The Polk County Commissioners met on Tuesday at the Polk County Government Center.
CITY OF FOSTON
The meeting began with Jim Offerdahl, Mayor of Foston, giving an update on several critical issues in the city. Early portions of his time revolved around infrastructure and city improvement projects over the last five or six years. A few of the major projects in Foston are the ongoing industrial park expansion project that will wrap up next year and the updates to the airport, which received a new runway.
The latter portion of the Mayor’s time was spent talking about the city of Foston’s dispute with the Essentia Health Corporation. “The status of that dispute is that it continues, and it is scheduled for arbitration, which will be held here at the Polk County Courthouse in July on July 8 through July 11 this summer,” said Offerdahl. “We expect the outcome of that to be a favorable decision to the city of Foston, at which time the council would have the decision to make as to whether to terminate the agreement with Essentia, and at this point, it appears as if that is the case.”
Foston plans to transition to First Care Medical Services over the next year once the agreement with Essentia is terminated. First Care Medical Services owns the hospital and holds its license.
POLK COUNTY SOCIAL SERVICES
A representative then spoke for social services, presenting four different items. The following were talked about-
- Eligibility Worker Replacement Request
- Accounting Technician Replacement Request
- Wellness in the Woods Virtual Peer Support Network Contract Approval
- Cultural Navigation Services Agreement
All four of the items were unanimously approved by the Polk County Board.
POLK COUNTY PLANNING AND ZONING
The planning and zoning went on to speak about two items. One item is a planned unit development of a storage shed south of Union Lake. “That was given final approval today to record the planned unit development with 23 storage facilities, and open space requirements/stormwater was addressed,” said Planning and zoning administrator Jacob Snyder. “All the things in the preliminary approval process were tackled by the developer.” The board unanimously approved the development.
The next topic of discussion was the resolution regarding the expansion of an existing campsite east of Maple Lake. The campsite will be just outside the shoreline district and is roughly a quarter mile from Maple Lake. This was approved with 21 conditions that both parties agreed to.
POLK COUNTY HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT
The Polk County Highway Department followed with several things to discuss-
- MnDOT agreement for the survey and design of the roundabout at Trunk Highway 75 and CSAH 21.
- There were multiple ditch maintenance requests: County Ditch 81 Branch 3 to replace a culvert, County Ditch 81 Branch 12 to clean and realign it if needed, and County Ditch 113 to replace a culvert and clean.
- Ramsey County was added to the contract with Dynamic Infrastructure, increasing the total contract from $70,000 to $90,000. With Ramsey being billed $20,000.
- Polk County Highway Department received a PLSS Grant Award from the state of Minnesota to do corner updates in Columbia Township.
The consent agenda included the approval of minutes from the May 7 board meeting and bills/disbursements. The Polk County Commissioners will have their next meeting on Tuesday, June, at 8 a.m. at the Polk County Government Center.
