The Polk County Commissioners met on Tuesday, September 23, at the Polk County Government Center in Crookston.
SHERIFF’S REPORT
Chief Deputy Michael Norland gave the monthly Sheriff’s report. Norland explained that while not many calls differed from previous months, he appreciates the calls regarding suspicious persons and calls reporting fraud. There were 728 calls in August, with the top 10 being – 194 traffic stops, 158 civil process, 23 public assists, 21 animal complaints, 19 assisting other agencies, 18 motor assists, 16 information/tips, 15 suspicious activity, 13 federal transports, 12 welfare checks, and 12 property damage calls.
CROOKSTON HOME DEMOLITION
Assistant Environmental Services Administrator, Jacob Snyder, asked the commissioners to approve a demolition bid from Lyle Wilkens Inc. The project involves removing a 2 ½ story home with a basement located at 117 Washington Avenue in Crookston, a tax forfeited property, as it is unfit for resale. Asbestos testing on certain suspect materials revealed some asbestos in the house that needs to be removed. Environmental Services had Building Systems remove some laminate flooring that contained asbestos, so no additional abatement is needed. The structure was cleaned out by the sentence-to-serve crew, which aids the ES department in getting most of the mixed solid waste and contents out of the home before demolition.Jacob Snyder says “We got four bids and the lowest bidder today, Lyle Wilkins Inc. was awarded that project to actually tear the house down.” The demolition bid was for $19,740.
CHALET ESTATES SUBDIVISION
The commissioners were asked to approve the final plat for the “Chalet Estates” Subdivision just south of the Sandhill Golf Course in Fertile. The plat proposes two residential lots with one existing homestead just outside city limits. To secure financing on the existing homestead, the lending institution requires that the property be subdivided into a parcel of less than five acres surrounding the house. If the landowners split out the roadway and house, the remainder of the acreage would be nonconforming due to a lack of frontage along a roadway. The proposed cul-de-sac will provide road frontage to both lots. The Planning Commission and Staff recommend approval of the final plat as the applicant has completed the conditions imposed at the preliminary plat Board meeting on September 2, and a motion to approve the Final Plat for “Chalet Estates” subdivision.
TRANSFER STATION CONCRETE PAD CHANGE ORDER
The commissioners were asked to approve a change order for the Polk County Transfer Station concrete pad improvements. On September 2, the County Board approved a bid proposal for concrete repairs for $21,740.00 from JD Concrete LLC of Crookston. This project for phase II of the concrete replacement at the Transfer Station is in the 2025 budget. The change order is to expand the square footage to match the relief cuts cut into the phase I concrete project in July. The change order is for $23,940.00. The commissioners approved the extra $2,200 change order. “We had a lot of complaints from people coming through after you know it rains or snows or does something they’re hitting things back there and potholes not structures or other cars but the thing is we’re just asking the public right now you still can access there.” said Snyder. “It’s just kind of one way in one way out traffic right now while they do that concrete pour so should be back to normal in a couple weeks you know hopefully the pour goes good this week and then we’ll be setting and probably about two weeks it’ll be like nothing ever happened other than some nice concrete instead of potholes so.”
PRELIMINARY LEVY
The commissioners approved resolution 2025-57, setting the Preliminary 2026 property tax levy and setting the 2026 public hearing date. The preliminary 2026 net levy was set at $29,675,137, a 4.5% increase of $1,277,877 over 2025. The board has until September 30 each year to set the preliminary property tax levy for the next year’s budget. County Administrator for Polk County, “The board action today was to approve the 2026 preliminary levy. This is the cap of what the levy would be going into our final stages of putting together the 2026 budget. It’s a 4.5% increase. Usually it’s around 5, so I think after two days of going through the budget last week with the board and the discussions afterwards, they were comfortable with 4.5%,” said Polk County Administrator Chuck Whitting. “That is a $1.2 million levy increase, but that will be the max. That’ll go out on the truth and taxation notices for the public hearing on the budget at 6 p.m. on December 2nd here at the boardroom. That is open to the public for any comments, concerns, questions that anybody has. We welcome that.”