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WILMA TOWNSHIP ANNUAL TOWN MEETING MARCH 10, 2009

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WILMA TOWNSHIP ANNUAL TOWN MEETING  MARCH 10, 2009

Clerk Paul Raymond called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance at 8:10 p.m., following the Township election and Board of Canvass.  The first order of business was electing a moderator for the meeting.  Patrice Winfield nominated Glenford Williamson, Sr. to moderate; Donna Filler seconded.   Glen took the chair.  Also present were Tony Williamson, Mark Pallow, April Filler, Gary Vink, Michael McCullen, Eldon and Marjorie Schmedeke, and Dennis Schmedeke.

Glen called for the Clerk’s reading of the record of last year’s Annual Town Meeting.   Gary moved to approve the record; Dennis seconded.  All aye.

FINANCIAL REPORT:   Paul presented the Financial Report for 2008 as prepared by Patrice Winfield, Treasurer.  Gary moved to waive the reading of all the checks and to approve the Financial Report as written.  Tony seconded.

ELECTION RESULTS:   Glen read the results of the election:   There were 15 registered voters, including two new registrations.  Michael McCullen was reelected Supervisor with 14 votes; Patrice was reelected Treasurer with 14 votes.  Glen congratulated the candidates and the voters applauded them.

ROAD REPORT:   Gary gave the road report for 2008.  He said the grader is 100% paid off.

The following roads received gravel in 2008:

Eagle Head Road; Crooked Lake Road; Heller Drive;  McCullen Drive; Tamarack Pine Drive; Duncan Roads North and South; Fust Road; Pete Anderson Road; Langstrom Road; The Mayfield Road; Little Tamarack Lake Road; and River Cabin Road.  There was no gravel put down on Kenny Peterson Road, Schmedeke Lane, or Mona Drive.   Mark said that the

Kenny Peterson Road needs gravel.

Gary said that most of the money to gravel Little Tamarack Lake Road came from the escrow deposits of ECE and       Park Falls Hardwoods, since they did the damage to the road.  The repairs to Crooked Lake Road came from Carlson

Timber’s escrow account.   T & T Logging’s escrow account paid for most of the repairs on the North and South Duncan Roads.   Gary said that after we had repaired the damage T & T did, putting down gravel and building up the crown and  opening up the drainage lines, T & T came back in and logged again and filled the ditches in again and wrecked the road.

We haven’t gotten payment for this but Gary said he thinks they may have some more escrow monies for the Pete Anderson

Road that we can use for this.

Mark said that before winter started all our roads were in pretty good shape.   The Supervisors will do a road inspection when the roads dry out.

Eldon said he wants a complete accounting of every penny that has gone into our new grader, including the trip and travel expenses when Mark and Joe went down to buy it, plus all repairs and equipment added or replaced since we purchased it.

Eldon said that Schmedeke Lane has not been plowed all winter, and that he nearly fell trying to walk up this road to get access to his camper, and that Marjorie fell trying to walk up this road.   Gary said that he did not authorize plowing it because the county said this road was surveyed wrong and that they were going to move it eventually.   Paul moved that until this road is actually moved that we maintain it equally to all other township roads.  Patrice seconded.

FIRE DEPARTMENT:  Paul said that Ronald McCullen had asked that we bring up the suggestion of pursuing having the Duxbury Volunteer Fire Department, which now serves three townships (Arna, New Dosey, and Wilma), be funded by a direct assessment of all the property owners in the three townships, just like the Tri-Township Disposal District is funded.  They are an independent agency serving all the people in five townships, and every property owner is assessed an annual $30 fee, no matter how many parcels they own.   This has been enough for the Disposal District to pay for the twice-monthly garbage pickups and to purchase a new garbage truck, and to reduce rates from $36/year to $30.   There was a discussion.   Eldon asked if we would still levy $3,500 from the taxpayers.   Mike said this wouldn’t be necessary.  Mike said that each town in the Volunteer Fire Department

has their own truck and fire hall, and including the other two towns has greatly increased the number of available trained firemen and women for fire calls.  Paul made a motion that Wilma Township pursue this suggestion and write to the other town boards and ask for their feedback and input, and ask the County Auditor for the mechanics of doing this.   Mike seconded and said that as a member of all three boards, the Town Board, the Tri-Township Disposal District, and the Volunteer Fire Department, he would gather facts and feedback and information to present to the Board.   Proposal passed.

