WILMA TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS’ MEETING JANUARY, 7, 2015

          Glen Williamson called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance.  Supervisors Gary Vink and Mike McCullen, Treasurer Patrice Winfield, and Clerk Paul Raymond also present.

Paul read the record of the December meeting; Gary moved to approve; Mike seconded.

OLD BUSINESS  Schmedeke Lane Extension Recording:  New notarized signature of the Chair was required, so Paul ordered new notary stamps for himself and for Toni.  They will read “My Term is Indeterminate” so we won’t have to order new ones.  The road extension will be  recorded this week.

Wilma Weight Limit Ordinance Notices:  Letters were sent to Jeremy Fauskee, MN DNR Forestry; Todd Lindstrom, ROW Mgr., Pine Co. Land Dept; Greg Beck, County Forester; Mark LeBrun,  Co. Highway Dept.,  Kurt Schneider, Land & Zoning; and Steve Chaffee, Co. Commissioner.  The letters focused on the need for permits for each road hauled on and the importance of before and after joint road inspections.

Gary moved that our ordinance be revised to state that if a hauler fails to appear for the road inspections that the entire $500 escrow deposit be forfeited.  He said he believes this is what the original ordinance stated.  There was no second.  Glen said it is important that we document and justify any deductions from the escrow payments.

Road Report:  Gary gave the road report for Mark Pallow, Road Manager.  Mark got stuck with the grader on the Pete Anderson Road on Nov. 10 and Askov Deep Rock towed him out. Mark graded Little Tamarack Road and Tamarack Pine Drive.  Hopkins hauled a load of gravel to Tamarack Pine Drive and graded it.  This should be deducted from  Bill Hayward’s (Hayward Land & Logging) escrow account. We need to see what Hopkins charged.  The roads were soft all December and Mark told loggers not to drive on Tamarack Pine Drive until a hard freeze.

CTAS Download and Update:  Paul was able to download and update CTAS V.7  on his new computer.   The State Auditor said there are glitches with the new CTAS V.8 program, and they advised that we wait to download it until they can be straightened out.  Many accounting codes were changed by the Treasurer; Paul asked if he could download her updates, or should he input all new codes himself (this would also download January’s CTAS data)?  Glen said that the Clerk and Treasurer should do what they need to do get our new computer updated and CTAS loaded and the accounts changed and imported.

NEW BUSINESS:           U.S. Census Boundary and Annexation Survey:  Report filed by the Clerk; There were no changes to Wilma Township boundaries or legal govt. name in 2014.

Affadavits for Township Election  March 11, 2015:  Notices were published and posted: Filings are being accepted from Dec. 30 to Tuesday, January 13.  Patrice and Mike are up for re-election, and both filed.  Annual Meeting will follow the  election at 8 p.m. March 11.   Judges:  Since Patrice can’t serve, Paul and Toni and Jeff or Jeane GrandPre will judge.  Polls will be open 5 – 8 pm.

Board of Audit:  The board needs to schedule the auditing of the clerk’s and treasurer’s books.  In past has been part of February Board Meeting. Glen moved to hold the Board of Audit on February 4 before the regular meeting.  It will not be paid as a separate meeting.  Mike seconded.

2016 Budget and Levies:  Paul asked if the Supervisors want to make any changes in our levies, salaries, and snowplowing fees to bring to the township at the annual meeting?  Mike said we can vote on this at the February meeting.

2015 Cigarette License for Duxbury Store:  Gary paid the $10 fee for Joe Vink  and Paul issued the license.

Treasurer’s Report and Claims:  Patrice gave the Treasurer’s report (attached).  The hall was so cold that her computer and printer were frozen so no checks could be written.  Patrice said that the Board can approve them tonight and Glen and Paul could come to her home to sign them when she can get them printed.

JP Cooke (Notary Stamps)                         $          84.90

ECE                                                                       53.00

Evergreen                                                               15.75

Pine Co. Courier                                                    19.78

Bruno Deep Rock                                                350.00

U.S. Treasury (4^th quarter withholding)               511.72

Paul (expenses)                                                      19.80

Randy Beurman (cleanup)                                   250.00

Mark Pallow (expenses)                                         48.07

Mike McCullen                                                      50.00

Mark                                                                      73.50

Pine Co. Truth in Taxation                                     45.80

MAT Pine Co. Township Officers’ Assc.              337.36

Gary                                                                     104.00

Patrice                                                                  245.00

Glen                                                                       60.13

Patrice (expenses)                                                  31.79

Paul                                                                      212.00

Wages are gross; because the computer program was not working, Patrice could not deduct taxes or give a total for the claims.  Glen moved to approve all the claims and to pay all the bills when Patrice gets the checks written, and to transfer whatever is needed to cover the checks from savings to checking, and to approve Patrice’s treasurer’s report.  Mike seconded.

Glen moved to adjourn the meeting; Gary seconded.  Meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Paul Raymond, Clerk

 

WILMA TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS’ MEETING DECEMBER 3, 2014

          Chairman Glen Williamson called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance.  Also present were Supervisors Gary Vink and Mike McCullen, Treasurer Patrice Winfield, Clerk Paul Raymond, Road Manager Mark Pallow, and Pat Story and Karen Henke.

Paul read the record of the November meeting; Mike moved to approve; Glen seconded.

OLD BUSINESS:  Fire Hall Doors:  Pat said the work is mostly completed and we can pay Randy Beurman for the work on the fire hall and town hall.  Mike said we can put some sealant in one gap, and Pat said Randy will tweak  remaining jerkiness.  He left two remotes for the grader bay; Mike said we need to have easy access to the remote, besides the one on the grader fuse box; it will be by the light.

