The Polk County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday, July 22, at the Government Center in Crookston.
April Swenby – Sand Hill River Watershed District
April Swenby, Administrator from the Sand Hill River Watershed District, came to the board seeking approval for three 2026 General Tax Levy Petitions and to present their annual report and audit report. This is done yearly, Swenby says. “Every year we come to keep our relationship with the County Board and keep them updated on the happenings of the Sand Hill River Watershed District,” says Swenby. “We present our Annual Report that is required by statute every single year, and we present our Audit Report to them.”
Swenby explains that the three levy petitions are also brought to the board yearly. “We ask for three petitioned levies, one for water quality, one for water management and retention, and one for studies and agency support, which were all approved today.” The water quality levy approved was $154,629.71; the levy for water management was also $154,629.71; and the levy for studies and agency support was $100,000.
County Engineer – Richard Sanders
County Engineer Richard Sanders brought to the board a couple of contracts from 2024 that needed final acceptance and a Certificate of Performance. “The first items were contracts from last year with Gladen Construction Inc., out of Laporte,” says Sanders. “We had two separate contracts. One was for box culverts in two locations in Hammond Township, and the second contract was for a box culvert installation in Bransvold Township and Russia Township. The final contract amounts for the projects were $213,765.60 and $222,198.00, and the board unanimously approved issuing a Certificate of Performance and Final Acceptance and final payments to Gladen Construction, Inc.
Sanders sought approval from the board for two equipment purchases for 2026 so that he could place orders to have them in place for late fall, early winter 2025, and make payments in 2026. “One was for purchasing a new spray unit for spraying our right-of-way along our county roads, and the second was for a new motor grader for 2026.” The Road Spray System will be purchased from Norstar Industries, Inc., which is where the county purchased its last system, and the estimated cost is $135,870.00. The motor grader was bid on by Ziegler in Crookston and RDO of Grand Forks. Ziegler provided the best overall bid, which included a higher trade-in allowance and repurchase value. The Cat Motor Grader will cost the County $522,200.00. The board approved the purchase of both pieces of equipment.
Lastly, Sanders had two Ditch Maintenance requests for the board. “One for adding a new approach in County Ditch 31, that one was approved by the board,” says Sanders. “The second one was for replacing a culvert within the Rydell Refuge, and the County Board approved the work but stipulated that the Rydell Refuge and or US Fish and Wildlife Service would have to pay for that installation.” The stipulation allows the work to be done, but with Rydell Refuge paying for the work because they do not pay any special assessments to the County. The board unanimously approved the Ditch Maintenance Requests.
Environmental Services – Jon Steiner
Environmental Services Administrator Jon Steiner had a few items he was seeking board approval for. The first was approving Insurance Coverage for 2025/26 for the Resource Recovery Facility in Fosston. “That’s a private thing, we have been doing for several years since the County’s Insurance Trust decided they didn’t want to insure any of these anymore, it wasn’t their specialty,” says Steiner. “We went out to companies specializing in power, power plants, and energy plants. So, even though the valuations of the buildings went up by just under $4 million, they view us as a pretty low risk, and we are going to keep the premium the same from the current year to the next year.” The total cost of insurance for the Resource Recovery Facility in Fosston from August 1, 2025, to July 31, 2026, will be $283,704, with Starr of Chicago, IL, the carrier.
Steiner was also seeking authorization from the board to make decisions on behalf of some Additional Work at the Material Recovery Facility if it needed to be done before he could bring it to the board for approval. Steiner said that he was going to do his best to work a few fixes needed at the Facility into the grants that are being utilized right now, but that if it didn’t cover the additional work required, he wanted to be able to have the work done and bring the cost to the board post completion. “I didn’t have any dollar figures, but because some things would have a lead time on them and the project is coming up quickly, I was looking for consensus to do it, and then I’ll come back with the actual dollar amounts and tell them.” The items that need fixing that may be outside of the realm of the grant dollars are a chain drag infeed conveyor, and also, Steiner says, they need to upgrade a magnet used on the conveyor to hold large, heavy metal objects.
Steiner also provided the board with an update on the landfill permit. “The landfill permit, that has kind of been a saga that started in 2015,” says Steiner. “That appears to be wrapping up. It will be coming on public comment here in the next couple of weeks, pretty much right in time to give us a little bit of a break before we apply for our next ten-year permit again.” Steiner says this will be the end of a long and expensive process, which is good news.
Planning & Zoning – Jacob Snyder
Jacob Snyder, Assistant Environmental Services Administrator for Polk County, came to the board for approval to award special project funding to the Union Lake Sarah Improvement District. “We had a special request through our AIS Taskforce for helping to fund a couple of projects for the removal of weeds in Union Lake,” says Snyder. “Union Lake Sarah Improvement District is doing mechanical and chemical treatments within Union Lake for Curly Leaf Pondweed and Eurasian Water milfoil.” The board approved the request to award special project funding to help combat the weeds.
Snyder also motioned for approval to make concrete repairs at the Crookston Transfer Station. “We had a bid come in for doing some concrete work. We had a real need for a small area in our recycle building, which is our storage and our workshop for the guys at the tipping floor at the Crookston Transfer Station, says Snyder. “We have an old area in there that needs concrete replacement. Very small area, though, so it’s a very minimal project. When we ask for a bid, of course, with that minimal project, you pay about double to get the material on your site.”
Snyder explained that there is another area at the transfer station that they have been getting complaints about being full of potholes with busted up asphalt all over the place so he worked with the contractor to get that section poured as well. “We have old asphalt and high water tables in that area,” says Snyder. “Got a bid to replace a good-sized area. We will not lose any functionality for our residents. We are going to kind of route them just around the project.” Snyder explained that getting this area poured, along with the small area in the recycling building, makes it more economical and fixes two issues. The bid for the concrete repairs was $20,450 and was awarded to JD Concrete LLC of Crookston. The board unanimously approved the concrete repairs at The Crookston Transfer Station.
Other
The board was updated on a flooring project that is underway in the Taxpayer Service Center. The project has come to a halt while removing the carpet; the floor below started to come up, and asbestos was found. The abatement is scheduled, but has limited the project to just phase one of three, as it was not budgeted for. Abatement costs $6 per sq. ft. and would add $20,000 to the project. Instead, they will complete phase one with the extra abatement cost of $9,600, as it has already been uncovered. The building is safe, as even though it has been found, it has not been completely uncovered or moved. Abatement is scheduled for the first weekend in August.