Polk County board approves $99,667 change order to modify material recovery facility

The Polk County Board of Commissioners voted to approve Change Order No. 5 for the county material recovery facility, authorizing a contractor modification to replace a nonfunctional air separation system with a belted conveyor and related structural changes.

Presenter (S4) told the board the original setup—an air system intended to remove a larger fraction from fines—"does not work on the garbage stream" because too much random material is present, and recommended swapping the air system for a slow-profile trough conveyor and beefing up the existing conveyors and brackets. The presenter said credits for removed ductwork and blower and other adjustments reduced the contractor’s initial estimate from roughly $150,000 toward a final change order of $99,667.

The chair, identified in the transcript as Chair (S2), called for a motion; the motion was made and seconded and the board approved the change order. The presenter noted the work will be scheduled mostly when the facility is not operating and estimated completion in about two weeks once started.

Why it matters: the modification is intended to allow the facility to process glass and other fractions more reliably and to enable the county to market a glass fraction to a processor in St. Paul (Sabelco/B Strategic Materials). The presenter cautioned the county does not yet know production volumes because the conveyor had not been run on the garbage side in regular operation.

Next steps: county staff will finalize and execute the change order and schedule the contractor work. The meeting record shows approval; the transcript does not provide a full roll-call vote tally in named form.