The Polk County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday, April 15, at 9:30 a.m. at the Government Center in the County Board Room.
Sheriff James Tadman was first up Monday and presented the board with his Monthly report for March. In March, there were 805 Calls for Service for the Sheriff’s Department, with some of the highest numbers being for Civil Process, School Patrol, Motor Vehicle Assist, Traffic Stops, and Crashes. Tadman also reported that the Sheriff’s Department was dispatched 2,153 times in March, 609 of which were for emergencies. Also noted was the number of transport miles driven in March. There were 6,386 miles clocked for transport, resulting in 173.5 transport hours put in by staff.
Tadman asked the board Tuesday to sign a resolution recognizing April 13-19 as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. “I brought a resolution up to the Commissioners to push forward. It’s just thanking our telecommunicators in our dispatch center for all they do,” says Tadman. “They answer the calls for all the police in the county, the fire, the emergency medical services, and they have to get the appropriate assistance out as quickly as possible, so this is a resolution that thanks them. It talks about their daily duties and what they do for our community and our residents.” The board approved the resolution recognizing April 13- 19 as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.
Sheriff Tadman brought with him Tuesday Sergeant Chester Carlson, who brought a motion to the board asking for approval of the 2025 Boat and Water Grant. “The state of Minnesota provides a grant that covers approximately two-thirds of the enforcement time we spend on lakes in Polk County each summer, especially on the weekends when we are busiest. We have a boat or two or sometimes three out in the water,” says Carlson. “Our focus with Boat and Water is on safety. We’re not trying to ruin anyone’s time; we want to make sure everyone is out there being safe, and a lot of time, the visibility of the boat on the water just kind of keeps things at a safe level.” The Boat and Water Safety Grant covers $9,693 of the budget for Boat and Water Safety. The other $5,474 is budgeted through the county. The board unanimously approved the 2025 MN Boat and Water Grant.
Karen Warmack, Polk County Social Services Director, had two items for the board’s approval on Tuesday. The first was a motion to approve the DEED contract amendment in the amount of $23,149, which now totals $31,892 through September 30, 2025. The additional contract amount will provide additional SNAP Employment and Training Award funding for the SNAP program. The board unanimously approved the contract amendment. The second item was a motion to approve the contract with Angela Holloway, a family Support meeting facilitator, for $5,000 from April 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025. The board approved the motion unanimously.
Darin Carlstrom, the Assistant Public Works Director/Engineer for Polk County, was in attendance Tuesday with multiple items for the board approval. “We had five items today. We had a Bridge Priority List that needs updating. It’s just a list of bridges we are looking to replace over the next five years, “says Carlstrom. “Along with that, we had dumpster quotes for our parks. One park is at Cross Lake/Tilberg, and the other is at Maple Lake. It’s just dumpster service at those locations.” The board approved the Bridge Priority List unanimously, and the dumpster services were awarded to Alternative Sanitation, LLC of Erskine as the lowest responsible bidder for both Maple Lake and Cross Lake locations.
Next up for the Highway Department was a motion to approve awarding the work contract required for Gradewidening from Truck Highways 32 (Fertile) to County State Aid Highway 41. “We had a letting on our County 12, and that’s from Trunk Highway 32 out of Fertile to County 41,” says Carlstrom. “So we awarded that project to Knife River Materials from Bemidji, MN, and the last item was a County Ditch Maintenance Clean Request on County Ditch 90 in Vineland Township.” The board unanimously approved the ditch-cleaning request.
Polk County Public Health Director Sarah Reese came to the board today asking for them to approve the advertising and hiring of a Wellness Coordinator. “Today, I requested to fill a Wellness Coordinator Position, and we have various types of Wellness Coordinators within our department,” says Reese. “The particular position is for the WIC program, or women, infants, and children nutrition program. This role also serves as our Breastfeeding Coordinator for our Health Department.” Reese said that she recently received a retirement notice and needs to fill this important position as quickly as possible. “The position has been and currently is filled by Tammy Conn, who has done exceptional work across our county and in partnership with not only clients and families but also with community partners, healthcare partners, and so forth,” says Reese. “Due to her work, we have received state and national recognition for a variety of her efforts, so we are really happy with her contributions to the county and also certainly want to congratulate her on her retirement and look to find her successor and to be able to train that person in and continue our work across the county.” The board unanimously approved the advertising and hiring of a Wellness Coordinator and any subsequent vacancies within Polk County Public Health.
The last item on Tuesday’s agenda came from Polk County Administrator Chuck Whiting. Whiting was asking that the board approve moving ahead with a contract for the Questica Budgeting software, pending conditions and a work plan. The implementation of the budgeting software will be aggressive, Whiting says, as the 2026 budget timeline will start soon. It had been previously discussed that the board would like options on a one-year contract as well as three years, and Whiting provided this information to the board, which shows that a one-year contract is substantially more expensive. The three-year contract does have an opt-out provision if the board feels they need to exercise that option. After some discussion, the board unanimously approved the three-year Questica Budgeting Software Agreement.
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