WILMA FALL FEST:   Glen said that Wilma Days started three years ago to succeed Duxbury Days and has been held in October to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of Wilma Township.  This year we renamed it Wilma Fall Fest and set it for the third week in October, with a potluck dinner and d.j. and dance.  Glen asked if we wanted to leave it to the Board to set the funding for this celebration or if the Town should do it tonight.   Donna moved that we set a budget of $500 for this years Fall Fest; Tony seconded.   Motion defeated 7 to 5.   Mike moved that we set a budget of $400; Patrice seconded.  This passed.

UPGRADING TOWN HALL:  Paul said that we need to put siding on the Town Hall and repair the foundation and possibly put in double pane windows or get storm windows.   Eldon gave reasons he believes we should build a new town hall and not put any money into upgrading or improving our existing one.  He said he believes our Township is a county laughingstock, with our new outdoor bathroom set in front of the Town Hall, and that there is inadequate parking and no room for the fire trucks to get out.   We have no signs against parking on the road which blocks fire trucks.  He said we had an opportunity to have a new road put into our park land and have a clearing made when we let out the poplar timber bid, and we blew this opportunity by letting Duane Glienke access the timber from the back of the land.   Glen asked Paul to read the record of last year’s Town Meeting where a committee was created to get information on the costs and logistics of building a new Town Hall; he asked what happened to this committee?   Eldon said he felt that he had no support and that those who did not want a new Town Hall would prevail, so they didn’t waste their time.  Glen said that the issue of bids and contracts has been resolved in that all new contracts must have the signature of all three Supervisors.  He went around the room asking each citizen to give their feedback and opinion.   Gary said he believes we cannot afford the taxes to build a new Town Hall, and that our existing one should be painted or sided, and that the park site would be much more difficult to watch and protect.  Paul said he loves our Town Hall and has never heard anyone make fun of it;  it does need siding and some foundation repair, but his taxes have gone up beyond what he can afford already, and a new Town Hall could cost over $100,00, plus heating it all winter would add more expense.  April said that if we keep this Town Hall we need to heat it and insulate it and have indoor plumbing and move the privy.  Mark said the new bathroom had to be put in that location.  Donna said we should paint our existing Town Hall.   Patrice said she hates vinyl siding and it cracks, and she would prefer paint.  If we side it we should use steel siding.

Marjorie said that she and Eldon have vinyl siding and it hasn’t cracked.  Tony said that our Town Hall has a long and wonderful history and that we should keep it but fix it up.  Gary said that Melvin Elliot told him oil-based paint would last much longer than latex and that it should be thoroughly scraped first.  Mike said he thinks scraping wouldn’t be enough; it needs a complete sandblasting.  He said he thinks we have a great old building and he believes siding would last longer than our lifetimes and would be more economical in the long run than continual repainting.   Mark said we lose 80% of our heat through the roof, and we should blow insulation up into the ceiling.  Dennis said we should not put any more money than we absolutely have to into our current building.   Marg said she just can’t see keeping this building.

TOWNSHIP WEBSITE:  Paul said that we have two websites, Duxburynews.info and Wilmatownship.com.   The Wilma Township site is our official posting site for minutes, records and notices, plus information about our town.   So far the developer and maintainer of this site has worked voluntarily, but Paul said he believes this is such a valuable tool that the site creator should be reimbursed.   He suggested $200 per year.  Glen said that a site of our quality would have cost thousands of dollars if we’d outsourced it or contracted it, and we probably wouldn’t have a website.  Patrice moved that we pay Aspire, Incorporated, $200 to continue to maintain and update our Township Website (note:  Glen Williamson is the owner of Aspire).  Dennis seconded.  Passed.

