Facilities Director Richard Langlois recommended approval of awarding the bid for the re-roofing project of the Government Center. The board ultimately approved the award of Equity Builders out of Rosemount, Minnesota, to take on the project in the amount of $440,000. This project is estimated to be finished by late June 2024.
PUBLIC HEALTH
The board lastly met with Polk County Health Director Sarah Reese, who was searching for approval of the Blue Plus first amendment to the Memorandum of Agreement. “For the last several years, we have been working with Blue Plus to host a dental health innovation coordinator,” said Reese, “Alex Orvick has a Polk County Public House Office in Grand Forks and has a six-county area, and the work he does is to work with dental providers, and work with families that are needing timely access to dental services.” The board approved the amendment, which extends the current agreement with Blue Plus for one more year, effective until December 24, 2024.
The board that the Public Health Department has agreements with specific departments at the University of North Dakota but is searching for a Master Clinical Affiliation Agreement with the nursing department. This would allow nursing students at UND to serve their clinical hours in Polk County if they chose to do so. The board ultimately approved this request.
The final item the board approved was the advertisement and hiring of a public health nurse within the Polk County Health Department due to a recent resignation.
The consent agenda included the approval of minutes from the December 12 Polk County Board meeting. It also included the approval of bills and disbursements in the amount of $21,546.31.
Tags:
