Stanton Town Hall
31186 40th Avenue Way, Cannon Falls, MN 55009
Board Chair, Joyce Moorhouse,
called the meeting to order. Others
present included Vice Chair Dave Garner, Supervisor Vince Cockriel, Clerk
Elizabeth (Betts) Top and Treasurer Kenneth Ebert.
Meeting was called to order at
7:00 P.M.
Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
Joyce called to reveal any
conflict of interest.
None were heard.
Approval of Agenda
Joyce called for any additions to
the Agenda
Dave wanted it added that under
Old Business: Response from MAT regarding zoning for Mr. Emery.
Betts said to add Wendy Carroll
under Old Business.
Joyce said to add Wendy Carroll as
item #5.
Joyce called for other additions.
None were heard.
Joyce asked for approval for the
agenda.
Vince Cockriel made a motion to
approve the agenda.
Joyce Morehouse seconded the
motion
Motion passed 3/0
Board of Canvass Minutes Approval
Joyce
read the board of canvas minutes and the details provided by the clerk
Dave requested the details and breakdown
of the election results be attached to the minutes.
Dave Garner made a motion to
approve the Board of Canvass Minutes 3-13-07 with the attachment.
Joyce Moorhouse seconded the
motion
Motion passed 2/0 Vince Cockriel abstained.
The clerk was advised to get Bob
Benson’s signature on the minutes as he was Chair that time and at the meeting.
Approve Minutes of 4-17-07 Board Meeting
Joyce called for any additions or
corrections.
Dave said he had some
corrections.
Page 2, under Treasure report: it
should show Current Receipts at $329.76
Page 2, where Wendy Carroll said
No: it should be added “Randy Rechtzigel
was not ready at this time.”
Page 4,
under Scott Gustafson permit request: it should be added “Permit Cost was $125.00”
Page 5, under ‘Dave said first…’
change “post” to “proposed.”
Page 5, Under ‘Joyce said Steve
really needed…’ it should be added “Joyce asked Steve if he had a survey now.”
And “Steve said No” beneath that.
Page 6, under ‘Dave said he still
maintained…’ change “piece of land” to “parcel of land.”
Page 7, where ‘Dave said he wanted
her to call MAT…’ add “2 acres do not
meet current setbacks to the buildings.”
Page 7, under ‘Joyce said we need
to know…’ add “Dave asked should there have been a variance process?”
Page 11, following ‘Vince
suggested only allowing…’ add “Joyce said the applicant may have to show proof
of insurance”.
Page 11, where it says ‘Joyce went
through…’ it should say “The Board went through…”
Dave Garner made a motion to
approve the minutes with corrections.
Vince Cockriel seconded the motion
Motion passed 3/0
Minutes of Board of Appeal and Equalization Meeting 4-24-07
Vince Cockriel made a motion to
approve the Board of Appeals & Equalization minutes
Dave Garner seconded the motion
Motion passed 3/0
Road Report of 4-24-07
Joyce felt it should be added to
Goodhue Avenue: “Missing chevrons around the bend.”
Vince added that for ‘325th
Street’ it should be added that the “stakes for the field driveway/access road
didn’t need a culvert.”
Vince Cockriel made a motion to
approve the Road Report with corrections.
Joyce Moorhouse seconded the
motion
Motion passed 3/0
Ken announced total Receipts last
month were $1,509.13
Disbursements $ 7,714.56
Current Investments – a CD at $
67,474.47 at a rate of 4.25% and he would renew it at 5 or so percent for 5
months. He would do that in the next
week or the week after. The old checking account that was no longer used and
had been closed, and a lot of the money from the old savings account had been
moved over to the new accounts so that we would start writing checks from the
new bank. The safe deposit key problem
had been resolved in that he had a duplicate made for $10.00. That was one of the claims for the
night. Ken had both keys now.
Ken also felt with increasing the
size of the current safe deposit box it should be decided what should go in to
it. The box sizes ran $30-$35-$45. The deeds to all of our properties were in
there along with surveys and abstracts.
Ken also wanted to back up CTAS on his computer and put it in there.
It was decided that Ken and the
clerk would get together and decide what would go in the safe deposit box.
Dave Garner made a motion to move
to the appropriate size safe deposit box after the treasurer and clerk decided
what needed to be collected.
Vince Cockriel seconded the motion
Motion passed 3/0
Dave Garner made a motion to
approve the Treasurers Report as read.
Vince Cockriel seconded the motion
Motion passed 3/0
12 feet
added on to one end, 48 feet added on to other end. Setbacks would be met.
Cost
would be $70,000.00.
Dave
Garner made a motion to give a zoning certificate for his addition to his
cattle shed.
