The Sherburne County Board Tuesday authorized Administrator Steve Taylor to negotiate an agreement with Palmer Wireless for the lease of the county’s conduit and vault system along Co. Rd. 3.
Sherburne County was a joint applicant in the Palmer Wireless Co. Rd. 3 Border to Border Broadband project that was awarded by the Minnesota Department of Economic and Economic Development (DEED) in the 2017-2018 program.
Sherburne County’s contribution to the project is the use of the conduit and vault system that was put in place along Co. Rd. 3 between the intersection of Co. Rd. 7 and Co. Rd. 20 and is valued at $92,500.
Use of the conduit will allow Palmer to serve 20 unserved households, 10 unserved businesses and one underserved community institution in Sherburne County in an area near the St. Cloud Airport with speeds of 1 Gbps download and 500 Mbps upload.
The agreement will have a minimum lease term of 20 years and a minimum lease rate of $4,625 annually. Or the parties may decide on an alternative lease of a minimum of 12 strands of fiber for county use from Palmer Wireless in locations suitable for the county at a value equal to the use of the conduit.
Last September, the board approved a $102,250 loan agreement and re-payment schedule to assist in the financing of the project for the St. Cloud Regional Airport area. Another $179,400 for the $460,000 project came from a Border to Border grant, with Palmer contributing $178,350.
TIF Letter
The board approved sending a comment letter regarding a TIF proposal for a 40-unit multi-family property in Elk River. Comments from all affected jurisdictions are required prior to a public hearing on the proposal. The letter will be sent to Springsted Inc. and the City of Elk River and incorporated into the public record at the April 16 public hearing.
Road Bids
The board awarded the contract for overlays on various county and township roads to Knife River Corp. at $1,605,717.40. The bid was more than $150,000 below the engineer’s estimate of $1,762,069.92.
The contract covers overlays on: Co, Rd, 42 from Co. Rd. 9 north to Co. Rd. 1; Co. Rd. 55 from Moorhouse Ave. to Hwy. 10; Co. Rd. 56 from Hwy. 10 to Co. Rd. 53 & 54; Co Rd. 58 from Co. Rd. 8 to Church Street; 185th Ave. from Co. Rd. 73 to 109th Street in Becker Twp.; 97th Street from Hwy. 10 to Co. Rd. 53 in Clear Lake Twp.; 136th Street from Co. Rd. 9 to Co. Rd. 42 in Baldwin Twp. and 112th Street from Co. Rd. 19 to Co. Rd. 4 in Livonia Twp.
Other bidders for the project were: Hardrives Inc. ($1,659,202.90) and Park Construction Company ($1,899,800.70).
Other Business
In other action the board:
• Renewed a contract with Zix Email Encryption at a cost of $34,230 for 2018-2020;
• Approved a request by the City of Zimmerman to use the county’s public safety building as a Precinct 1 polling place for the 2018 primary and general election;
• Approved a resolution supporting a constitutional amendment to regulate corporate political spending and campaign financing;
• Approved a Minnesota Lawful Gambling Premises Permit Application for Zimmerman Fire Relief Association at Fairway Shores Golf Course in Baldwin Twp.;
• Proclaimed April as Child Abuse Awareness Month;
• Proclaimed the week of April 2-8 as Public Health Week;
• Proclaimed the week of April 26 - May 3 as Infant Immunization Week;
• Proclaimed April 8-14 as Public Safety Telecommunications Week.
