Karen Newman
jokarmid@gmail.com

Clay County Commissioners witnessed sealed bid opening for food services at Clay County’s Correctional Facility, Detox and Juvenile Center. Correctional Facility Administrator, Julie Savat, reported that sealed bids were received from Trinity Services Group and Summit Food Service. The three facilities currently report the meal count three times daily and plan to continue doing so. Summit Food Service bid a flat fee of $2.49/meal. Trinity Services Group bid on a sliding scale based on the meals served for each of the three daily meals. Savat explained that her next step will be to meet with representatives of the Detox and Juvenile Centers to more fully review the submitted bids. References for each business will be contacted. She will return to the Clay County Commissioners with a recommendation at their January 7, 2020 meeting. Commissioner Campbell cautioned, “I would think that it wouldn’t be very often that we would fall below the 143 count for all three of them. Just keep that in mind.”
Clay County property owner, Lori Feigum, requested an adjustment to her property taxes. She stated that she has filled out the Special Ag Homestead Credit paperwork annually for a parcel of land and that her fees prior to 2019 had been from $600-$1000. Her 2019 tax statement increased considerably. When she called the county tax office to inquire, she was told that her file was missing the 156 EZ form obtained from the farm services agency (FSA). Feigum stated that filing this annual form was something she had never missed in the past and she was sure she had submitted it. She requested an adjustment to her taxes to the former level. The board asked Nancy Gunderson, Clay County Assessor, for additional information. Gunderson said that the paperwork which Feigum submitted in late 2018 was complete except for the 156 EZ form. Commissioner Frank Gross acknowledged that the county should probably be checking applications to be sure that nothing is missing in submitted annual tax credit files and should notify those affected. He said, “We should have caught it too. We do work for the citizens and I think it is part of our requirement to tell them ‘Hey, you forgot to fill out a form.’”
Commissioner Gross moved to approve the request to adjust the taxes. Mongeau seconded the motion. After reviewing payment records, Commissioner Mongeau said, “These are payments being made on time. All the other documents were submitted on time.” The motion to adjust Feigum’s tax assessment was unanimously approved.
In further business, the commissioners approved Clay County Highway Department requests to purchase GPS equipment from the Minnesota State Bid, to match equipment rates with FEMA rates, to hire one full time County Maintenance Worker rather than two part-time workers and approved attendance at a national conference for David Overbo, Clay County engineer and another representative of the department.