2010 LEVIES:   ROAD AND BRIDGE:  Eldon asked how our levies are paid.  Paul said that when the Township citizens approve a levy that he reports the amount to the County Auditor who then assesses each taxpayer for their part of the total levies, and this money is paid to the town twice a year.  Eldon said that since the Road and Bridge Fund still has almost $28,000, we don’t need to levy $20,000 for 2010.   He moved that we set the levy at $15,000.  Paul seconded.  Passed.

BUILDING FUND; FIRE FUND; PARK FUND; GENERAL FUND:   The Board had proposed $1,200 for Building (no change from 2009); $3,500 for Fire (no change); zero for Park, since there is $4,500 in the fund now; $12,000 for General (no change).  Dennis moved that all these proposed levies be adopted as proposed.  Patrice seconded.  The Debt Service Fund has been dissolved as the grader is paid off.

WAGES:    The Board has proposed to keep all wages the same in 2010 as 2009:  Chairman, $17.50/hour; Supervisors:  $15.00/hour; Clerk, $75/meeting; Treasurer, $65/meeting; Reports, $10/hour; General Labor, $15/hour; Major Mechanic, $30/hour; Mechanic’s Assistant, $15/hour; Grader Operator, $16/hour; and Election Judges, $10/hour.  Patrice moved to keep all wages the same for 2010 as 2009; Donna seconded.  This passed.

OUT OF TOWN MEETINGS:   The Board had proposed to increase the pay for full-day out of town meetings from $65 to $100.  Eldon asked why the change; Paul said these meetings plus travel can last over 12 hours, and we currently are paying a little over $5/hour.  Eldon said Arna is only paying $65 and he moved and Dennis seconded to keep full day out of town meetings at $65.    Motion failed.   Tony moved and Patrice seconded to increase the out of town meetings to $100 full day and $50 half day.  This passed.

SNOWPLOWING:   Patrice moved to keep the snowplow rate at $75 per season, and $100 for driveways over 700 feet.   Dennis seconded.  Dennis asked that he be plowed out rather than in; Glen gave him Mark’s phone number so he can tell him how he wants it done.

BOARD OF REORGANIZATION:   This will be Thursday, March 19, at the Duxbury store.   Glen said let Mike set the time since he has to be there to be sworn in.

2010 ANNUAL MEETING:   Paul moved that next year’s annual Town Meeting be the second Tuesday of March following the Township election; Tony seconded.

BOARD OF EQUALIZATION/APPEAL:   This will be Wednesday, April 15 at 10 a.m.

POSTING, PUBLISHING, BANKING:   Paul moved that we keep the Pine County Courier as our paper of record, with the Evergreen and the Township Website as secondary publishers;  that the Town Hall and the Duxbury Store be our posting sites; that we keep First National Bank as our bank of deposit;  Patrice seconded.  This passed.

April moved that we adjourn the meeting; Dennis seconded.   Meeting adjourned at 10:10 p.m.

Paul Raymond, Clerk

Annual Town Meeting, March 11, 2008

admin Board Minutes

WILMA TOWNSHIP ANNUAL TOWN MEETING, MARCH 11, 2008

Clerk Paul Raymond called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance at 8:15 p.m., following the township election and the canvass of the vote by the Board of Canvass. Sixteen citizens were present: Glenford and Tony Williamson, Eldon and Marjorie Schmedeke, Randy Michel, Joseph Vink, Mark Pallow, Michael McCullen, Patrice Winfield, Kenneth Yager, Ronald McCullen, Gary Vink, Bruce and Donna Filler, Gary Vink, and Paul Raymond.

Nominations were opened for meeting chair. Mike nominated Donna Filler; Ken seconded. Gary nominated Joe; Joe said he declined. Mark nominated Glen Williamson; Tony seconded. A hand vote showed that Glen was chosen as moderator and he took the chair.

Glen called for the reading of the clerk’s record of last year’s annual town meeting.

Gary moved to approve; Mark seconded. Paul presented the Treasurer’s statement of finances for 2007 prepared by Patrice. Mike moved to waive the reading of all checks; Ken seconded. Passed. Joe moved to approve the Treasurer’s Financial Statement; Gary seconded; passed.

