County Board deals with New County Garage and County Audit

The new garage is located adjacent to the old Clearwater Clinic building (now closed), and is large enough to house three ambulances for the county, plus a mechanical room and a bay for washing the vehicles. The county received grant money to help build the new garage.

Seth Tramm, the Emergency Services Manager for Clearwater County since 2011, as well as an EMT since 2007 said the new garage will include E911 services in the secured building, where they will also file reports and do their supply orders. Two crews will be on duty at all times. An update regarding the new facility will be done after completion.

“There are 1.1 million calls for service every year in Minnesota,” Mr. Tramm said. He also showed the Commissioners the helipad area, which has outdoor lighting around the area when needed.

The 26x28-foot garage which previously housed the ambulances will be moved by Randy Wettenkamp of Clearbrook. He submitted the only bid for the removal project in the amount of $510, which the commissioners approved. This will make room for the new helicopter pad.

Auditor Colleen Hoffman of Hoffman, Philipp & Knutson of Thief River Falls, an independent auditing agency, explained the details of the recently completed audit done for Clearwater County. After spending 20 years as a State of Minnesota audit employee, her firm now independently audits nine northern Minnesota counties, including Clearwater, and a number of cities and other entities. She has been able to save the counties money by doing the work efficiently.

She told the commissioners that new state requirements require the county to show its liability on county pensions. The pension liability is not anything new and is paid for by the county and employees of the county. On paper, if the state pension plan for public employees (PERA) went broke, then the county liability would be its $5.84 million share of what has been paid into PERA by the county.

Auditor Hoffman said Gov. Dayton recently vetoed one proposal affecting this new audit requirement. But Ms. Hoffman urged the county to discuss the needs of dealing with this, and said she thinks all the counties and cities involved now would want to have a say during the next legislative session.

Auditor-Treasurer Allen Paulson said this deficit does not affect the overall levy in the county.

Paulson offered his thanks to Hoffman and commented on the ease of working with her firm. He also gave great credit to the county employees who help do the work, including Debbie Lewis, Nikki Broten, Emily McDougall, Joy Eck and Jeannie Gottsman.

“We have great people here,” Paulson said.

Environmental Services Director Dan Hecht brought a “Resolution of a Market Price for Solid Waste Management Tax Purposes.” Market price is defined in state statute as the “lowest price available in the area.” Clearwater County has researched this and finds it to be $35.32 per ton, which is cost per ton-mile for transportation and disposal, with disposal at the Gwinner, N.D. landfill. This will be effective Jan. 1, 2017. He also said he planned to bring the weed spraying contracts for next year to the Oct. 18 meeting.

Commissioner Dan Sten-seng said he likes the way the spraying is being done now with the longer reach.

Director of Nursing Marissa Hetland received Board approval for the Nursing Service to advertise for a part-time registered nurse. 

County Engineer Dan Sauvé received Board acceptance of the engineer’s certificate of performance for pavement markings done by AAA Striping of St. Michael, Minn. The engineer  received  approval for the final payment to be made.

The commissioners approved the payment of the Highway Department bills as presented in the amount of $31,010.

Assessor Jamie Freeman received board approval to hire Jill Evje as Clearwater County Senior Assessor Clerk at $13.87 per hour to fill a vacancy, with a start date of Oct. 17.

County Auditor-Treasurer Allen Paulson received authorization to pay the submitted invoices of $217,780 from the County Revenue Fund, and $23,333 from Nursing Service.

The commissioners planned the 2016 Road & Bridge Tour of Clearwater County with Engineer Sauvé, including bridges, grading, bituminous surfaces, and mill and overlay projects completed or in process in the county. The tour was to take place on Oct. 14.

All commissioners present at the meeting: Daniel Stenseng, Dean Newland, John Nelson, Neal Illies and Arlen Syverson.