Vince
Cockreil seconded the motion.
Motion
passed 3/0
Permit
fee was $160.00
Dave
Garner made a motion to approve the zoning for the addition of a deck onto a
house.
Vince
Cockriel seconded the motion.
Motion
passed 3/0
Permit
fee was $100.00
Bill
Nelson was called forward. Bill was not
present at that time.
Clerk Report
Betts
reported she had checked on DSL service with two companies, Frontier and
Midwest Wireless. Frontier was $63.50
per month for 256k download and 128K upload speed. A two year lease was required but installation would be
free. If internet service for the clerk
and treasurer were canceled that would be about a $30.00 credit which would
make the increase $33.50 per month for the internet. Midwest Wireless said they attach a "7" square pickup
device witch delivers the signal from the tower to the town hall. It was similar to
a cell phone. The monthly fee was
$34.95 and their speed was also 256k download and 128k upload. Installation was free and the contract was 3
years. The total again with the credit
of the clerk and treasurer accounts would be an increase of $4.95 per month for internet service.
Ken
added that he had had the service from Midwest Wireless and the internet
service was fabulous.
Dave
asked what the buyout cost was?
Betts
said she didn’t know.
Ken said
he thought you just had to pay the $100.00 installation fee without the 3 year
contract.
Discussion
Dave
Garner made a motion to go with Midwest Wireless and put their DSL system in
for $34.95 a month.
Vince
Cockriel seconded the motion
Motion
passed 3/0
Dave
Garner made a motion to have the clerk set a date and arranges volunteers.
Joyce
asked for volunteers from the audience.
Paul
Schluter, John Miller and Vince Cockriel said they would volunteer.
Betts said she would send out
emails requesting volunteers and then advise the supervisors of the date and
time.
Mark Dubbels said he was concerned
about bringing over boxes and equipment from a condemned building. Mold spores can live in cellulose for a long
time. His solution was to digitally
scan the papers at the old town hall and bring the newly scanned records over.
Joyce said she felt the important
records had been removed already, about all that was left was maps and things
like that.
Betts asked Mark if the documents
that were scanned were searchable or were they just like a photocopy of
them.
Mark said it would depend on how
the documents were saved.
Discussion
Joyce Moorhouse made a motion to
table the question and put it on the next month’s agenda.
Discussion
Vince Cockriel seconded the
motion.
Motion passed 3/0
End of Clerk’s Report
Public Before the Board
Rosie Schluter came forward and
said she would like to publish in the Beacon a small box with information
showing what each townships updates were. This would give people a chance to
see what was happening in the area at a glance, things like building permits
etc. She would send out a form or call
the townships to get information after township meetings.
Vince asked if we were buying
this.
Rosie said it would be a public
service.
Joyce asked if this would follow
our regular meeting.
Rosie
answered 'yes'.
Dave felt the number of permits
would be all that would be necessary.
He felt the idea was good but would like the board to see what was going
in beforehand. The
chairman should approve the insert.
Rosie asked the board to talk it
over and let her know.
Joyce added only permits that were
approved should appear in the Beacon.
Dan came forward. Dan said he had driven up to Blaine and
gotten the carbide cutting edges, a case of 65.
Vince
asked how many are on the blade?
Dan said 130 something.
Joyce asked if he had gotten all
the roads done.
Dan said between him and Tom yes,
they had.
Dave asked when the rock would be
put down?
Dan said Tom had done that in the
past.
Dave wanted to get a hold of Tom
and find out when the rock would go down so then we could get the chloride
down.
Betts said she would call him.
Joyce wanted the rock to go down
as soon as possible.
Dan was told to take care of the
weeds too.
Dave asked if the tires in the
ditches had been picked up?
Joyce added the chevrons were off
on Goodhue Ave, either they were down or missing.
Dan said he would do that, we had
some in the shed.
Dave said they were arrow
signs.
Joyce said there was culvert
cleanup that needed to be done. When it
came to Prairie Creek the culvert there on 310th had to be
professionally done.
Dave added Dan could go and clean
the brush out of the waterways.
Joyce said there were some trees
growing by Prairie Creek on the south side, and a couple of other culverts that
needed trees removed. A couple of tires and one stop sign needed
replacing. On 57th there
were tires in the ditch.
Betts gave Dan a copy of the Road
Report with corrections on it.
325th Street had a
blocked culvert this past spring.
Dan asked if we graded Warsaw
Trail.
He was told no, Warsaw Twp. did
it. We would put rock on it if needed.
Joyce said over on the end of 310th
Street the trees were coming out onto the road. It might be too big a job for Dan, maybe have a tree service come
and do it.
