Polk County has had issues with the scale portion of their addition to the Fosston incinerator site since the work was done in 2017-2018. Polk County Environmental Services Administrator Jon Steiner explains, “We’ve had some issues with the concrete out in the lot for the approaches to the scale that we’ve tried to work with the contractor on. They’ve kind of been fruitless in terms of getting it resolved. We require bonds for them to stand behind their work and if they aren’t going to stand behind it we go after the bond. We retained a legal firm that specializes in construction law to represent our interests in that project.”
The commissioners approved the retainment of the law firm of Fabyanske, Westra, Hart & Thomason, PA of Minneapolis. There is also an issue with the concrete floor in the office area of the new transfer station in Polk County, which the commissioners toured on Tuesday, with the concrete floor pitting. Steiner said the contractor on the Crookston project is working to get that resolved in the coming days. “We’re right down to the end of finishing that project,” said Steiner. It’s really drug on, we were supposed to in the building before the end of 2018. The offices are for all intents and purposes done at this point. When we did the walkthrough we noticed a lot of pitting on the floor. We had the concrete dyed in the office, so it would work as a finish. Having all the pitting is a maintenance and aesthetic issue. We’ve notified the contractor we won’t be accepting the concrete as it is. They’ve been responsive and will hopefully come back with a plan in a day or two.”
Steiner shot some video showing what the state-of-the-art equipment in Fosston does to sort garbage and recycling. Steiner called it the most technologically advanced system in Minnesota and added it was the only facility that he knows of that can operate garbage and recycling on the same lines, in the same building at one time. “We’ve had a lot of interest in looking at it,” said Steiner. “It’s not really set up for large scale tours like Disney Land. We used the phone and created the video to show how it works on garbage and recyclables we take in from the six counties.”
The Commissioners also approved the consent agenda including approving auditor warrants, approving the January 22, February 5 and February 19 minutes, approving two payments for $3,726.00 and for $6,383.34 for Information Services to GHA Technologies, Inc., of Phoenix, AZ.
