The Polk County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, at 8:00 a.m. at the Government Center.
Assistant Environmental Services Administrator for Polk County, Jake Snyder, brought two items to the board for approval. The first was a Resolution for a Conditional Use Permit for Dave Scherfenberg for his property on Maple Lake. Snyder reminded the board that in the summer of 2024, Polk County Planning & Zoning issued a permit for a 25’x32’ shed on Scherfenbergs property. The septic system serving the cabin was required to be inspected, and the drain field failed inspection, but the tank passed. That permit was issued with conditions that the existing shed be removed and the septic system be capped as a septic holding tank. “I had an after-the-fact conditional use to tie a shed into a septic holding tank on Maple Lake,” says Snyder. “Kind of working backward, you know, with it being after the fact, but the applicant did abandon the drain field system, that was not up to snuff.” Snyder said that a lot of the county’s permits require septic compliance and to make sure that the system is working on the property. “We did an inspection on that holding tank and found out, hey, the shed now is connected to it,” says Snyder. “Really, it’s just working back words to make sure that the shed is just a shed with a bathroom and a laundry facility and not living quarters in it.” Snyder pointed out to the board that it’s a small cabin on the property, so the shed, being able to have a larger bathroom and laundry facilities, fits in. “That was approved today,” says Snyder. “We would like people to work on the forefront and not backward. It’s always awkward and less productive doing it that way.” The board unanimously approved the Conditional Use Permit.
Snyders second item was seeing approval of proposed changes to the SSTS fix-up grant program for 2025. Snyder explained to the board that he was looking to find out if the board wanted to set a max value of a dwelling as far as who can apply for and get funding for the Septic Fix-up program. “The board doesn’t wish to have a cap on dwelling value,” says Snyder. “Your dwelling value won’t factor into if you are getting it or not.” Snyder also was pleased to be able to tell the board that Polk County received more funds for 2025 than in years past. “We did get about $20,000 more this year, so we got $60,000 instead of $40,000 like we typically do,” says Snyder. “The goal of the program is to fix as many septics as we can.” Snyder says that, typically, this program reaches out to people with very low or low incomes and that they use USDA guidelines to guide the program. Snyder also says that the program has been very successful, and the county has exhausted all of the funds each year since 2014, when it started. With the board feeling a cap was not needed on the dwelling value, the only item Snyder needed approval for in his summary was moving up the application deadline by two weeks to May 15. This way, Snyder says they can decide who will benefit in 2025 from the program, and staff can start seeking bids for each project from local contractors. The board unanimously voted to approve the change to the SSTS fix-up grant program for 2025.
Levi Webster, Director of Management Information Systems for Polk County, had two requests for the board on Tuesday. The first was to renew the Morris Electronics 2025 Network Contract for $23,205.00.
Webster says that Morris has been on board since before he started with the county in 2016 and that they offer support for Network planning and issues, Server planning and issues, ISeries Assistance, Escalation with the state, and after-hours emergency support. This item was budgeted for 2025, and the board approved the renewal.
Second, Webster requested approval of a quote from JCI (Johnson Controls) for replacing the Justice Center door controllers in the amount of $54,630.00. “There are currently seven of them; they are outdated, and we can’t get parts,” says Webster. “So, if there are failures, it knocks a whole section of the building offline for however long.” Webster says approval of the item will allow the county to get back to current standards.” The board unanimously approved the quote for new door controllers at the Justice Center.
Sarah Reese came to the board Tuesday with an Out of State Travel Request. The request is for approval for Brenna Olson to attend the Art & Science of Health Promotion Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, from April 2 – 4, 2025. The board approved the out-of-state travel.
Sheriff James Tadman brought a motion to the board for approval to sell Unit #275 from their Law Enforcement Squad. Unit #275 has been taken out of service and is a 2021 Chevy Silverado. The Chevy is in good condition with mileage of 82015. The lease for the vehicle has expired. The board approved the motion to sell Unit #275.
Polk County Engineer Richard Sanders came to the board Tuesday seeking approval to award the Mower Quote to Titan Machinery of Crookston in the amount of $31,453.49. Two bids came in for the Mower and Titan was around $3,400 lower than the other company. “I came to the county board to award a quote for our 15’ Flex Wing Mowers,” says Sanders. “We received two quotes, one from Ironhide Equipment out of Grand Forks and one from Titan Machinery out of Crookston.” Sanders says the lowest responsible quote was from Titan Machinery. The board approved of awarding the quote to Titan Machinery of Crookston.
Sanders also brought the 2025 Road Restriction Map for the board’s approval. “The only addition to what Polk County is going to be restricting or not be restricting is Columbia Township has agreed to post their road that leads to the bridge that’s being replaced in their township at nine tons for the spring to allow the contractor to be able to do their work more efficiently,” says Sanders. “So that will be part of our list of roads being restricted.” The board approved the 2025 Road Restriction Map.
Next was a motion to approve awarding Widseth the contract to design the multi-use trails from Maple Bay to CSAH 12 in Mentor in the amount of $48,940. Sanders says that he received three quotes for the design task, and Widseth was the lowest responsible quote. “We had a quote from Widseth out of Crookston, Moore Engineering, and Houston Engineering to design our multi-use paths we are going to have along CSAH 12 between Maple Bay and the Pavillion and along 12 between the Pavillion and Mentor,” says Sanders. “Widseth was the lowest responsible quote at $48,940.” The other two quotes’ Sanders received were both over $100,000. The board passed the motion to approve Widseth for the contract.
Last for Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting was a Public Hearing to add property to the assessed area of Polk County Ditch No. 111. The public hearing was a petition to Add Lands. Earl and Neal Pederson had petitioned the county to add the North ½ of the SW ¼ Section 7, Township 14N, Range 42 West in Badger Township. “Earl Pederson and his family are going to be doing some drain tiling in Section 7 of Badger Township,” says Sanders. “They had two 40’s that they are going to be drain tiling that don’t drain into County Ditch 111.” Part of the process, Sanders says, is holding a public hearing and giving a chance for public comment on the petition. “There was no public comment, so the County Board approved adding the two 40s into County Ditch 111’s benefited area.”
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