Month: January 2023

The Polk County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday morning at the Polk County Government Center.

CONSENT ITEMS

The board’s Consent items only included the board approving the board minutes from their meeting on January 17. The board approved the item unanimously.

COUNTY BOARD MEMBERS ISSUE FORUM

The board then began reviewing the assignments each board member had been given for each of the different board Committees they would delegate after Commissioner Gerald (Jerry) Jacobson’s death to fill in his now-open positions. For his position as the delegate for the One Watershed One Plan District Policy Committee, Joan Lee was chosen as the alternate but now would be the delegate. Commissioner Mark Holy and Joan Lee would take his place as the second representative for two of the three Red Lake County Joint Ditch Committees. Commissioner Mark Holy chose to become the delegate for the AMC Environmental & Natural Resources Policy Committee in Jacobson’s place. For the Tri-Valley Opportunity Council, the new representative the county would elect for the first District would become the delegate. Commissioner Gary Willhite volunteered to be the delegate for multiple Miscellaneous meetings in his place. The list of committee assignments can be found below-

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SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT-JIM TADMAN

Polk County Sheriff Jim Tadman first approached the board with a request for a Federal Boating Safety Supplemental Equipment Grant Contract Agreement for $2,337 to purchase eight Mustang Hydrostatic Auto Inflatable Personal Flotation Devices (PFDs) to replace any older devices the department has.

December Monthly Sheriff’s Report

Tadman then approached the board with the monthly sheriff report for December. He reported that the department had made 93 Civil Services and had $4,971.28 in paid services and $841.72 for no-charge services. For the department’s Transport Log, he reported the department traveled 4,338 miles for the month for a total of 80,217. Which was 17,237 miles less than 2021 but 2,363 more miles than 2020, where both November and December had seen notable decreases from the previous years. Tadman also reported they had received 2,607 calls, with 724 for emergencies and 1,883 for non-emergencies. They had also made 583 calls of service for the month, with 150 calls for Civil Process, 49 for School patrol, 70 for Traffic Stops, and 20 Motorist Assists with the icy weather.

Retirement of Patrol Sergeant

Tadman then came forward with a resolution to promote a Deputy to Sergeant position from a transport position after a Patrol Sergeant will retire on February 23 to fill the open position and advertise for the position. The board approved the motion unanimously.

Sale of Polk County Patrol Vehicles

The final item Tadman brought forward was a list of four vehicles the department wanted to sell to Enterprise. He reported the sales included two 2016 Ford Utility cars, both over 85,000 miles, and two 2018 Ford Utility cars for over 100,000 miles. The board approved the sale unanimously.

MIS DEPARTMENT-LEVI WEBSTER

MIS Director Levi Webster next approached the board with a request for the approval of renewing a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement for Microsoft 365 and Windows Server Licensing for all departments for three years for $187,815.96 each year.

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES-JON STEINER

The board was then approached by Environmental Services Administration Jon Steiner, who first came forward with a $2.4 million contract with Zavoral & Sons to complete Phase 14, building a new landfill cell, they had started in 2022 for a 3.2 acres MSW Cell with new leachate collection system and final cover over old positions of the Landfill. He explained that all phases had been completed in the Fall, and all payments had been made. He said it was estimated that $600,000 of the $2.4 million was directly attributed to the Landfill Cover overfilled portions of the Landfill, with the final covered as an ARPGA-eligible expense. He requested for the board to approve $600,000 in ARPA funds to be paid to the Landfill cover’s portion.  

EPA SWIFR Grant 6 County project Resolution of Support

Steiner then reported on the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) Grant program that was appropriated $55 million per year for five years for $275 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. He explained the program would fund eligible projects from $500,000 to $4 million. Due to Polk and its regional County partners’ extensive history of cooperative projects, Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Norman, and Polk wanted to apply for grant funds for its RRF Phase III Project, which will make modifications to the MRF in Fosston and the Composite site near Gentilly to utilize robotic sorters to fill positions unable to be filled by people and utilize new technology known as Aerated Static Piles (ASP) to speed the composting process and increase throughput. The board approved the grant unanimously.

