Bids opened for Red Lake County # 10

The Red Lake County Commissioners meeting was called to order by Vice Chair, Ron Weiss, standing in for Commissioner Dave Sorenson, who was on vacation. All others were present.

Jerilyn Swenson, Interim County Engineer opened bids for Red Lake County Road 10 (SAP 063-610-008 (mill-overlay-shouldering)). There were four bids:

Knife River Materials from Bemidji, RJ Zavoral & Sons from East Grand Forks, Central Specialties from Alexandria and Agassiz Asphalt LLC from Newfolden.

Bids were as follows:

Knife River Materials

$1,015,657.72

RJ Zavoral & Sons 

$1,155,314.00

Central Specialties 

$1,490,759.94

Agassiz Asphalt LLC

$1,110,277.26

Swenson thanked everyone for their bids and informed the board she would go back to her office, look all the bids over to make the bids are correct and all items required and would come back to the meeting later with the final choice, but based on what she saw so far, it looked like Knife River was the potential winner of the bids.

Lee Meier from Northwest Housing Rehabilitation Authority (NW HRA) came to update the board with the annual report. Legislation for a levy/grant didn’t go through this past year, but will submit it again for next year. 

A letter of support will be needed for the new request for the levy/grant. Meier has talked to Senator Mark Johnson about this. A motion was made by Commissioner John Lerohl and seconded by Commissioner Al Remick, carried to have a letter written in support of the levy/grant.

Meier talked about a few projects that have been completed such as the East Grand Forks building where the NW HRA offices are located. 

Other items reported on were the CRF (Community Revitalization Fund (Down Payment Assistance)), HRA Property Management, and the Section 8 Program.

Meier was asked by the commissioners if he was retiring and he replied, yes on January 31, 2019. The HRA board will be meeting on August 15th to decide who will replace Meier.

Tanya Hanson from the RLC SWCD (Red Lake County Soil, Water Conservation District) updated the commissioners on the Shoreland requirements and Buffer Strips. Remick had a few questions of Hanson about who polices the buffer strips, cost sharing, etc. 

Hanson also reported on JD #60 where 18 side water inlets can go in. The RLC SWCD has approved a project that involves JD #60 & JD #66 where a grant will cover 75% of the cost and an additional grant from Enbridge Eco Footprint will cover the rest. 

Hanson talked briefly about the proposed budget for 2019 stating it will be similar to last year overall, but personnel costs will go up, but capital outlay will go down.

Hanson also would like to go after another grant working with the Highway Dept. on a project.

Ending her update, she said that rain is needed to get better growth on the buffer strips that have been planted. Some have had to be planted twice because of the dry weather.

Committee meeting were reported with Commissioner Ron Weiss reporting on the TCCC meeting he attended. There were 174 person in jail with 64 paying per diem and 4 from Red Lake County. There were no juveniles from Red Lake County. 

Weiss also said that Norman County would like to have a combined dispatch center but Red Lake County Sheriff Bernstein doesn’t want to at this time.

Minutes were looked over and approved with a motion by Commissioner Chuck Simpson, Remick seconded, carried.

Bills were approved with a motion by Simpson and seconded by Lerohl, roll call vote, carried.

Red Lake County Jerilyn Swenson came back to the meeting and recommended that Knife River Materials be awarded the bid. A motion by Lerohl and seconded by Simpson to approve the awarding to Knife River. Questions ask were when this project would be started and was told to expect the start day to be the beginning of September.

Swenson was also asked about the bus lane in Plummer since that is a county road. She said patching would take place because in a few years, the City of Plummer will be doing some utility work so county will wait until that is completed.

Lou Tasa from the Minnesota Department of Transportation in Bemidji came to the board to ask how things are going. Lerohl asked if the Highway 92 project will be doing the same overlay that is on 92 from Trail to Clearbrook. Tasa wasn’t sure, but thought it would be. Tasa asked a more pointed question to the board on what their plans were on hiring a permanent County Engineer. Swenson was asked how she thought things were going. She replied that there is not enough time to do everything that needs to be done. And that Red Lake County should have a full time engineer. It was asked if she got a assistant engineer if that would help, and she said she has that in Norman and it still isn’t enough time to get all the things done,with the split job between Norman and Red Lake, she only has time to focus on the most important things.

Tasa said that with the growth of Thief River Falls and more traffic being counted, many roadways may need expansions. Under design in TRF is a new truck route by Challenger Elementary School to Sanford Hospital/Clinic plus other projects in the next 3 years for more roundabouts. Housing is growing fast also.

Next on the agenda was Sheriff Mitch Bernstein with a resolution for a joint powers agreement for crime reporting. Bernstein will be the representative for this project and there will be some software upgrade required but that should be reimbursed. The resolution was approved with a motion by Lerohl, seconded by Simpson, carried.

Remick asked County Attorney Mike LaCoursiere up to the table while Bernstein was still there for a few questions. A letter has been sent to the Commissioners regarding an issue that is under investigation at this time and LaCoursiere said he couldn’t comment further than what was in the letter. This issue regards the timing of the approval of an increase in the commissioner’s monthly wages and the matter is under investigation. Until it is resolved the board members have not been receiving the increase in their wages and it has been set aside in an escrow account. 

Other questions regarding the investigation of Anthony Flage issue, and when is the MinnDak going to trial. LaCoursiere again stated he couldn’t comment on an ongoing investigation and the trial dates, he didn’t know, but it should be soon.

Auditor Bob Schmitz and a couple of items for the commissioners to finish off the meeting.

The Veteran’s Service Officer, Kurt Ellefson had a grant and the county needs to be the fiscal agent for this grant for outreach only which includes billboards and advertising. A motion was made by Simpson, seconded by Lerohl, carried.

Also two joint powers agreements regarding the re-counting of ballots for the Primary and General Elections is need and is an item that is done every year needed approval by the board. The motion by Lerohl and seconded by Remick was made and approved.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:50 p.m.