Dave suggested talking to the
landowner if the tree branches were over so many inches (in diameter.) It was at one of the Short Courses they were
told about.
Joyce said she would work with Dan
on the tree-branch removal.
Dan was thanked and left at that
time.
Dave said he wanted to discuss 310th
street guard rails. Due to traffic
there were 2 dangerous spots, one was the bridge and creek by the Scout Camp
and one by Prairie Creek. The drop off
was a potential hazard. Guardrails
should be put on both those spots. We
don’t have to go out for bids because it should be under $5,000 and we can
authorize it.
Joyce felt Prairie Creek culvert
should be addressed first, the trees and sand.
Dave Garner made a motion to have
the clerk contact the same company that did previous guardrails and have them
give bids for the two locations on 310th St.
Vince Cockriel seconded the motion
Joyce asked for any further
discussion.
Vince said he felt the Scout Camp
rails should be put up first with all the summer and camp traffic.
Motion passed 3/0
Culverts
It was decided to clean out the
culverts (2) down by Prairie Creek and it should be done before the guard rails
get put up. The clerk should contact
the Goodhue County Engineer and find out who cleans culverts. Also the culvert up on 325th.
Vince Cockriel made a motion to
get bids, 2, from the county for cleaning the culverts out on 310th (Prairie Creek) and 325th streets.
Dave Garner seconded the motion.
Motion passed 3/0
Road Rock
Dave said from the road trip it
was clear that the board and Tom all agreed on where rock was needed.
Dave Garner made a motion to put
down rock per Tom’s directions.
Vince Cockriel seconded the
motion.
Motion passed 3/0
Chloride
The clerk was advised to contact
Tom to make sure the chloride gets put down after the rock.
Vince Cockriel made a motion to
coordinate the chloride placement after the rock placement as through Tom’s
directions.
Dave Garner seconded the motion.
Motion passed 3/0
The question of seal-coating was
brought up and Betts said she would call the county and see what the update was
on that.
Dave said he had talked with them
and it would probably be done sometime in July.
Joyce called for any other
business on the Road Report
None was heard.
Joyce
reported the supervisors and clerk attended the Board of Appeals and
Equalizations and the supervisors, clerk and Tom were on the Road Trip.
Vince
reported he had contacted two different companies. They ranged (in prices) anywhere from $400.00 to $1,200.00. His research showed fiberglass was better
for windy areas. Aluminum could bend
but was similar in price. He preferred
one piece instead of sectional poles. A
fiberglass pole at 25 feet was what he recommended. He also preferred the larger diameter base of 4 plus inches. He felt 25 foot was OK for a building our
size. The fiberglass cost would be
$550.00. A 30 foot pole was much more
expensive but didn’t come in fiberglass.
The company in Bloomington (Display Sales) did have installation
available, and shipping would be more. Vince said he recommended the fiberglass
pole.
Dave
asked if we used a 4’ x 6’ flag would there be any issues?
Vince
said no.
Joyce
asked if the flag came with it?
Vince
said no.
Dave
felt satisfied with the fiberglass and 25 foot and the cost seemed reasonable
to him. The question would be where to
install it. He felt the flag should be
close to the building.
Joyce
felt it would be good west of the well.
Vince
said a 4 x 6 flag would be roughly 50 dollars.
Placement
of the flag pole should take place in conjunction with the landscaping.
Dave
said he felt lights could be added later, just to get the pole up first.
Dave
Garner made a motion to purchase a 25 foot fiberglass flag pole from Display
Sales and have them install it and the 4’ x 6’ flag.
Vince
Cockriel seconded the motion.
Motion
passed 3/0
Dave asked Vince if he would mind
following up on the contact for the pole?
Vince said he would do it.
A member of the audience
recommended getting a high speed flag which was more durable and to get two
incase one got damaged.
Vince said he would ask about
that.
Joyce Moorhouse made a motion to
have Vince look into getting a low wind speed flag vs. a high wind speed flag
and to purchase two of what he decided.
Vince seconded the motion
Motion passed 3/0
Town Hall Rental Agreement
Betts passed out the final draft
of the rental agreement to the supervisors.
The board decided to read the
agreement and report back at next months meeting.
The clerk said she would put it on
the agenda.
Town Hall Landscaping
Zeke Pederson came forward. He said he needed a signed letter on
letterhead from the township stating it was OK to go ahead with his landscaping
project. He also needed a contact person.
He was told to contact the clerk.
Dave Garner made a motion to draft
a letter by the clerk to authorize Zeke Pederson to complete the project.
Vince Cockriel seconded the
motion.
Motion passed 3/0
Zeke showed the board extensive
color plans for his landscaping project.