EPA SWIFR Grant 9 County project Resolution of Support
The final item Steiner came forward with was a resolution for the same grant but with nine counties forming a partnership (Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Hubbard, Marshall, Mahnomen, Norman, Red Lake, and Polk) to apply to MPCA for the grant to conduct a study on the costs to meet proposed MPCA rules related to C&D Landfills, with the group receiving $100,000 for the study. The study is to provide information for counties and boards to make informed decisions about landfill closure, lining, and the construction of new infrastructure known as “spokes,” which collect materials and transports them to regional compliant facilities called “hubs” to serve as a basis to make an MPCA CAP Grant request for State Bond funding. “Every county in the area up here has at least one, and they wanted to see those with the liner underneath them than collecting the water that collects underneath them that comes into contact with the waste and treating it. For a lot of small facilities, that’s cost prohibitive. So, we wrote a grant to study that and come up with the actual costs of doing that versus putting something in something that would collect the facility and transport it to an open facility that is lined down the road,” Jon Steiner explained. “We’ve been in the process of studying that, and the intent of the study was to write a grant to build the infrastructure that would develop that sort of a system up here.” The group is preparing an application to secure the grant, which can use the SWIFR funds for independent use of any future CAP Grant allocation. Snyder then revealed that the nine counties would give support to Hubbard County for the Application. The board approved the grant unanimously.

PUBLIC HEALTH-SARAH REESE

Polk County Public Health Director Sarah Reese approached the board next to inform the board of the Minnesota Local Public Health Association’s legislative action priorities. She reported that they were supporting Minnesota’s Local Public Health System, which gave support for all public health infrastructure in the state. The second was strengthening Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) and Response Capacity to get a state-level investment and other forms of funding for Emergency Preparedness outside of federal funding which only gave $20,000. The third action was responding to Public Health Workforce shortages to ensure adequate and stable funding for the department to address community health issues and educate the community on the successes and opportunities they had for health.

Inflation Reduction Act Update

Reese then came forward with an update on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which eliminated out-of-pocket costs as of January 1 for Medicare Part D (prescription coverage) beneficiaries who receive vaccines recommended for adults by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). “What that means is that individuals with Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage will no longer have a deductible and will not be responsible for any cost-sharing. This is great because we will often get calls for vaccines like the shingles vaccine because it’s very expensive and requires two doses, so it often creates financial barriers for residents,” Public Health Director Sarah Reese explained. “So, we were excited to see that shingles is included on the list of drugs that will be covered that do not have a deductible, and people won’t have a cost-sharing.” Other vaccines that will not be responsible for any cost-sharing for ACIP-recommended vaccines include Tdap and travel vaccines. Reese reported that similar benefits take effect on October 1, 2023, for adults insured by Medicaid (those eligible for both traditional and expansion Medicaid coverage) and a small number of young adults covered by the Children’s Health Insurance Program. If you have any questions about what is and isn’t covered by Medicare Part D, you can call Polk County Public Health or your local pharmacist or healthcare provider.

PROPERTY RECORDS-ANNALEE JONES

The board was next approached by the Deputy Director of Property Records, Annalee Jones, with reviews of the Watershed Levy Requests for their 2023 administrative costs and special project outside of ditches or special assessments in the amount of $2,507,340.68. She next came with reviews of the NWRDC and HRA levy requests for administrative costs of $379,477. She also gave a review of the Lake Improvement budgets for the Maple Lake Improvement of $59,600 and the Union Lake Sarah Improvement District budget of $12,000. The board approved the reviews unanimously.

Review of Ambulance special assessment requests

Jones then came forward with a review of Ambulance special assessments. She reported that the Crookston Ambulance had $38 in taxes payable for 2023, Fertile had $110, and Fosston had $50 in taxes payable. The board approved the requests unanimously.

HIGHWAY-RICHARD SANDERS

County Engineer Richard Sanders then approached the board with a request to add Box Culverts to two different locations in Hammond Twp. He reported they had opened bids on Friday, January 20, and had the lowest responsible bidder from Taggart Contracting Inc. for $287,600. The board approved the motion unanimously.

PROPERTY RECORDS-SAM MELBYE

The board finished the meeting hearing from Property Records Director Sam Melbye with a resolution for Polk County to set a special election to fill the vacancy in the Polk County Commissioner’s 1st District after the recent passing of Commissioner Gerald (Jerry) Jacobson on January 15, for someone to serve out his term to represent the 1st District until it expires in January 2025. Melbye reported that the deadline for the filing period for candidates submitting their candidacy would begin on February 7 and go until February 21, with different special elections scheduled depending on how many candidates would run. “If we have three or more candidates filed, we will hold a special primary election on May 9, with a special general election on August 8. If there are two or fewer candidates, we will hold the general election on May 9. It will only be for the county’s 1st District,” Property Records Director Sam Melbye explained. “As far as if it’s going to be a mail ballot or polling place if you voted at a polling place at the last election in November, there will be a polling place available. If your jurisdiction was mail ballot, you will be mail ballot again for this election too, and absentee voting is available for everybody as well.” Citizens can come into the Polk County Government Center to apply for an absentee ballot before March 24, where they will begin accepting them. The board approved the two dates unanimously.

The Board of Commissioners will next meet on Tuesday, February 7, at 8:00 a.m. at the Polk County Government Center.

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