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Polk County HHS recommends $50,000 study for central Meals on Wheels kitchen after Milltown site fire
Summary
After a fire at the Milltown Community Center forced relocation of Polk County’s Meals on Wheels operations, the Health & Human Services Committee voted to recommend a $50,000 feasibility and engineering study to explore a central kitchen and other short- and long-term options.
Polk County’s Health & Human Services Committee on an early October meeting recommended that $50,000 be allocated for an engineering and feasibility study to identify options for a central kitchen for the county’s Meals on Wheels program.
Laura, an ADRC program staffer who led the presentation, told the committee the Milltown Community Center burned and the program has temporarily relocated preparation to Joy Lutheran Church in Centuria. "We have ended up contracting with Joy Lutheran Church in Centuria," she said, calling it a “band aid to get us through until we can come up with a long-term solution.”
Laura and Sabrina, the ADRC’s nutrition supervisor, laid out three routes the county is examining: (1) contracting meal preparation through an existing partner such as the county jail kitchen (a model used previously), (2) remodeling an available building to meet health-department requirements, or (3) building a new centralized kitchen as Burnett County has begun to do. The presenters said consolidating multiple smaller sites into a central kitchen produced measurable operating savings in Burnett County; Laura cited prior local estimates of roughly $45,000 per year in staffing savings and later analysis that projected more than $65,000 per year.
On capacity, staff said a Polk-based central kitchen could initially produce about 200 meals a day with a goal of increasing capacity to 200–300 meals to expand congregate offerings and reduce demand on home-delivered services. Laura provided a per-meal figure for delivered meals: "The cost per meal right now is around $12 a meal for delivering out," she said, noting that the figure includes delivery and related expenses.
Committee discussion also traced the program’s trajectory since COVID-19. Laura said statewide eligibility changes and temporary ARPA-era expansions caused a surge in demand that outpaced funding. The ADRC has coordinated a resolution in Burnett County urging increased state support for home-delivered meal funding; that same resolution language will be forwarded to Polk County and the St. Croix Chippewa tribal government for their consideration.
After budget staff presented the county’s draft budget and bonding options, the committee considered a motion to recommend $50,000 be added to the county budget as a study allocation for the central kitchen. Chair moved the motion; it was seconded, put to a voice vote and the motion carried.
The committee also heard operational details: volunteer drivers receive IRS mileage reimbursement while meal prep is done by paid, part-time cooks (about eight to nine staff), and roughly 80 volunteers support delivery across Polk and Burnett counties. Staff acknowledged Joy Lutheran is not a permanent solution because of space, electric load, refrigeration and oven capacity constraints and said the study is intended to clarify costs, feasible sites and potential funding approaches.
Next steps: the committee’s recommendation will be incorporated into the county budget process and forwarded to General Government for review. The ADRC will continue to pursue the Burnett County resolution calling for increased state funding and will present study findings and implementation options after the engineering work is completed.
