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MINUTES & AGENDAS

November, 2019

Commissioner Proceedings

November 12, 2019

The Lake of the Woods County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at Lake of the Woods County Government Center in the Commissioners’ Room.

CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Cody Hasbargen called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited with the following members present, Commissioners: Cody Hasbargen, Joe Grund, Jon Waibel, Ed Arnesen and Buck Nordlof.  Also present were: County Auditor/Treasurer Lorene Hanson, Jaime Boretski-LaValla and Woody Fiala.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Joe Grund, seconded by Commissioner Ed Arnesen and carried unanimously to approve the agenda with the following changes: Removal of #7 Construction Engineer/Contract Approval and #10 County Attorney/Tobacco 21 Ordinance and Event Planning Ordinance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Ed Arnesen, seconded by Commissioner Jon Waibel and carried unanimously to approve the official and summarized minutes of October 22, 2019.

SOCIAL SERVICES

Social Services Director, Amy Ballard, presented the social services claims, Child Support Agreement & Arrangement for CY 2020-21 and the Regional Fraud Prevention Investigation Program Agreement.

Claims
Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Joe Grund, seconded by Commissioner Buck Nordlof and carried unanimously to approve the following claims: Commissioners Warrant’s $14,092.57, Commissioners Warrant’s $2,989.24, Commissioners Warrant’s $11,238.78.

Child Support Agreement & Arrangement for CY 2020-21

Motion
Motion was made by Commissioner Jon Waibel, seconded by Commissioner Buck Nordlof and carried unanimously to approve the Child Support Agreement & Arrangement for CY 2020-21 and authorize Chairman Hasbargen to sign the same.

Regional Fraud Prevention Investigation Program Agreement

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Ed Arnesen, seconded by Commissioner Buck Nordlof and carried unanimously to approve the Regional Fraud Prevention Investigation Program Agreement and authorize Chairman Hasbargen to sign the same.

AUDITOR/TREASURER

County Auditor/Treasurer, Lorene Hanson, met with the board requesting approval of claims, affidavit of lost warrant, AirMedCare Membership Agreement, FY 2020 Snowmobile Grant-In-Aid Program Agreement, Representation Letter to Hoffman, Philipp and Knutson, State Audit Invoice, proposed DNR Land Exchange, Approval of Disaster Abatement.

Claims

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Ed Arnesen, seconded by Commissioner Jon Waibel and carried unanimously to approve the claims against the County as follows: Revenue $105,855.88, Road & Bridge $114,441.23, County Development $599.79, Solid Waste $52,913.71 and EDA $121.44.

Warrants Approved On 11/12/2019 For Payment 11/15/2019

WARRANTS FOR PUBLICATION

Vendor Name                                        Amount

Burg Electronic Recovery                                         17,901.00

Cdw Government, Inc                                                 3,012.57

Cenex Co-Op Services, Inc.                                     15,975.24

Cps Technology Solutions                                          8,577.97

Farmers Union Oil Co.                                                 2,715.03

Howard’s Oil Company                                               3,374.92

Interstate Engineering Inc                                         62,828.52

Mar-Kit Landfill                                                          16,594.25

Olson Construction BDT, LLC                                   37,850.00

Protection Systems, Inc                                            27,476.00

R & Q Trucking, Inc                                                     5,150.00

Traffic Marking Service, Inc.                                     28,531.06

Woody’s Service                                                        4,944.20

84 Payments less than $2,000                                  39,001.29

                   Final Total: 273,932.05

Further moved to authorize the payment of the following auditor warrants: October 23, 2019 for $430,431.91, October 30, 2019 for $425,194.15, November 6, 2019 for $97,566.12.

Lost Warrant

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Joe Grund, seconded by Commissioner Jon Waibel and carried unanimously to approve the application and affidavit for lost warrant for AmericInn of Grand Forks, dated August 30, 2019 for $87.30 without furnishing indemnifying bond.

AirMedCare Membership Agreement

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Jon Waibel, seconded by Commissioner Joe Grund and carried unanimously to approve the AirMedCare Network Membership Agreement for medical necessity within Lake of the Woods County or Roseau County in the amount of $16,803.00 for 2020 from the revenue fund and authorize Chairman Hasbargen to sign the same.

FY 2020 Snowmobile Grant-In-Aid Program Agreement

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Ed Arnesen, seconded by Commissioner Buck Nordlof and carried unanimously to enter into the FY 2020 Maintenance and Grooming Grants with the State of Minnesota, Department of Natural Resources for Snowmobile Grant-In-Aid Program for Big Traverse (LOW Drifters) and NW Angle Edgeriders in the amount of $176,677.11 and authorize County Auditor/Treasurer, Lorene Hanson and Chairman Hasbargen to sign the same.