ROAD REPORT: Board Chairman Gary Vink gave the road report for 2007. He said that due to the cost of buying a grader, we didn’t have the funds to do as much work as wanted, and that the weather did not cooperate, but many roads did get work in 2007.

Mayfield Road: New culvert installed.

Little Tamarack Lake Road: ECE put an underground cable on the Little Tamarack Lake Road and did some damage to the road; their $500 escrow payment went to pay for this.

Schmedeke Lane: The County made a decision to move this road to their surveyed position, across from Fust Lane. Eldon had found some more records, so the County will re-survey this road in the spring. So far nothing has been done. The original survey cost $4,800 and Ron asked who is paying for the new survey. Eldon said he did not ask for this survey and never wanted the County to get involved in the first place as the road has always been where it should be. Marg explained the history of the county’s involvement when she and Eldon found a county logging surveyor on their land and he called the sheriff and reported that the Schmedeke’s were armed.

Escrow Fund: Escrow payments were received from Carlson Lumber and from Tri-State and T & T Logging.

Pete Anderson Road: A culvert was replaced on this road. In their service year, Arna Township had reported that the culvert had collapsed and we replaced it in 2007. A culvert was placed at the access to Eldon’s road off of the Pete Anderson Road. Gravel was placed at the end of both the Pete Anderson Road and Langstrom Rd. to extend the roads as per our agreement with Arna. Arna insisted that we do more work on that road then we were planning to do; they had even threatened to take their own grader out.

Snowplowing: The Board decided in 2007 to only snowplow roads with full-time residents to reduce costs. Glen asked how has this worked out? Gary said that we only had one complaint, from Clay Heller, and that the Board had then decided to snowplow Heller Drive as it is a townline road. New Dosey had asked us not to plow that road too much as they were out of funds in their Road and Bridge fund. Randy asked about the Mayfield Road. Gary said that most of the land bordering the Mayfield Road is state land, and we should ask them why they don’t plow it. Randy said that snowplowing once in awhile helps clear the brush out.

Duncan Rd./Pete Anderson Roads: T&T Logging knocked down the road and stop signs on these roads during their logging activities. The clerk is billing them for both road signs, a total of $500. We don’t want to use their escrow monies.

Crooked Lake Road: Carlson Timber dozed that road without permission. No one is allowed to do any unauthorized road work on township roads. Carlson’s removed the crown and ruined the road.

Road construction training: Both Gary and Mark attended a road construction class and learned that the best way to maintain a road is with a crown and drainage.

REVENUES AND BUDGET:

Road and Bridge Fund: The Board had recommended keeping the R & B fund at $20,000. Eldon moved that it stay at $20,000 for 2009. Gary seconded. Passed.

Building Fund: The Board recommended no change; Joe moved to keep it at $1,200; Dennis seconded. Passed.

Fire Fund: The Board pays the Duxbury Volunteer Fire Department $3,500 per year for township fire protection, and recommended the same for 2009. Joe said Sandstone Township pays$16,000 per year. Mike said the fire department should have presented each township in the protection area with a proposal to increase this payment because of increased fuel and other costs before their annual town meetings, but since they didn’t, he moved to retain it at $3,500 for 2009. Randy seconded. Passed.

Park Fund: There was a discussion on where the revenues from logging the park would go. Paul said he thought they would go into the Park Fund. Joe said they could go into the General Fund, and he gave a history of acquiring the park land from the State. Eldon said that we need to build a new town hall and the logging revenues should stay in the Park Fund for the new building. Gary moved to keep the Park Fund at $400; Patrice seconded. Passed.

General Fund: Paul explained that the General Fund is used for all operating expenses of the town, for wages, insurance, mileage. Joe moved to keep this fund at $12,000; Mark seconded. Passed.

Debt Service Fund: Paul moved to keep this fund at $25,500 for one more year. After that the grader will be almost all paid off. Ron seconded.

