WILMA TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS’ MEETING, WEDNESDAY JUNE 1, 2016

Chairman Glen Williamson called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Also present, Supervisor Gary Vink, Treasurer Patrice Winfield, Clerk Paul Raymond, Road Manager Mark Pallow, and Grader Operator Alden Shute and Eldon Schmedeke.

Paul read the record of the May 4^th board meeting. Gary moved to approve; Glen seconded.

ROAD REPORT: Alden gave the report; all roads have been graded, but so far no gravel has been applied. Alden wants to shape up the roads before gravel; he had to go back to some roads, Eagle Head, North and South Duncan Roads, and River Cabin Road. Alden said Mike wants McCullen Drive maintained all the way to the end by Zanoskos. Alden said he needs a load of pit-run gravel at the end for a turnaround. Glen moved; Gary seconded; approved. Mark said going up the hill on Tamarack Pine Drive the grader is pulling up big rocks and it needs a load of class 5 gravel. Glen moved; Gary seconded. Gary said the board already had authorized the Road Manager to use his judgment on where we need or don’t need gravel so we don’t have to vote on every load. Alden said the Supervisors authorized gravel on South Duncan Road at the wet spot, but if he applies any gravel there it will dam the swamp and make the water problem worse. Mark said we need Hopkins to dig a ditch there, but no gravel will be applied until it’s fixed.

Glen said that as of May 26, all county roads and ditches are open for class 1 and class 2 ATV use. He said townships can enact their own restrictions, but by law, if we don’t have a ditch ATV’s can use township roads.

Glen said both Mark and Alden are doing a fantastic job with the roads, and we have had no complaints.

Road Inspection Record Corrections: Paul made an error on the Road Inspection Report. The gravel he had on the Vink Road was actually authorized for Eagle Head Road: 4-5 loads of pit-run at the beginning, topped by two loads of class-5 gravel. The culvert at the end of Eagle Head road (not Vink road) needs to be replaced with a 30′ x 16” culvert. Eagle Head needs two loads of pit-run at the end. Paul will do the corrections and send the amended report to Glen for the web-site.

Road Inspection Pay: Glen said the pay for the Road Manager and grader operator for the road inspection meeting is $15/hour.

Township road rights-of-way: At the road inspection meeting, the board discussed brushing the full lengths of formerly used township roads like the Mayfield Road or Tamarack Pine Drive. Three years ago we got a decision from MAT Attorney Kyle Hartnett that township roads that were legally established many years ago, but have fallen into disuse, still remain public rights-of-way and private property owners cannot gate them off.  We had told him that many township roads used to be much longer, but over the years we stopped maintaining the entire roads. We had two cases (end of Eagle Head Road/Tamarack Pine Drive and Mayfield Road/end of Crooked Lake Road) where property owners gated off the non-maintained part of these roads by their land. We got a new decision from MAT Attorney Kent Sulem: Any road established by road order that has never been formally vacated remains a public-access township right-of-way. If no maintenance has been done for 25 years, the township cannot expend any money or work on the road without authorization by the voters at a Town Meeting. He said that for liability, the board can pass a resolution closing the road and post it Road Closed, and barricade the road. Glen said we should table this issue for now.

Schmedeke Lane and Extension: Eldon said he had put stakes on the road so that when the county brings more gravel they will know where to put it. He said someone stole his good stakes, but left the bad ones. Mark and Alden said they did not remove or steal any stakes. Paul needs to contact Mark LeBrun and Steve Chaffee to see if the county has made a decision on giving us more money for the extension. Eldon said Paul got it wrong again about what he has been requesting regarding the original Schmedeke Lane. He is not asking to make the road 66′ wide. It’s fine as it is as a 28′ wide road, although the culvert is only 28′ long, so the road almost covers the culvert. Eldon said he has repeatedly requested that the township acquire the easement on both sides of the road to a full 66′ width. Gary said if the township tries to acquire the land on the west that belongs to the Jensens we will need hearings. Alden asked how this would benefit the township.

OLD BUSINESS: Wilma Township WIFI: Report on WIFI Committee by Glen. He said Penny Simonson from ECRDC said they have approved our project and they want to purchase the equipment instead of having us do it. Glen will research sources and prices for the equipment, and contractors who can install it on our pole. His deadline is June 30. Eldon said Dell Grove Township is putting up a cell-phone tower, and he has been on the board’s case for many years to get a tower out here. Glen said we have the tower at Eagle Head, but telephone companies don’t think it’s profitable to put up repeaters there.