Representation Letter to Hoffman, Philipp and Knutson

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Buck Nordlof, seconded by Commissioner Ed Arnesen and carried unanimously to approve the representation letter to Hoffman, Philipp and Knutson.

State Audit Invoice

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Ed Arnesen, seconded by Commissioner Jon Waibel and carried unanimously to approve payment for the audit of year 2015 at $73,013.59. Payment for the audit of year 2016 invoiced at $63,766.10 was not approved.  A letter will be sent along with the payment for audit year 2015 to explain the non-payment of audit year 2016.

Land Exchange

The board reviewed and had no concerns regarding a Land Exchange Proposal in Lake of the Woods County between the MN Department of Natural Resources and a private land owner.

Disaster Abatement

Reviewed application for local-option disaster abatements and credits received from Roger Porch.

Motion
Motion was made by Commissioner Jon Waibel, seconded by Commissioner Buck Nordlof and carried unanimously to approve the application for local-option disaster abatements and credits for Roger Porch in the amount of $334.00.

CON CON FUNDS

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Buck Nordlof, seconded by Commissioner Jon Waibel and carried unanimously to make allocations to the below organizations from the Con Con funds, payable in 2020.

LAKE OF THE WOODS COUNTY

County Development

Year 2020

Baudette Arena Association                           $20,000

                                    Baudette Arena Association (New)                $40,000

Williams Arena Association                            $7,000

Baudette Chamber-Chamber Projects            $9,350
            Baudette Community Fdn: Grand Theater      $4,000

Economic Dev-Marketing/Operational           $10,000

Friends Against Abuse                                                $2,500

LOW Historical Society                                   $12,500

LOW Humane Society-Support                        $7,500

University of MN Extension                            $2,000

University of MN Extension-RRV Emg Lead   $300

Williams Senior Center                                   $4,000

Williams Public Library                                   $650

Joint Powers Natural Resources Board           $1,000

Keep it Clean                                                   $2,500

LOW Road & Gun Club                                   $2,000

LOW School Trap Team-Operational Exp       $2,000

LOW Senior Fishing (LOW Chapter)               $1,500

Rinke-Noonan-Retainer-Drainage                  $2,400

St. Louis County Aud-(NCLUCB)                      $2,000

Take A Kid Fishing                                           $1,000

Widseth Smith Nolting                                    $16,000

Auditing Fees                                                  $900

Beaver Control                                                $10,000

Drainage                                                         $10,000

                                                                        $171,100.00

ASSESSOR
County Assessor, Mary Jo Otten, and Human Resources Director, Savanna Slick, met with the board to review an Abatement Policy for Lake of the Woods County.

Abatement Policy

Motion
Motion was made by Commissioner Buck Nordlof, seconded by Commissioner Joe Grund and carried unanimously to approve the Lake of the Woods County Abatement Policy effective 11/12/2019.

CONSTRUCTION ENGINEER-LAW ENFORCEMENT CENTER

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Jon Waibel, seconded by Commissioner Joe Grund and carried unanimously to approve Kraus-Anderson as the Construction Manager at Risk for the Lake of the Woods County Law Enforcement Center.

SHERIFF

Pine to Prairie Drug and Violent Crime Task Force Agreement

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Buck Nordlof, seconded by Commissioner Jon Waibel and carried unanimously to approve the Joint Powers Agreement for the Pine to Prairie Drug and Violent Crime Task Force and authorize Chairman Hasbargen to sign the same.

Liaison for Humane Society

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Cody Hasbargen, seconded by Commissioner Joe Grund and carried unanimously to approve appointing Sheriff Gary Fish as the liaison for the Lake of the Woods Humane Society. 

HIGHWAY

County Engineer, Anthony (A.J.) Pirkl, met with the board to provide an update on projects.

County Road 80

Pirkl spoke with MNDOT regarding the drainage issues on County Road 80. A problem culvert was cleaned in that area and stop logs can be put in front of another culvert this spring to help get the water to start moving north.  The County will assess the road and the amount of sediment draining into Silver Creek this spring, create a plan and look into possible grant opportunities.

County Road 3 and 6

Signage:ITS is to remove the detour signs by Friday, if not removed the County will remove them.

Contracts: Did well on the contracts overall, the contract with Interstate Engineering Inc. went over on time due to weather conditions.

Update on Lighting of Intersections: There is a MNDOT lighting of intersections project coming up in 2024 or lighting can be looked at for installation in spring of 2020.  For safety, the board felt that the lighting should be done in the spring of 2020.

