The Polk County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday morning inside the Polk County Government Center. They heard from Property Records Representative Michelle Cote to discuss a location for an Absentee Voting Location, the 2022 Primary & General Election dates, to appoint the Election Judges, and a resolution to establish an Absentee/Mail system for the 2022 Elections. They also heard from Public Health Department Director Sarah Reese to discuss an Out of State Travel Request and received a presentation from AG Innovation Campus Project Manager Jim Lambert and Board Chairman Mike Skaug on an update from the Ag Innovation Campus. They also heard from County Administrator Chuck Whiting, Polk County Sheriff James Tadman and held a Public Hearing on County Ditch No. 111.
CONSENT ITEMS
The Board opened the meeting by first approving the Auditor Warrants and the minutes from their meeting on April 26. The final item Consent Agenda also approved a payment to North American Systems, Int’l, Eagan, in the amount of $1,500 for cable for the MIS Department.
The Board approved all items unanimously.
MICHELLE COTE- PROPERTY RECORDS
The Board then heard from Director of Property Records Michelle Cote, to prepare the Board for the upcoming Primary and General Elections happening later this year. She first informed the Board that she was designating Absentee Voting in Minnesota Statutes 203B.05 and an additional location designated in the City Hall of East Grand Forks to serve voters in Wards 1-5 for the upcoming election. She then came forward to request a motion to set the Canvassing Dates of the 2022 Primary & General Election on Friday, August 12 at 10:00 a.m. for the Primary Election, and Wednesday, November 16 at 10:00 a.m. for the General Election as three of the five Commissioners were up for reelection by those times. She then went into the request to appoint and begin the training of new Election Judges Casey “CJ” Wilde-Olson, Kayla Schumacher, Julie Sandman, Connie Desrosier, Breanna Wavra, Janet Mattison, Amy Erdmann, Annalee Jones, Andrew Dessellier, Harrison Boucher, Diana Amiot, Jennifer Perreault, Patty Frydenlund, Michelle Erdmann, and Bruce Krueger to be utilized in the Testing, Validating, Tabulation, and Technical support for the 2022 elections. Her final item was a resolution to establish an Absentee and Mail Ballet Board for the 2022 Primary & General Elections. Many of the Election Judges she asked for earlier, including Bruch Krueger, David Murphy from East Grand Forks, and others, would be a part of the board to process the ballots that come through the facility. She mentioned that she wanted to have at least one Democrat and Republican member on the Ballet Board to help keep a neutral standing on Election Day after receiving a correspondence from one of the parties. “After some discussion and mapping out a plan for how this would work, I reached out to both the Republicans and Democrats and asked them to submit three potential people who could be a part of that process. We would have one from each party, so we’d always have party balance,” Property Records Director Michelle Cote explained. “They did supply the names, and we sent applications to all those people, but we did not receive any back. So, we are just continuing on as we have done in the past, utilizing staff, which are considered neutral parties, since as staff, we don’t have to declare a party, and just moving forward in that manner as we didn’t receive any response from either of the parties,” she added. She also reminded the Commissioners that Filing for the election would begin on Tuesday, May 17, and go until Tuesday, May 31.
The Board approved all motions unanimously.
CHUCK WHITING-ADMINISTRATION
The Board then heard from County Administrator Chuck Whiting, who first asked for the authorization to fill the position of Facilities Management Director after Mark Dietz’s impending departure. He followed up by asking for the authorization to hire two Maintenance Worker Facilities positions due to the department already stretching its current staff and that these positions will be difficult to fill due to them being Grade 6 positions. He revealed that the Facilities Department has not budgeted for these positions and that securing the hiring options now would be prudent for the Department. He continued by requesting the authorization for Architectural Services for the Judicial Center Roof Replacement Project, which was one of the projects included in the Capital Improvement bonds they budgeted. After the Building Committee has reviewed the project with Todd Blixt from ICON, the consensus is to proceed with the roofing project, but it exceeds the $150,000 budget, so specifications and bidding are required. The Agreement’s anticipated schedule he received to prepare for the bidding is set for late fall and to start spring work in 2023, with an anticipated cost of $49,500 to cover all the required services and permits needed to complete the project. He lastly approached the Board to seek the approval to fill the Administrative Assistant I-A vacancy created by the resignation of Pam Cournia that is going into effect on May 15.