Stair Railing for Back Steps: Project completed by Mike.

Township Pressure Washer: Paul bought a Sun Joe SPX3000 2030 PSI Pressure Washer for $118, plus a 2-year Square Trade Warranty for $9.74. The board said to have Alden test it out to see if it is enough pressure to clean the grader. He did and said it was adequate for our needs. Paul used it to pressure-wash the town hall and it looks newly painted. Glen moved to purchase the pressure-washer; Gary seconded.

NEW BUSINESS: Summer Short Courses Mn Assn. Of Townships: Five board members going; Thursday, June 30, in Carlton. Registration starts at 1:30 so Glen said we can plan to leave at noon. Glen said that Kyle Johnson, District 7 MAT Director, said every town board that attends the short course will receive a copy of the gravel and maintenance guide.

Township Records: Mike told Paul he has found some good fire-proof safes for reasonable prices. Alden said that the Pine County Historical Museum is willing to microfilm all our records for a permanent record that they would store. They would be willing to store our books themselves, if we wanted. He said Gary Koland said they can do one or two books at a time, but they are too busy right now.

Sentence-to-Serve Work: We submitted a request for the Pine County Jail Sentence to Serve Program to paint the town hall. The existing paint is still good, but some trim needs painting which Paul could do. We could change the request to sanding and poly-ing the town hall floors. Paul said STS did this a few years ago. Gary and Patrice said it was a lot longer than a few years; it was before they were on the board. Patrice said polyurethane is very expensive. On ebay it is $102 for two gallons, which would cover our floor. Paul said he has waxed the floors, but it doesn’t coat. Mark said we need a buffer.

Treasurer’s Report and Claims: Patrice gave the Treasurer’s Report (attached). Claims totalled $1,557.60. Glen moved to approve the report, and to pay all the claims, and to transfer $1,000 from savings to checking. Gary seconded.

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

Paul Raymond, Clerk _____________________________

Attested to by Glen Williamson, Chair_____________________________

WILMA TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS’ MEETING

MAY 4, 2016

Chairman Glen Williamson called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Also present were Supervisors Mike McCullen and Gary Vink, Treasurer Patrice Winfield, Clerk Paul Raymond, and Steve Menth, and Assistant Grader Operator Alden Shute. Paul read the record of the April Board of Reorganization and town board meeting. Gary moved to approve; Mike seconded.

ROAD REPORT: Alden gave the report and said he has graded the Vink Road, Crooked Lake road, and Dollar Lake Road, building the roads back up with a crown. He said the weight limits were lifted on Monday, and Hopkins has been hauling on county roads. Alden said the culverts on Mink Farm and the Vink Road need a couple of loads of gravel to cover them. There was no flooding on the Mink Farm culvert this year. Mike asked Alden to try to grade all the township roads before the road inspection which the board scheduled for next Wednesday, May 11, at 10 a.m. at the Duxbury Store.

OLD BUSINESS: Wilma Township WIFI: Glen gave a report on the WIFI Committee developments and future plans. Glen had made a new proposal and presented it to the ECRDC for approval, and at the ECRDC meeting, Penny said they were still considering our proposal. His proposal is limited to providing broadband internet for the Town Hall, with directional antennas to reach in all directions.

Schmedeke Lane: Paul corrected the record of the April meeting, which mistakenly said that Eldon Schmedeke said that the original Schmedeke Lane was recorded as a 66′ wide road. Eldon did not say this, and acknowledged that it was built and recorded as a two-rod cartway. But he wants the township to build up and widen the original Schmedeke Lane so it is the same 66′ width as the extension, instead of a two-rod cartway as it is now. We may need to acquire land on either side of the road or get landowners’ permission. The Board discussed this and decided to table this for now.

Town Hall Site: Eldon re-measured the boundaries of our town hall site based on the records Marjorie got from the County Recorder, and he found that we do not own the lawn between the fence on the east and the hall, and he came and reported this to Paul.

Stair Railing for Back Steps: This was authorized last year. Mike said he will pick up lumber and have this done before the pancake breakfast.

Township Officers and Outside Meetings and Trainings: Mike said he has heard from at least two citizens that they question why so many officers have to attend outside training and information meetings. One question was why the Deputy Clerk needs to attend meetings that the Clerk is already attending. Glen said we have to have a trained Deputy Clerk, and when Paul moved to Puerto Rico, Toni was thrown into the job of clerk with no training other than Paul’s briefings on the job. He said if she were not allowed to attend trainings, she would resign. Gary said if we’re going to have a Deputy Clerk, we need to allow them to be trained. Patrice said the issue as she sees it is not with training meetings like the Short Courses, but with informational meetings like the County Township Officers’ Meetings. If the Clerk is attending and taking notes, why does the Deputy need to attend?

