WILMA TOWNSHIP ANNUAL TOWN MEETING MARCH 12, 2019

WILMA TOWNSHIP ANNUAL TOWN MEETING MARCH 12, 2019

Clerk Paul Raymond called the meeting to order at 8:15, following the township election and the Board of Canvass. Nine citizens voted and Glen Williamson was re-elected Supervisor and Patrice Winfield was re-elected as Treasurer. Glen, Mike and Gary canvassed and approved the votes. Six citizens attended the Annual Meeting: Mike McCullen, Pat Story, Glen Williamson, Patrice Winfield, Gary Vink, and Paul Raymond.

Nominations for Moderator for the meeting: Pat Story and Glen Williamson were nominated. Hand vote taken and Glen was elected and took the floor as moderator.

Paul read the record of the March 2018 Town Meeting. Glen moved to approve; Gary seconded.

Patrice presented the 2018 Wilma Township Financial Statement. She again broke down payroll and other compensation for officers to show what each officer is receiving in salary, and for other compensation like insurance, conferences, short courses, mileage, internet, and for judging elections. At the end of the year the township carried over a balance of $170,113.73 in all funds and CD’s. Balance starting 2018: $186,932.77; receipts in 2018: $60,195.39 in total revenues; disbursements: $56,781.37. Patrice said that in the published monthly financial reports the names of the supervisors and officers must be redacted. This was part of the original CTAS program to protect private and personal information of employees, e.g. child support garnishments. Patrice was commended for her good report. Glen moved to approve the report; Mike seconded.

Road Report: Alden had prepared and Gary presented the Road Report for 2018. Road projects completed in 2018: Ditching Pete Anderson Road; 300′ extension to Schmedeke Lane almost completed but was too wet to get the pit-run and Class 5 gravel applied (he hopes to complete it this summer); two new culverts on the North Duncan Road, and 12 loads of pit-run gravel on the North Duncan Rd.; McCullen Drive, replaced culvert and put two experimental loads of red rock gravel (the board will inspect and compare red rock to Class 5 at the May road inspection). About 2/3’s of the worst roads were brushed. Crooked Lake Road got two new culverts and 15 loads of pit-run gravel in the low areas topped with 35 loads of class-5 gravel. Dollar Lake Road also got 6 loads of experimental red-rock gravel. Alden prepared a report of road projects for 2019 and 2020 and approximate costs (attached to this record). He estimates $1500 for the three new and 1 replacement culverts on North Duncan and South Duncan Roads. Installation and gravel will be about $400 per culvert. He estimates River Cabin Road will need 35 loads of gravel @ $200 per load. Lost River Road, 20 loads; Mona Drive, 20 loads. Brushing estimates 25 hours in 2020 and then every three years after that, at $125/hour. Work priorities for 2019 will be determined by the board at the May road inspection meeting, Glen moved to approve the road report, and thanked Alden for a good job. Gary seconded. Passed.

Pat said Alden has often said he would like to be able to do more with ditching and cleaning out road drainage ditches but our equipment won’t do that. Pat said we should look at purchasing a closed-cab front-end loader with a backhoe on the back. They run from $48,000 to $66,000. Gary said Alden has hired Hopkins and Summerland and Duane Glienke to do this kind of work, which costs us a lot less than buying our own equipment. Mike said the other problem is where would we store it; he said it would fit in the Eagle Head unheated garage, but we only lease it one year at a time and MNDot could take it away from us at any time. Paul said if Alden has any ditching or drainage projects he wants to have done, he can just call any of those contractors; nothing is preventing these jobs being done. Pat said he will meet with Alden and see what Alden needs to do his job.

LEVIES AND BUDGET FOR 2020: Township Funds: Glen said the Board is not recommending any increases in any of our funds or levies for 2020. Patrice moved to keep the funds and levies for 2020 as proposed: R&B, $16,000; Building Fund at $5,000; the Fire Fund at $4,500; the Park Fund at $100; and the General Fund at $10,000. Mike seconded; passed. At the end of 2008, Wilma had a total of $50,903 in all funds. By the end of 2018, our funds totaled $170,113.73, without raising taxes for many years.