Aggregate Donation

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Buck Nordlof, seconded by Commissioner Joe Grund and carried unanimously to approve the acceptance of a donation of 14,000 cubic yards of aggregate to be placed on County property near the gun range.

Next Year’s Projects

The golf course has been surveyed.  Currently in discussion on the 1st Avenue project, looking at road surfacing material options and determining what would hold up best to the heavier delivery vehicles that frequent that road.

Landfill Update

There will be a Hazmat meeting on November 20, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. in the Commissioners’ Room.

Cell Phone for County Engineer

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Buck Nordlof, seconded by Commissioner Jon Waibel and carried unanimously to approve a County owned smart phone for the County Engineer.

HOFFMAN, PHILIPP AND KNUTSON

Audit Exit Review

Colleen Hoffman, CPA, from Hoffman, Philipp and Knutson reviewed the YE 2018 audit with the County Board.  The audit was finished and submitted on time. The county currently has an A+ rating.

CORRESPONDENCE

The board reviewed correspondence from Freeberg & Grund Inc. and from the MN Department of Natural Resources Parks and Trails.

RECESS

With no further business before the board, Chairman Cody Hasbargen called the meeting to recess at 12:10 p.m.

Attest:                                                                                      November 12, 2019

__________________________________                            _________________________________

County Auditor/Treasurer, Lorene Hanson                                Chairman, Cody Hasbargen

=========================================================================================================================================================================

Commissioner Proceedings

November 26, 2019

The Lake of the Woods County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, November 26, 2019 at Lake of the Woods County Government Center in the Commissioners’ Room.

CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Cody Hasbargen called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited with the following members present, Commissioners: Cody Hasbargen, Joe Grund, Jon Waibel, Ed Arnesen and Buck Nordlof.  Also present were: County Auditor/Treasurer Lorene Hanson, County Attorney Jim Austad, Jaime Boretski-LaValla and Woody Fiala.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Ed Arnesen, seconded by Commissioner Joe Grund and carried unanimously to approve the agenda with the following additions: Concern regarding land sale and MN DNR Equipment Grant for Snowmobile Trail Groomer.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Jon Waibel, seconded by Commissioner Buck Nordlof and carried unanimously to approve the official and summarized minutes of November 12, 2019.

SOCIAL SERVICES

Social Services Director, Amy Ballard, presented the social services claims and fee policy.

Claims
Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Buck Nordlof, seconded by Commissioner Jon Waibel and carried unanimously to approve the following claims: Commissioners Warrant’s $5,539.56, Commissioners Warrant’s $4,664.49, Commissioners Warrant’s $28,338.91.

Social Services Fee Policy

Motion
Motion was made by Commissioner Jon Waibel, seconded by Commissioner Joe Grund and carried unanimously to approve the Lake of the Woods County Social Services Fee Policy dated October 28, 2019.

WELLNESS

Members of the Employee Wellness Committee met with the board to provide an update on committee members and current initative with the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP), which focuses on physical activity and tobacco prevention and control.

AUDITOR/TREASURER

County Auditor/Treasurer, Lorene Hanson, met with the board requesting approval of claims, resolution/designation of polling places, equipment grant for snowmobile trail grooming.

Claims

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Ed Arnesen, seconded by Commissioner Buck Nordlof and carried unanimously to approve the claims against the County as follows: Revenue $42,127.06, Road & Bridge $11,149.18, Joint Ditch $6,000, Solid Waste $23,176.08 and EDA $141,231.26.

WARRANTS FOR PUBLICATION

Warrants Approved On 11/26/2019 For Payment 11/27/2019

Vendor Name                                        Amount

Counties Providing Technology                                  3,690.00

Greenview Landscaping, Inc                                     6,000.00

Hildi Inc                                                                        4,950.00

Lakewood Health Center                                          15,000.00

Liberty Tire Recycling, LLC                                         3,069.60

LOW County Auditor-Treasurer                             140,000.00

LOW Highway Dept                                                    8,345.20

Mn Dept Of Transp                                                     5,775.04

North East Technical Service,Inc                                4,270.10

Pb Distributing Inc                                                       2,660.75

Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc                                      3,604.98

TOTALFUNDS                                                             3,000.00

42 Payments less than 2000                                      23,317.91

     Final Total: 223,683.58

Further moved to authorize the payment of the following auditor warrants: November 13, 2019 for ($225.00), November 13, 2019 for ($2,182.26), November 13, 2019 for $109,965.94, November 13, 2019 $557,562.20, November 20, 2019 for $446,190.38.