NEW BUSINESS: Election Judge Training: All election judges must complete an election judge training course before they serve. They need to attend a class at least two hours in length, and certification is valid for two years. Head Judges are required to complete an additional hour of training. Paul, Patrice and Toni can take the judge training at the summer short course June 30, or get the regular judge training on Wednesday August 3, 1 to 3 at Askov Community Center, or Thursday, August 4, 9 – 11 at Hinckley Community Center or 1 – 3 at the Courthouse. Paul will notify Jeff and Jeane GrandPre and Barb Smith.

Summer Short Courses Mn Assn. Of Townships: Will be Thursday, June 30, in Carlton. Glen and Gary are signed up for the Assessor training. Paul, Toni and Patrice can take the election judge training, or Patrice can attend the Supervisor/treasurer workshop. Patrice said she will see the agenda for the Supervisor/Treasurer breakout session to decide; both Supervisors may be in the Assessor Training so she will be the only one in the breakout session.

Township Records:   Three years ago when we were researching the history of the Wilma Township Park land, we discovered that all our township meeting records from the founding of our township in 1907 to about 1984 were missing.  Two drawers in our filing cabinets were empty.  We debated hiring a safe cracker to see if the books were in there, but the cost was prohibitive.  We consulted all known living ex-clerks and board members to see if any of them might have borrowed the books, but no one had any information.

On Monday, Glen found three boxes left at the end of his driveway, containing the missing record books. It was garbage pickup day, so it is fortunate that he found them before the garbage truck. Glen brought the records to the meeting. There was discussion on storage options. It was agreed that we need to protect these priceless records so this never happens again, and the board agreed to check on fire-proof safes or gun-safes large enough for the records. They said two people will be required to remove any books from the safe, and no books should leave the hall. If we store the safe in the storage closet, we can get a padlock and hasp to double-secure the records.

Glen moved that Mike be paid for two hours to check stores in the cities for safes and gun-safes. Gary seconded. Passed. Steve Menth said implement dealers have good deals, like John Deere and International, and Alden said we should also check on the Banning Pawn Shop as they have reasonable prices.

Town Hall Rental: Duxbury Volunteer Fire Department requests to use the hall for the Memorial Day Weekend Pancake Breakfast, Sunday, May 29. Lucy Downing Hager has requested to reserve it for Saturday, July 16, for a family reunion. She has paid the $50 deposit and $25 rental fee. Glen moved that the Duxbury VFD and the Dowager/Storwoito family be allowed to use the hall. Gary seconded. Mike abstained.

Township Pressure Washer: Mark had asked permission to buy a pressure washer for cleaning the grader after use some time ago. None was purchased. Paul bought a Sun Joe SPX3000 2030 PSI Pressure Washer this week for $118, plus a 2-year Square Trade Warranty for $9.74. and will sell it to the Town if we are interested. Steve Menth said 2030 PSI may not be strong enough to pressure-wash grease and grime off of the grader. Mike said he has one with 2500 PSI, and we may need more than 2030 PSI. Paul said he would like to wash off the dirt from the hall outside walls before the pancake breakfast, at his regular pay, $12/hour. Glen moved that Paul be authorized to wash the Hall, and that Alden come over and take the grader out and see if the 2030 PSI is strong enough to wash the grader, before the board votes to purchase it. Glen moved that Paul be reimbursed for use of the pressure washer, $20, to be refunded if the township buys the washer. Paul said he would also like to clean out the storage closet in the hall and the file cabinets, so we can use it for storage. Glen amended his motion to allow Paul to both clean the outside hall and the storage closed. Mike seconded. Passed.

MATIT Consolidated Coverage: Our policy is up for renewal. Glen moved that we make no changes to our coverage or deductibles. Mike seconded. Passed.

Diesel Fuel for Fire Trucks: Mike said the Fire Department used 20 gallons of diesel fuel after the Kingsdale fire on Saturday, and Patrice needs to bill the department.

Treasurer’s Report and Bills: Patrice gave the Treasurer’s Report (attached) and claims were presented and signed. Glen moved that we pay all the claims, totaling $4,082.23, and transfer $4,000 from savings into checking. Gary seconded.

Mike moved to adjourn the meeting; Glen seconded. Meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

__________________________ Paul Raymond, Clerk

__________________________

Attested: Glen Williamson, Chair