Final Commissioners meeting of 2020

Red Lake County Commissioners met on December 22, 2020 for the last time of the year. They have been meeting in the third floor courtroom so they can be spread out for social distancing. 

All were present (Chuck Simpson, Anthony “Chuck” Flage, Ron Weiss, John Dudycha, and Al Remick). Tony Gerardy, who will be sworn in at the next meeting to take Chuck Simpson’s spot was also there.

Eric Hove, County Highway Engineer was reporting on the few items he had for the board and was asked about a water problem on a road where some new drain tile was installed. Hove will check in to it and get back to the board. The Ditch Billing was approved for payment with a motion from Commissioner Flage, seconded by Simpson. Carried.

Expenditures were looked at by the commissioners, a few questions were asked and answered and they were approved with a motion by Weiss and seconded by Flage. Carried.

Angie Lundeen, Human Resources asked to renew the Covid Sick Leave policy since it expires on 12-31-2020 and it will still be needed into 2021. This provided a one-time 2 weeks paid if an employee has to quarantine and they can’t work from home. Some employees have used it and it is a one time offer. If you are required to quarantine again, the employee will have to use their sick leave. It was extended until March 1, 2020 with a motion by Weiss and seconded by Dudycha, carried.

Commissioner Simpson requested that the County Board write a letter to Governor Walz that our bars and restaurants need to be opened. The people and pipeline workers working in this area need places to go get food and they want to sit down to eat. They don’t want take-out and take-out isn’t enough to keep these business going. The Casino’s are open, why can’t our local café’s and bars be open? A motion was made, seconded and will be sent. All were in favor of the letter being written.

Committee Reports:

Weiss had attended a Tri County Correction meeting. There were 3 in jail from Red Lake County and 56 total admits for 2020 so far. There were 160 inmates the day of the meeting and RLC had 7 new admits. Office space has been rented for probation in McIntosh. $107,000 was earned from per diem earnings from other counties using our facility.

Dudycha had attended the Social Services meeting. New software programing is being purchased and will be a time saver and save money also. 

Flage attended a Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) and the Oslo bridge was discussed and it was reported that the bridge will cost 96 million (60 million for the bridge). Minnesota’s share would be 36 million and North Dakota’s share would be 60 million. Officers were also elected at the meeting. There are a few counties looking for highway engineers. Roseau shares with Pennington, but are looking for their own. Kittson and Roseau are also looking. The road from Gully to Grygla: they would like to have it be listed as 60 mph on all of it. Roseau wants all CSAH roads brought up to 60 mph. 

Flage also attended a Inter County Nursing meeting. The Covid-19 numbers are going down. The Vaccination will be done with a schedule where First Responders, Sheriff’s, Police, Fire, etc, will be the first to get the shots, then on to the next groups. People will be able to get their shots at Thrifty White, CVS, & Walgreens. The Vaccine in this area is the Moderna vaccine. Hospitals are full, causing more home health to be needed. Flage praised Kayla Jore for her good work.

Simpson had no meeting to report.

Remick had a attended a NWRC board (Communications) and reported that Red Lake County did not apply for a grant. Our emergency radio system is very satisfactory, no changes are needed at this time. There is a new tower going up in Thief River Falls. 

Remick attended a RLC SWCD meeting. Tanya Hanson has applied for many grants and has received 12 different grants totaling $2,256,915 and with the 25% match brings the total amount of money to $2,821.144. There are 49 feed lots registered in the County. The Buffer law: Letters will be sent out to the ones that have not complied. A question was asked about the Aquatic funding since we have no lakes. It was explained that we do have rivers and they have to be checked also. And the study for locating all wells in Red Lake County was 98% completed in one year. It had been expected to take a couple of years.

Auditor Robert Schmitz presented the Salary Items for board approval.

A motion was made by Simpson, seconded by Weiss to approve the 2021 salary grade table reflecting a 2.5% COLA (Cost of Living) increase for employees. Carried.

A motion was made by Weiss, seconded by Dudycha to approve the Elected Official salaries for 2021 as follows:

Commissioners: $18,298.00 each

Attorney: $103,833.60.

Auditor: $74,369.00

Recorder: $67,225.60

Treasurer: $57,225.60

Sheriff: $87,318.40

All other salaries and benefits are as approved per individual department budgets. The motion also includes to establish the 202` County Commissioner per diem rates at $80.00 per day for assigned meetings attended.

Budget items for board approval

Simpson made the motion, seconded by Remick to approve that the following county levies be adopted and ordered certified to the County Auditor for collection in 2021 as follows:

Revenue: $2,578,062.00

Road & Bridge:

$695,700.00

Welfare: $ 412,030.00

  Total: $3,685,792.00

  Less State Tax Aids:

472,604.00

Net Certified Levy: $3,213,188.00

Motion by Weiss, seconded by Dudycha to approve the 2021 county budget as follows:

Revenue: $3,745,580.00

Road & Bridge:         $6,096,700.00

Social Services:

$1,581,828.00

  Total: $11,424,108.00

Motion by Flage, seconded by Weiss to approve the designated cash flow for 2021 in the following amounts:

Revenue: $1,798,232.00

Road & Bridge:

$2,438,380.00

Social Services:

$632,731.00

  Total: $4,569,643.00

Some year end appointments were made to the Inter-County Nursing Service and NW Regional Library boards.

January 5th is the next meting at 10:00 a.m. to reorganize the County Board. A thank you to Chuck Simpson for his 10 years of service as Commissioner. A special election had to be held when Brent Strand resigned and Chuck won and filled his vacancy. Before that, Chuck served for 6 years as the Veteran’s Service Officer for our area.