The Polk County Commissioners met on Tuesday morning at the Polk County Government Center. In their final resolution of the morning, they reappointed Richard Sanders as the Polk County Engineer through May 2023.
Sanders was named the 2018 Outstanding County Engineer of the Year by the Minnesota County Engineers Association. He also received a 2018 Minnesota Toward Zero Death Star Award and recently completed his term as the President of the National Association of County Engineers. Polk County Administrator Chuck Whiting said State Statute is maybe a little archaic in requiring term appointments, but that Sanders is well regarded by his peers and the county. “State statute requires the county engineer to be appointed and reappointed for four-year terms,” said Whiting. “Rich is slated to be county engineer through May 2023 at which time the board will again have to take action to reappoint. He is well regarded by his peers. He just completed his term as the President of the National Association of County Engineers. And was also just named as the State’s County Engineer of the Year. We know the pedigree is there and we’ll continue to work on the projects that we’ll have.”
The board also awarded the bid on a group of three road projects – County State Aid Highway (CSAH) 24 from Highway 2 to CSAH 27; CSAH 115 in Fosston; and Eaton and Newton Avenues in Fosston – to Knife River Materials out of Bemidji for $756,978.00. The commissioners also heard about a new opioid treatment plan that will go into effect later in the year at Essentia Health in Fosston and will receive further updates about the program as its implemented.
The board approved two resolutions relating to the sale of bonds. The first sale was bonding the three local watershed districts had requested for upcoming projects. Arcelia Detert, from Public Financial Management, sold the bonds and informed the board of the rates they received for both bond issues. “Public Financial Management has worked with Polk County for many years,” said Detert. “We took care of the sale of the bonds. Of course, a lot of things happen before today, including a lot of documents going out. Robert Baird and six other banks bid on these geo-watershed bonds. Robert Baird was the lowest bidder at 2.70 percent.”
The bids were – Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. (2.709850 percent), Piper Jaffray (2.720278%), Northland Securities (2.749439%), Raymond James & Associates, Inc. (2.783421%), SunTrust Robinson Humphrey (2.787173%), and Bernardi Securities, Inc. (2.868251%).
The winning bid for the Highway Bonds went to BNYMellon Capital Markets at 1.679780 percent. The other bidders were – Piper Jaffray (1.745849%), Hilltop Securities (1.754473%), Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. (1.771016%), Northland Securities (1.847223%), IFS Securities (1.913307%) and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey (1.915633%). Detert thought the county received quite positive rates and believed it could be attributed to the tariff announcement and Wall Street news the past few days. “That’s what we are speculating because the rates came down this week,” said Detert. “The news right now is it’s the tariffs. I know the stock market sold out yesterday and that’s the speculation that the tariffs were the issue. I think whatever happened in the New York Market Exchange benefitted the county today and we’re happy with the results.
The commissioners also approved their consent agenda which included approving auditor warrants, March 19-April 23 board minutes, payment to GHA Technologies of $1,814.40, payments to Hewlett Packard Inc for $433.54 and $731.96, payment to CDW-G for $499.44.
