by April Scheinoha
Reporter

Pennington County sheriff’s deputies may soon be wearing body-worn cameras. At its meeting Tuesday, July 23, the Pennington County Board heard about a grant the county had received for that purpose.

The county has received a federal $24,000 grant for body-worn cameras. Sheriff Seth Vettleson said the Small Rural Tribal Body-Worn Camera Program grant requires a local match, which will be covered by a state grant of public safety funds. Even though the 12 body-worn cameras are expected to cost more than $48,000, Vettleson expected there would be no cost to taxpayers.

In order to utilize body-worn cameras, the sheriff’s office needs to craft a body-worn camera policy and hold a public hearing. That public hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 9 a.m. at the Justice Center.

The Thief River Falls Police Department already utilizes body-worn cameras.

Commissioners authorized overtime for County Auditor-Treasurer’s Office staff and other staff members for the 2024 primary and general elections. County Auditor-Treasurer Jennifer Herzberg said it was unknown how much overtime would be accrued since her office would be open extra days and hours to accommodate voters.

County Board appointed commissioners Neil Peterson and Roy Sourdif to the canvassing board for the primary election. The canvassing board will meet Thursday, Aug. 15 at 9 a.m. in the Government Center’s third floor meeting room.

Commissioners approved an agreement with H2Over Viewers LLC for the redetermination of benefits for county ditches 46 and 70. H2Over Viewers has a per-acre cost estimate of $4.09 per acre for the amount of acres it evaluates. Per the agreement, the amount to be evaluated shall be at least 3,500 acres. If fewer than 3,500 acres are evaluated, H2Over Viewers will be paid a flat fee of $14,315.

If there are any lakes or large ponds in the evaluated areas, H2Over Viewers will also be paid an additional $2,500. If there are contributing drainage systems using the evaluated drainage systems, the agreement noted that “an additional charge of 50% of the per acre rate multiplied by all acres evaluated” will be assessed.

Prior to any changes being made, H2Over Viewers would meet with landowners, and the county, acting as the ditch authority, would also hold a public hearing.

Commissioner Bruce Lawrence said the county should accept the contract and see how the evaluation goes. He noted some properties may benefit from the ditches and those landowners may not be assessed for those benefits. Along the same lines, Lawrence noted that some other properties may no longer benefit from the ditches.

Particularly with CD 70, County Engineer Mike Flaagan said he had received several phone calls from people regarding the City of Thief River Falls’ upcoming Chief’s Coulee project. He indicated some of those individuals live in areas that are no longer benefitted by CD 70.

Flaagan reported that he had received ditch petitions for CD 96, Judicial Ditch 1 and JD 11. He expected staff would survey the ditches soon.

Commissioners approved submitting a written notice that it planned to cancel its agreement to provide engineering services to Kittson County. The latter county was without a county engineer for some time, and Flaagan provided his services as part of a contract between the two counties in the interim. The Kittson County Board has since hired a county engineer. Pennington County commissioners expect to consider another agreement with Kittson County in the future since the new engineer needs to complete his licensing requirements.

In separate motions, commissioners approved various items for the jail and Justice Center, including:
• Spending $4,410 with Bergstrom Electric for four tamper-resistant LED lights and fixtures in the jail holding cells
• Spending $3,543 with SVL Inc. for a four-piece screen for an HVAC unit on the Justice Center roof
• Spending $2,560 with Climate Control Inc. to replace carbon monoxide detection system in the Justice Center sally port

The next County Board meeting is scheduled Tuesday, Aug. 13 at 10 a.m. at the Justice Center.