The Board approved all motions unanimously.
PUBLIC HEALTH
Public Health Director Sarah Reese then approached the Board to make two out-of-state travel requests. The first was for Melissa Perreault to travel and participate in the Montana Summer Institute – Navigating Transformation: Increasing Health & Safety with Positive Community Norms in Big Sky, Montana, from June 21-24, 2022. With all expenses paid by DHS/Regional Prevention Coordinator. The second request was for Melissa Perreault and Sarah Shimek to travel and participate in the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) Mid-Year Training Institute in Orlando, Florida, from July 17-21, 2022. With all expenses paid by DHS/Regional Prevention Coordinator and Drug-Free Communities. Both are part of required training and orientation for Perreault.
The Board approved both requests unanimously.
JAMES TADMAN- SHERIFF
The Board was then approached by Polk County Sheriff Jim Tadman, who requested that the Department could advertise and hire for an Open Deputy Patrol Position and any subsequent openings due to a Patrol Deputy Heath Hanson retiring on May 15 after 25 years of service. He reported that Hanson planned on going to the Crookston Police Department as a Sergeant.
The Board approved the request unanimously.
JIM LAMBERT, AG INNOVATION CAMPUS PROJECT MANAGER & BOARD CHAIRMAN, MIKE SKAUG
The Board then received an update from Ag Innovation Campus Project Manager Jim Lambert and Board Chairman Mike Skaug on the upcoming Ag Innovation Campus. The Campus has set itself up to be self-funded for years and provide grant assistance to qualified projects that need their resources. Due to it being a 501(c)(3) organization, it will collaborate with public and private entities to help agricultural-based efforts worldwide. They explained that currently, they have three phases of construction planned to complete the project. They reported that they currently have general permitting for the rush plant portion completed along with Earth Work, parking areas, and site utilities that were finished for the crush plant last fall. They also reported that they had issued a building permit and plan to have footing and foundations start in the beginning of June. They then plan to have the pre-cast food grade building begin construction in late June, with mechanical, electrical, and plumbing designs being finalized. They will then build the interior rough-in work, with floor slabs and interior finishes by July/August. They then plan to install crush equipment and Grain Handling equipment in September, with proposals for the Load-in, Load-out building now in progress. “We expect the plant’s construction to be completed in the winter of this year and start operations in January of next year,” Ag Innovation Campus Project Manager Jim Lamber explained. “In January 2023, we’ll start doing some equipment testing and fine-tuning the operation. Then starting production shortly thereafter,” he added.
They explained that they also had submitted a proposal for the American Relief Funds and hoped that the Board would pick them to be funded, as they had simple but expensive items like concrete driveways and added storage compacity to features like oil refining and had tight funding for the entire project.
PUBLIC HEARING
The Board finished the meeting by opening a Public Hearing to the room to discuss adding half of East Section 18 to County Ditch No. 111, as this will allow the landowners to allow water to drain into the Ditch. The Board was approached by County Engineer Richard Sanders speaking on behalf of Landowners Randy and Brady Lee. “Back in the 1900s, when the County Ditches were built, all the lands that drained into them are their benefitted areas. This past winter, I got a call from Mr. Lee stating that he wanted to drain his land into County Ditch 111, and he currently wasn’t paying benefits into it,” County Engineer Richard Sanders explained. “So, today we had a Public Hearing to add their lands, the East half of Section 18 of Badger Township, to the County Ditch 111 benefited area. Now any future maintenance that goes on to County Ditch 111, the Lee’s will be paying their fair share of that work,” he added. The Lees then left to get a permit from Red Lake Watershed to tile their property to help the water drain West to the Ditch.
The Board approved their request unanimously. A map of the new addition to County Ditch 111 can be seen below.
The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, May 17, at 9:30 a.m. inside the Polk County Government Center.
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