Resolution Establishing County Precincts and Polling Places

The following resolution was offered by Commissioner Buck Nordlof and moved for adoption:

A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING COUNTY PRECINCTS AND POLLING PLACES

RESOLUTION 19-11-01

WHEREAS, Minnesota Statutes, Section §204B16, Subdivision 1 requires that by December 31st of each year, the County must designate by resolution a polling place for each election precinct; and

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Lake of the Woods County Board of Commissioners, State of Minnesota hereby establishes polling places of the following County precincts: Baudette City Hall – Precincts 1B and 2B; Lake of the Woods County Government Center – All Mail Precincts including: 1A, 2A, 2C, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 3E, 4A, 4B, 4C, 5A, 5B, 5C and 5D. 

The resolution was seconded by Commissioner Ed Arnesen the same being put to a vote, was unanimously carried.

MN DNR Grant Agreement for Snowmobile Trail Groomer

Motion
Motion was made by Commissioner Buck Nordlof, seconded by Commissioner Jon Waibel and carried unanimously to approve the Grant Agreement/Contract with the MN DNR for Project #0041-19-1C: New wetlands trail groomer and for Commissioner Hasbargen to sign the same.

MIS

Beacon Update

Eric Solo, GIS/IT Specialist, provided an update to the board on the Beacon website, which provides local government GIS for the web.  The site is live and open to the public, but not all layers of information are available without a subscription.  The County can subscribe and make all of the layers of information available to the public.  Susan Ney, County Recorder, suggested that the yearly subscription fee of $8,400 be paid from the Recorder’s Enhancement Fund.

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Ed Arnesen, seconded by Commissioner Joe Grund and carried unanimously to approve purchasing a three-year subscription (through 12/31/2022) to Beacon with yearly subscription fees of $8,400 from the Recorder’s Enhancement Fund.

Website

Working on a plan to meet website compliance guidelines and will request bids from vendors who have experience working with government websites.

Infrastructure/New Server

Support for Windows 7 is coming to an end on January 14, 2020. County computers will be upgraded to Windows 10.  Memory upgrades to be purchased in 2019 will cost $14,000. Additional funds will be needed in 2020 for a new server, the 2020 budget is $29,000 short.  The consensus of the County Board is to go ahead with these updates.  Commissioner Ed Arnesen would like to have a meeting with an expert/vendor regarding cloud computing.

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Buck Nordlof, seconded by Commissioner Joe Grund and carried unanimously to approve the purchase of computer memory upgrades at the cost of $14,000 to be paid from the 2019 MIS Department Budget.

MCIT Cyber Security

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Ed Arnesen, seconded by Commissioner Buck Nordlof and carried unanimously to approve an increase in the MCIT Cyber Security Coverage Limit to $250,000 effective November 26, 2019.

HIGHWAY

Freeberg and Grund, Inc. Contract for First Avenue NW

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Joe Grund, seconded by Commissioner Jon Waibel and carried unanimously to approve the Contract with Freeberg and Grund, Inc. for the First Avenue NW project in Baudette and for Commissioner Hasbargen to sign the same.

Resolution to Transfer Excess Funds

The following resolution was offered by Commissioner Buck Nordlof, seconded by Commissioner Jon Waibel and carried unanimously:

RESOLUTION

TRANSFER OF EXCESS MUNICIPAL FUNDS TO REGULAR FUNDS

RESOLUTION NO. 19-11-02

WHEREAS, Minnesota Statute 162.08, Subd 4 (d), provides that accumulated balances in excess of two years of municipal account apportionments may be spent on projects located outside of municipalities under 5000 population when approved solely by resolution of the county board.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Commissioner of Transportation transfer $ 300,000.00 in excess of two years apportionment into the Regular Construction Account for Lake of the Woods County.

Update

County Engineer, Anthony (A.J.) Pirkl, met with the board to provide an update on projects. 

  • A community meeting will be set up to discuss the CSAH 31/Golf Course Project. 
  • Pirkl is working with NRCS on the Bostic/JD28 two-stage ditch design.  The project will require water to be diverted from JD28 to JD16 during construction.  JD16 and JD24 need cleaning. 
  • ITS came last Tuesday and picked up half of the road construction signs.  On Friday, the County picked up the remaining signs and sand bags, they did track their time/cost.

RECESS

The meeting was called to recess at 10:21 a.m. and reconvened at 10:30 a.m. as follows.

COUNTY ATTORNEY

T-21 Ordinance

County Attorney, Jim Austad, met with the board to request to initiate the process for a public hearing on the Tobacco 21 Ordinance. 

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Buck Nordlof, seconded by Commissioner Joe Grund and carried unanimously to approve a public hearing on January 28, 2020 for the Tobacco 21 Ordinance.

