WILMA TOWNSHIP BOARD OF REORGANIZATION AND BOARD OF SUPERVISORS’ MEETING 4-1-2015
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 Jeff and Jeane GrandPre, Alden Shute, and Eldon Schmedeke.
Paul read the record of the March meeting. Glen said that Toni Williamson will also be attending the short course on Friday. With this correction, Gary moved to approve; Mike seconded. Gary said he will not be going to the short course after all.
Former Supervisor Joseph E. Vink: Glen took a minute to acknowledge the great debt the town owes to Joseph Vink who died earlier this week. He was Chairman of the Board of Supervisors for decades and one of the founders of the Duxbury Volunteer Fire Department. Glen asked that we observe a minute of silence in honor of Joe.
BOARD OF REORGANIZATION: Mike nominated Glen to be Chairman of the Board for another year; Gary seconded. Passed. Glen nominated Gary to be Vice Chair; Mike seconded. Passed. Mike moved that the board approve all the wages and meetings pay and election judge pay that the voters authorized at the annual meeting. Gary seconded. Passed. Glen moved that Northview Bank be our bank of deposit; that the Pine County Courier and the Evergreen be our papers of publication; that the Duxbury Store and Wilma Town Hall be our posting places. Mike seconded. Passed. Mike moved that we keep the charge for snowplowing private drives the same as the 2014-15 season; Glen seconded; passed.
Donations to Civic Organizations: Mike moved that Wilma township enter into a contract with the Seven County Senior Federation, with the Old School Arts Center, and with the Pine County Historical Museum for services and to pay them $100 each, as approved by the voters. Glen seconded. Gary voted nay; Passed. Alden Shute said he and other voters have expressed a fear that this could snowball to supporting dozens of organizations. He would like to have the board set a limit on how many we support and for how much. Paul said we have never had any requests from anyone but these three. Glen moved that Wilma Township support just three civic organizations and that our donations not exceed $100 each. Mike seconded. Gary voted nay; Passed.
OLD BUSINESS: Pine County Township Officers’ Meeting. Paul gave a report on the meeting last Saturday. Glen said it was very well attended (over 85 officers) and much good information given out. Glen, Toni, Patrice and Paul all attended. Highlights: Jeff Nelson, new Co. Sheriff, gave out direct line to his office: 320-591-1409, and email jeffrey.nelson@co.pine.mn.us. He is hiring new deputies and moving to 12 hour shifts and better FTO training. He wants to attend another Wilma Board Meeting.
Kelly Schroeder, Land Services Director, will draw up clear guidelines for recording documents to avoid repeat rejections. Assessor training will be only online (Twp. Association still subsidizes training to $1,000). The Twp. Assn. will still offer Board of Appeal training.
Jason Rarick, new Representative: Email rep.jason.rarick@house.mn. He wants to attend a Wilma Board Meeting later this summer.
Steve Hallan, Commissioner: Pine Co. has aprox. 700 miles of County Roads and 700 miles of Township Roads. Proposals to have county-wide zoning. Some townships like Wilma do not want any zoning, and the county has to balance these concerns. Not all towns and districts will be zoned the same.
Lenny Bonander: New hospital will cost Sandstone $2 million. $230 K for 22.5 acre campus; $300 K for utilities and road upgrade. $250 from State, $500 K. from Sandstone. Bills in house and senate to get more state funding for infrastructure and a new bridge. High Speed Rail: Concern that corridor will need costly upgrade and will need federal subsidies. $400 Million partnership.
Brent Grundmeier, DNR: Invasive species, mandatory training before boats can be moved from lake to lake, can be done online. Bad wolf problem now and control taken from state and farmers. Only the DNR can remove nuisance wolves. Trying to get legislation for reimbursement for livestock. 246 wolves harvested in 2014 before Federal ban went back into place in Minnesota. May have restricted deer season and lottery this fall as very few deer.
Retro-reflectivity Sign Ordinance: The deadline for compliance with retro-reflectivity has been removed, and we only have to comply as we replace signs.
East Central Regional Development Corporation: Frank Grundemeier from Dell Grove will not be on the Township Officers Board after next year so can’t serve on the ECRDC Board, and Glen was elected unanimously to serve for life on the board starting in June. Five counties are included, Pine, Kanabek, Isanti, Mille Lacs, and Chisago.
Schmedeke Lane Extension: Eldon asked that the board agree that the land bordering the east and west sides of the existing Schmedeke Lane have a 33′ easement both directions from the center of the road, for utilities. He has also said that a slope and ditch easement be provided on the west side of Schmedeke Lane. Eldon also asked the board to pass a resolution stating that “Be it resolved that anyone cutting or harvesting timber for market shall clear cut all trees 3” or larger in diameter within 33′ from the center of any township road they are logging on, for ditch and slope and easement purposes”. The board thanked Eldon for his input and participation in the meeting.
Town Hall: Alden said he loves our town hall, and only realized at the annual meeting how really nice it is. He said if we invested a few thousand into properly blowing some insulation into the ceiling and upgrading the furnace we could make it more comfortable in the winters. Paul urged him to attend our annual Wilma Fall Fest so he could see the hall with a band on the stage and people dancing and enjoying great food and entertainment.
North Pine Hospital District: Glen said Fran Levings has asked to speak to the board at our May meeting to encourage our township to become a member of the district. Glen said he approved this. Gary said we have voted on this several times and it has always been defeated.
NEW BUSINESS: New computer and printer. Patrice and Glen got CTAS V.8 loaded on our new computer and a new wireless printer hooked up. They were able to migrate all the data from our old CTAS V.7, and Paul was also able to download CTAS V8 on both his computers and all the old records and data migrated with Patrice’s flash drive. Patrice said the new program is more difficult to use and it will take longer to write all the checks tonight.
Treasurer’s Report and Bills: Patrice gave the Treasurer’s Report (attached) and also presented a list of all the claims and payroll for approval (also attached). The bills total $3,055. Gary moved to approve her report, to pay all the claims, and to transfer $3,000 from savings into checking.
Gary moved to adjourn the meeting; Mike seconded. Meeting adjourned at 10 p.m.
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Paul Raymond, Clerk
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Attested: Glen Williamson, Chair