WAGES: Mark moved to keep all wages, for Chairman, Supervisors, Clerk and Treasurer, the same as in 2008, $17.50 per hour for Chairman; $15 for Supervisors; $75 per meeting for Clerk and $65 for Treasurer, plus $10 per hour for bookkeeping and reports. Eldon seconded. Passed.

Ron moved to keep wages for General Labor, Major Mechanic, Mechanic’s Assistant and Grader Operator the same: $15/hour General; $30 Major Mechanic; $15, Mechanic Assistant and $16, Grader Operator. Joe seconded. Passed.

Out of Town Meetings: Paul explained why Board members attend out of town meetings such as the short courses and County Township Officers meetings. Eldon said there is no reason for all officers to attend the meetings. Glen said that as a new officer he has learned a great deal at the short courses and at the County Officers’ meetings. If we don’t attend, the elected and township officials think that we are not interested or involved, and they will ride all over us. Randy moved to keep the pay at $35 for half-day and $65 for full-day meetings. Mark seconded. Passed.

Election Judges: Mark moved to keep the pay at $10/hour; Patrice seconded. Passed.

Mileage: Gary move that we increase the mileage reimbursement to .50 per mile. Randy seconded. Passed.

Snowplowing: The Board had recommended no change for 2009, but Mark said that with fuel costs skyrocketing we could lose money on private drives at the current rate. He said it takes 20 to 30 minutes per driveway to plow private drives. He recommended an increase to $75 and $100. Paul moved that snowplowing be increased to $75 per season for next year, $100 for drives over 700 feet. Tony seconded. Dennis moved that special plowing be set at $150 per hour with a one-hour minimum. Mark seconded.

REPORT OF THE ELECTION: Glen read the report of the Board of Canvass. For Supervisor, Gary Vink 15; Donna Filler 1; Bruce Filler 8. For Clerk, Paul Raymond, 16, Donna Filler 8. There were 25 voters, including four new registrations. Gary thanked the citizens for coming out to vote.

PARK AND TOWN HALL: Eldon took the floor to advocate for building a new Town Hall. He said he believes our present hall and outhouse is a public joke, that there is no reason that in 2008 we should have to use an unheated outdoor privy. He said we should not put any money into maintaining our current hall. If the landing is cleared for the logging of the park land, this could be cleared for a new Town Hall site. Donna said that we should at least start a planning committee or exploratory team to see what is involved and how much it would cost. We could get Menards to donate materials and people could donate labor. Ron said people talk about volunteering but few people actually show up. They can’t even get volunteers for the Fire Department or for Duxbury Days. Randy said there is nothing wrong with our town hall now, and if people are concerned about paying $35 for a meeting, building a new fully insulated town hall with year-round heated plumbing and septic will be a big increase in our taxes. Joe elaborated on the history of the Park land; it was given by the state to make money for the town; it was only suggested that it be a park. Eldon said we should check on what size and kind of building we need, and he moved that we start an exploratory committee to look into all facets of a new building for our Town Hall; what size and materials and costs. Patrice seconded. Marjorie said we need at least 5 members. Glen asked for volunteers: Eldon and Dennis Schmedeke and Bruce and Donna Filler volunteered. Dennis moved to appoint the four people who volunteered and that the committee report to the Town Board at the June, 2008, meeting. Bruce seconded. Passed.

BANK AND NOTICES: Ron moved that First National Bank remain our bank of deposit; Patrice seconded. Passed. Paul moved that the Pine County Courier be our newspaper of record, with the Evergreen as secondary paper, and that the Town Hall and the Duxbury Store be places of notice. Gary seconded. Passed.

Gary moved that next year’s annual election and town meeting be held the second Tuesday in March. Mark seconded. Passed.

BOARD OF REORGANIZATION: Paul said that the Board of Reorganization will be Thursday, March 20, at 11 a.m. at the Duxbury Store.

BOARD OF EQUALIZATION AND APPEAL: Will be Wednesday, April 16, at 10 a.m.

Gary moved to adjourn the meeting. Mark seconded. Meeting adjourned at 10 p.m.

Paul Raymond, Clerk