Wages for Reports, Moderator, Meetings, Judges, Mechanic, Grader Operator: The Board has final say on wages at the Board of Reorganization but no changes were proposed in wages or rates for 2019. Pat asked how we determine wages, compared to other townships so that they are fair and equitable. Glen said we brought our wages to rates comparable to Arna and New Dosey Townships a couple of years ago, but we are far behind other townships like Ogema. Board members all said they were satisfied with our current wage rates. Pat moved to keep the wages the same as 2018; Paul seconded, passed. Mileage: Glen said we’ve always used the federal rate, which is $.58 for 2019. Patrice moved that we continue to follow federal guidelines; Paul seconded; passed.

Snowplowing: Glen asked Patrice if we are breaking even on plowing private drives? She said we collected $1,075 for this season. It’s impossible to break down the expenditures for private drives vs. township roads because Alden plows them both at the same time. No change was proposed for standard driveways, $75. Over 700’: $100/season; 1,000 ft. to ½ mile: $175; Over ½ mile, $350. “Must have turnaround space. No closed gates. No overhanging trees that can hit the grader. Wilma Township not liable for inadvertent damages while plowing private drives. 2019-20 snowplowing fees due by Nov. 6, 2019.” Patrice moved that snowplowing rates and policies remain the same for the 2019-20 season as this past season. Mike seconded. Passed. Mike said we should add that the Board can make exceptions and use their discretion if someone is late paying by only a short time. Glen said that is already the policy. Only change is driveways can’t have overhanging tree branches that can hit the grader. Passed.

FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORT: The Duxbury Volunteer Fire Department is a separate organization from the Town of Wilma, but every year our citizens pay the fire department $4,500 for fire protection and medical responses. Chief Mike McCullen gave a report on responses and training drills in 2018 and on developments and status of the fire department, and projections for the future. We had 60 calls in 2018, mostly medical. He said our most critical need now is for volunteer responders and firefighters, especially in the satellite companies in Markville and Cloverton.

Wilma Fall Fest: Paul moved that the fund remain at $500 for 2019. Patrice seconded. Passed. We will hold it this year on the third Saturday, October 19th, and the Procrastinators are already booked. Patrice said everyone seemed to love Karaoke last year when the Procrastinators couldn’t make it. Paul will remind Stephanie Hansen. Glen said we need volunteers to make it work.

Donations to Old School Art Center, Pine County Historical Museum, The Seven County Senior Federation and Family Pathways: Last year the voters voted to cap donations at $300 for all groups for the next 10 years. The Board of Supervisors has final authority on how to distribute these expenditures at the Board of Reorganization. Gary said we should only send donations if they ask; Paul said he already has requests from all of them and will bring them to the Board of Reorganization.

Board of Reorganization: The Board will hold the Board of Reorganization to swear in Patrice and Glen and to make decisions for the township on wages and notice and posting sites before the regular April 3rd board meeting. Patrice said the Treasurer chooses the bank of deposit. Paul will post this meeting.

Board of Appeal and Review: For taxpayers to appeal their property assessments for 2020 taxes, Monday April 8, 1 p.m. At the Town Hall.

State Election for Representative District 11b: The general election to fill the seat will be next Tuesday, March 19 at the Wilma Town Hall. Hours 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Patrice, Gary and Paul will judge.

Deputy Clerk and Treasurer: We have lost both our Deputy Treasurer and Deputy Clerk. If anyone knows of anyone who might be interested in the positions, let the Clerk know. Patrice is able to run elections if Paul has to miss one, like she did the first primary in January, but she doesn’t want to do Presidential elections. Paul has no plans to go anywhere, and Patrice said she isn’t, either. Glen said we should get deputies now so they can be trained and they can attend township training courses. Paul said any training now would be wasted because there is so much to learn and they would forget. He said if we found someone, we would likely only train them if we knew we would be absent for awhile and the deputy would have to take over the duties.

Townhall Internet: CenturyLink ditched fiber-optic cable for DSL internet past the town hall. The board voted to switch to CenturyLink but CenturyLink said they have no open lines, so can’t install at the hall. They would run a phone line, but not internet. We would have been paying $45/month instead of $118 and our internet fund would last over twice as long. Paul said the CenturyLink installer who put his in earlier today said he thought there were plenty of ports on the head pedestal at the corner a block from the hall. Patrice said she will call them and find out why they can install phone but not internet.

Set Meeting Place and Time for 2020 Annual Town Meeting: This is a formality, but is required. Glen moved hold the next annual meeting the second Tuesday of March 2020 and to adjourn this meeting; Patrice seconded. Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

__________________________

Paul Raymond, Clerk

____________________________

Glen Williamson, Chair and Moderator