Event Planning

County Attorney, Jim Austad, requested to postpone the event planning discussion so that the Emergency Management Coordinator could be available to participate.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

Revolving Loan Fund Request

Lake of the Woods Economic Development Authority Director, Ryan Zemek, met with the board to request $140,000 for the revolving loan program, which was originally matched by USDA.

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Jon Waibel, seconded by Commissioner Buck Nordlof and carried unanimously to recontribute $140,000 to the Lake of the Woods Economic Development Authority for the revolving loan program.

LAND AND WATER PLANNING/SWCD

Feedlot Program

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Ed Arnesen, seconded by Commissioner Joe Grund and carried unanimously to approve the MPCA Feedlot Program Delegation Agreement Work Plan and for Commissioner Hasbargen to sign the same.

Motion

Motion was made by Commissioner Jon Waibel, seconded by Commissioner Buck Nordlof and carried unanimously to authorize Land and Water Planning Director, Josh Stromlund, to be the authorized representative for the MPCA Feedlot Program.

Lake of the Woods One Watershed One Plan Resolution

The following resolution was offered by Commissioner Ed Arnesen, seconded by Commissioner Jon Waibel and carried unanimously:

RESOLUTION TO ADOPT AND IMPLEMENT THE LAKE OF THE WOODS WATERSHED COMPREHENSIVE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PLAN

RESOLUTION NO. 19-11-03

Whereas, the Lake of the Woods (county) has been notified by the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources that the Lake of the Woods Watershed Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan has been approved according to Minnesota Statutes §103B.801 and Board Resolution #16-17:

Now; Therefore, Be it Resolved, the county hereby adopts and will begin implementation of the approved Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan for the area of the county identified within the Plan.

Be it Further Resolved after the adoption of the Plan, the county shall amend existing water and related land resources plans and official controls as necessary to conform them to the Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan.

Be it Further Resolved after the adoption of the Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan or amendments to the plan, Lake of the Woods County shall notify local units of government within the county. The local units of government are required to submit existing water and related land resources plans and official controls within 90 days to the county for review as per Minnesota Statutes, Section 103B.321.

Be it Further Resolved that within 180 days, the county shall review the submitted plans and official controls and identify any inconsistencies between the local plans and official controls and the Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan. The Lake of the Woods County shall specify applicable and necessary measures to bring the local plans and official controls into conformance with the Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan.

Be it Further Resolved if a local unit of government disagrees with any changes to its plan, the local unit has 60 days after receiving the county’s recommendations to appeal the recommendations to the Board of Water and Soil Resources.

Be it Further Resolved after receiving the recommendations of the county, or a resolution of an appeal, a local unit of government has 180 days to initiate revisions to its plan or official controls.  The new or revised plans and official controls must be submitted to the county for review and recommendations.

Proposed SSTS Rule Revisions

It was the consensus of the County Board for Land and Water Planning Director, Josh Stromlund, to send a letter to Rep. Dan Fabian to voice an opinion on the rule revision.

Zoning Ordinance Status Update

Land and Water Planning Director, Josh Stromlund, plans to work on the zoning ordinance in December and bring it forth for adoption before construction season.

Statewide LiDAR Coverage

Land and Water Planning Director, Josh Stromlund, received a request to be a funding partner for the Rainy River Block Project from the MN DNR and USGS. The project would include the areas of Lake of the Woods County to the Arrowhead Region and down to Carlton County. The consensus of the County Board was to not become a funding partner at this time.

LAND SALE CONCERN

A land owner had a concern about his property being on the upcoming tax forfeited land sale.  He inquired about the process to retain ownership and remove it from the sale.

Motion:

Motion was made by Commissioner Jon Waibel, seconded by Commissioner Joe Grund and carried unanimously to remove the land in question from the upcoming land sale on 12/4/2019 if the land owner is up-to-date on past-due and current taxes due on his properties by 12/3/2019.

CORRESPONDENCE

The board reviewed correspondence from the Williams Arena Association

RECESS

The meeting was called to recess at 11:40 a.m. and reconvened at 1:45 p.m. as follows.

WORK SESSION

Motion:

Motion was made by Commissioner Jon Waibel, seconded by Commissioner Buck Nordlof and carried unanimously to hold a Work Session regarding the proposed Law Enforcement Center on December 3, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. in the Commissioners’ Room.

RECESS

With no further business before the board, Chairman Cody Hasbargen called the meeting to recess at 1:46 p.m.

Attest:                                                                                      November 26, 2019

__________________________________                            _________________________________

County Auditor/Treasurer, Lorene Hanson                                Chairman, Cody Hasbargen