MAT Convention Report:  Paul and Glen gave reports on the training sessions and seminar on civility in public service.  Training workshops were held concurrently, so Paul and Toni took CTAS training on the new program, and Glen went to roads and cartways training.  General sessions covered resolutions and legislative issues concerning townships.  Next years’ state convention will be at Arrowhead Resort in Alexandria.  Glen said several townships had their entire boards in attendance, and he believes more of our board should attend.

DNR Informational Meeting:  Mike gave a report on the meeting Monday at our hall, attended by 4 DNR officials and citizens from Wilma and Arna, including all of our board but Gary.  Gary said he knew what they were going to say.  Bob Brewster had asked for the meeting because of concerns about the DNR spraying and killing blueberry fields on Pansy Landing and the overspray on his organic farm.  Mike said he asked them three times how their herbicide spraying will affect our  gardens and fishing and hunting areas and berry picking and the personal health of our residents, and they could not or would not give a straight answer.  He knows of residents who are very allergic to pesticides and herbicides.  They did agree to notify citizens when they will be spraying so Bob can post it in his newspaper column and it can go on township websites.

Road Report:  Mark had to go out to plow Storviks because they didn’t get on the list.  Mike asked if he was able to inspect our escrow account roads before the snow; Mark said yes.  Discussion on T&T’s escrow for Crooked Lake Road.  Mike said they really tore up the Short Road, but Mark said they repaired it.  Gary said they should not be doing repairs, at least not without notifying the board.  Decision to postpone the escrow account issues until Spring.  Glen had said we could document $111 in deductions from the Crooked Lake escrow, for inspections and re-grading, leaving $389 to be refunded.   Gary said someone is cutting firewood on the South Duncan Road, driving a Hopkins truck.  They said they were covered under Mike Weidendorf’s escrowaccount.

Heller Drive Beaver damage:  They did not get the culvert cleaned out before it got too cold; Mark said Dave Seeloff traps beavers, and can go in there if he wants.

North Duncan Road:  Bill Peno said he expects the township to do more work on the North Duncan Road.  When he was injured he had to be transported by helicopter because of the condition of the road.  Mike said they would have had to use  a helicopter regardless because he was in the woods.  We did put in two culverts last year, which used up the balance of our $7,000 budget for that road upgrade.  Glen said he could let Peno know that we have a website and that the road inspection will be posted on the website, if he wants to come along when we inspect North Duncan Road.  Mike said we should not make special efforts since we have fulfilled our agreement and spent $7,000 on the road already.

River Cabin Road:  Karen Henke is a permanent resident on the road, but we returned her snowplowing fee because Mark can’t get into her narrow drive.  In the past she has hired Gary to snowblow her drive, and has had other private plowers.  She said if the township had a pickup plow they could do narrow drives like the ones on River Cabin Road, and we could plow out non-residents who would be willing to pay.  Patrice said we almost did purchase Mike’s truck; Glen said the hangup was the extra $1,000 cost.  Karen said non-residents have sold their properties because of no winter access.  Gary said when we did have a policy to plow any property owners who paid the fee it backfired on us when we had the 1991 Halloween storm and everyone signed up after the storm, but wouldn’t sign up on other winters.  Gary said it is not the purpose of townships to plow private drives, and we can only do them after our township roads are plowed. Mike said even if we found a truck/plow for $10,000 there would be additional expenses like insurance and maintenance.  Glen told Karen that at the annual meeting, all the citizens get to vote on township issues.  The board is only bound by the levies as voted, but they take voters’ concerns seriously.  He told Karen to try to get a petition with 20 citizens to present her concerns to the township.  Mark gave her the number to call Duane Glienke, if Gary or someone else can’t plow her out.  There was a discussion on who is eligible to vote at annual town meetings, full-time registered residents or any property-owning citizens?  Paul will call Cathy Clemmer and find out.

Fire Hall Plowing:  Mark plowed the Eagle Head Fire Hall, but it was before any freezing, and Joe Vink had to go over it again.  Mike moved that Wilma Township plow the Eagle Head VFD Station without paying the usual fee, since the fire department and responders serve all our citizens; Gary seconded.  Passed.

TREASURER’S REPORT AND BILLS:

Patrice gave the Treasurer’s Report (attached).  Claims were presented:

Pat Story (mileage)                                     $             53.76

Paul (expenses)                                                       345.21

Mark (expenses)                                                      154.72

Chad Beurman ( town hall back door)                              160.00

Randy Beurman                                                   5,459.00

Patrice (expenses)                                                     37.96

Bruno Deep Rock (fuel)                                          866.41

Glen  (chains for grader, computer for treasurer, expenses)    1,966.64

Lucy Downing Hager (Hall deposit)                          50.00

ECE                                                                          43.95

Purple Pumper                                                        145.00

Glen (mileage)                                                           97.44

Glen                                                                        413.03

Paul                                                                         384.18

Mike                                                                          46.17

Mark                                                                       382.33

Gary                                                                        214.26

Patrice                                                                     123.75

Total Bills:           $       10,943.81

 

Gary moved to approve the report and to pay all the claims, and to transfer $11,000 from savings into checking.  Mike seconded.  Glen moved to adjourn the meeting; Mike seconded.  Meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m.

Paul Raymond, Clerk___________________________

Glen Williamson, Chair__________________________