The Polk County Commissioners met Tuesday morning, August 6, at the Polk County Government Center.
PLANNING AND ZONING UPDATE
Among the items on the agenda for this meeting was to speak with Planning and Zonings Jacob Snyder. Jacob brought a couple of Resolutions for conditional use permits before the board. One of those was Resolution (2024-60) for a conditional use permit for Daniel & DeAnn Donarski to operate an Event Venue one and a half miles east of Fisher.
“We had two conditional use permits today, one of those being an event venue just outside the city limits of Fisher, on the north side of Highway 2,” said Snyder. “We are kind of excited for the community on that. There will be a place where they are looking at hosting weddings and family gathering.”
The resolution was passed with several conditions.
“We are looking at occupant loads of the buildings, safety, parking, getting out of and into the site, having the access route being two ways so people can get in and out freely.”
Among the conditions was making sure there was access to storm shelters for guests at the venue in case of inclement weather. “They have been coordinating with the volunteer fire department to get an area where people can go, and there are at least 3 storm shelters in Fisher,” says Snyder.
The Second Resolution for a conditional use permit brought to the board by Snyder was also passed. “The other conditional use permit is for CHS Ag Services, between Mentor and Erskine.” said Snyder. “They have done a lot of work on that site and expanded a lot, so it kind of follows suit to get their nameplate out there.”
A motion was also passed for a Polk County resident to get help replacing/repairing their septic system through the SSTS Loan Program. The applicant’s income is just above the low-income threshold that the program follows. “We are not going to be chipping in any cost share money. We will fully fund the 10-year loan for them at zero percent interest, and they will just pay that back on their taxes,” Snyder explained.
SHERRIFF’S REPORT
Polk County Sheriff James Tadman gave the July call report, and the top 10 calls are below –
1. Civil Process-187
2. Traffic Stop – 138
3. Public Assist – 27
4. Assist Other Agency – 21
5. Welfare Check – 20
6. Animal Complaint – 18
7. Motorist Assist 17
8. Transport to prison or jail – 11
9. Property Damage – 10
10. Civil Complaint – 10
RETIRED AND SENIOR VOLUNTEER PROGRAM UPDATE
Jennifer Manole of RSVP updated the Commissioners on RSVP of the Red River Valley, which serves Polk, Kittson, Marshall, Norman, Red Lake, Roseau, and Pennington Counties, is doing. RSVP logged 41,170 volunteer hours last year and has 650 volunteers over 55 years of age.
After Manole explained all the things they do in northwest Minnesota, she requested an allocation matching that of which she received for 2024. “I did ask for a $2,400.00 allocation for 2025 for those funds to go to our wonderful program,” said Manole. “The money will go towards our banquet next June with our volunteers, paying mileage for our volunteers as we do home-delivered meals, groceries to go, and buying weights for our exercise program.”
Manole says that this money will go a long way to support her program. The motion for the allocation was passed. RSVP is funded by the United Way, Minnesota Board of Aging, and the seven counties.
TRUCK UPDATE WITH RICHARD SANDERS – HIGHWAY ENGINEER
Richard Sanders was on hand to get a motion passed to pay for the early arrival of the second truck ordered back in 2023. “With all that happened back in 2020, 2021, Covid and the supply chain going to pots, we were told back in 2023 that if we wanted to get trucks in 2025, we should order them early. So, we ordered 2 trucks in September of 2023, expecting delivery in March or April of 2025,” said Sanders. “We received the first truck in June of 2024, and now we received the second truck at the end of July 2024. So, the supply chain is getting better, you are able to get tandem trucks a little quicker now and that is a positive when we order tandem trucks.”
The truck cost was $500 more than anticipated due to higher steel costs. “The price of steel was going up exponentially, so we would order a truck expecting to pay $150 000 for the truck, and it would come in at $155,000 or $156,000 because of the extra steel and stuff that goes into those tandem trucks,” said Sanders. “Well, these two trucks only came in $500 overestimate.” The two trucks are for the future 2025 fleet of snow plows, and also carry gravel in the spring. The motion for payment of the new truck was passed.
Sanders was also asking the commissioners to approve the purchase of the Super property, which borders the Polk County Campground and would benefit the county in future projects.”So, at the Polk County Campground, along County Road 12 on Maple Lake, just north of the campground, was a little sliver of property between the campground and County Road 12 that the Supers owned,” Sanders stated.
The Supers had asked the county to buy this piece of land previously, but when the appraisal came back lower than hoped, the Supers held onto the property. The Supers had an appraisal done this year and believed it to be where they could sell the property. This will benefit the campground, says Sanders. “It gives us a little more room for storing trailers and other stuff like that, but it also gives us the county right away we need along County Road 12 to do a future project.” The motion for purchase of the Super property was approved at the purchase price of $132,874.
Last on the agenda for Sanders were a couple of motions to approve ditch repairs. “The first one was County Ditch 31, which had a landowner who was going to do a little maintenance to his field approach because the aprons were falling off, and he felt like he could just dig it and do some minor maintenance. Well, he found out that after he uncovered the culvert, the culvert was in real bad shape, and so it needed to be replaced,” according to Sanders. The Commissioners passed the motion to replace the culvert in Section 23 of Nesbit Township and County Ditch 31.
The second ditch repair needing approval was County Ditch 126. Sloughing was blocking water and causing back-up into some fields. A ¾ section of the ditch was being cleaned out. The commissioners also approved this work today.
PUBLIC HEALTH – SARAH REESE GETS OPIOID SETTLEMENT FUNDS APPROVED
The commissioners approved the Inter-County Community Council Head Start Service contract renewal as requested by Polk County Public Health. “For several years, we have worked with Inter County Community Council, their Head Start Program, to provide a nurse and nutrition consultant for their Head Start Program, and each year, we review and renew that contract so they can meet their federal requirements,” said Polk County Public Health Director Sarah Reese. “We have had a great relationship with Inter-County Headstart and are happy to partner with them for that service.”
The contract pays Polk County Public Health $69 per hour for their services.
Reese was also present to get the board’s approval on the Opioid Settlement Fund. The county was granted a large sum in the settlement that will benefit many agencies in the county. Reese said there was a lot of time and thought put into where these funds would go, and input from data, service providers, and individuals with lived experiences, as well as surveys, was used. “This spring, we were happy to put out a request for proposals, where community partners or others could submit applications to serve residents of Polk County in a couple of core areas, which are Prevention, Harm Reduction, Treatment, and Recovery,” said Reese. “So what we are looking to do is support people long-term and to support our partners that are serving people in Polk County.”
The commissioners unanimously approved the distribution of the Settlement Funds to the following agencies and organizations.
Alluma – $82,350
Crookston Youth Foundation/The Cove – $38,620
New Heights Elementary School (EGF) – $5,000
Tri-County Community Corrections – $99,972
Tri-Valley Opportunity Council – $41,520
University of Minnesota (Crookston) – $59,664
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