He explained his plan mentioning placement of black dirt, woodchips, different types of grass, around the
building. He continued with plant
types; Daylilies, a low Juniper, landscaping timbers around the wells with
rock, Dwarf Lilac, shade trees on the corners of the building, Flux would be under
the Stanton Township sign.
Jack lucking said he would donate
2 Evergreens.
Joyce reminded Zeke to call the
utility companies before digging.
Zeke continued with putting in
Sand Cherries, which get about 5 ft wide.
Joyce asked about trees or a
windbreak on the back of the building.
Zeke said he planned to put about
5 in the back. For watering he planned
to put in a soaker hose to attend to the trees and garden. Money-wise he had remembered the board offering
$250.00. He planned to get as many
contributions as possible first.
Cheryle Peterson told Zeke she had
some Day Lilies and Flux he could have.
Joyce remembered $250.00 to
$300.00 being offered.
Joyce made a motion to set aside
$300.00 toward the project to cover any costs that Zeke was unable to get
donated.
Vince Cockriel seconded the motion
Motion passed 3/0
Joyce suggested putting some Vetch
in areas where grass might go, it stayed low and sometimes flowered.
Vince recommended different types
of seed mixes, where it only got to be 8 inches and was very drought tolerant.
MN DOT used it a lot.
Zeke mentioned the flagpole. He
felt it could be in the front and he would like to do something around it using
stones or woodchips.
Vince offered to deliver some
larger boulders to the site.
Zeke said all his plans had to be
approved before the next meeting.
Joyce said she would sign any
papers when he brought them to her house as the board was in agreement about
the plans.
Joyce asked if Zeke had some help.
Zeke said 3 Boy Scout troops were
available to him. He said he would
start in June and try to get it completed in July.
Joyce thanked Zeke and advised him
if he had bills to submit them to the clerk.
Zeke left at this time.
Betts said the Planning Commission
would like to know when the Ordinance would be completed.
Dave asked if Betts had the last
copy of the revised ordinance. He asked
her to accept the corrections then print off the final copy and give it to the
supervisors.
Joyce said it was time to have a
final draft.
Dave said after they had looked at
it they had to make sure it matched with the county.
Joyce added that it needed to be
compatible with the Land Use Plan.
Betts said she would get out
copies to them within the week.
Response from MAT
Dave said last month Betts was
requested to contact MAT in regards to Mr. Emery and his creating a new parcel
of land. Her two replies from MAT then
came. The first one stated “if your Township did not do Planning and
Zoning” but we did our own planning and zoning. Then a final answer came and
the answer was not real clear.
Joyce said she remembered the
county allowing one split per family member.
Dave said he (Mr. Emery) needed to
come to the town and the town would handle it as a zoning process, because we
do have zoning. Basically we created a situation where any time Mr. Emery wants
to do anything he was in violation of the zoning because we created a situation
where if he wants to do anything, like meet setbacks, automatically he’s in
violation of that. . He said it should
have been handled with a request for a variance and then a public hearing. If we went through that process and gave him
a variance to start off with then in the future he would have been in
compliance instead of being in non-compliance to start off with.
Joyce said she would like to have
the reply from the township attorney (MAT) entered into the minutes.
Dave said in the future, because
we do do our own planning and zoning we should have addressed it.
Vince asked if they county did not
know we do our own planning and zoning.
Joyce answered they know we do our
own planning and zoning. They sent him (Mr. Emery) here with a paper that
needed to be signed for the split. If
we didn’t approve it then the county’s ordinance would prevail. He came to the township with a paper and
asked us to approve it.
Vince said as he sees it as; ‘the
ultimate decision was that of the county, the board’s action was mainly
advisory as a courtesy to avoid conflicts.’
Just so long as the board was comfortable with the proposal. He didn’t feel it was an issue and it didn’t
set a president.
Dave said that whole answer was
contingent on us not doing zoning and planning. We should be looking at the second sentence on the first page,
that’s the only answer that applies.
Joyce said maybe we should have
tabled the topic and gone back to the county and questioned why they were
sending us that particular document when we do planning and zoning.
Dave said he felt we still should
have handled it (ourselves).
Dave Garner made a motion to enter
MATS response into the record.
Joyce Moorhouse seconded the
motion
Motion passed 3/0
MATS RESPONSE: see end of minutes
Wendy Carroll
Wendy Carroll came forward and
presented a letter from Randy Rechtzigel.
Joyce
read the letter aloud:
“Stanton Town Board,
On Monday, May 14th, Wendy, Tom and I met
and are working out the details on renting my building or renting with option
to buy. In the next couple of weeks
I’ll be finishing the building and know my final costs so we can work out the
final details.”
Randy
Rechtzigel Construction
8110 CO. 17 Blvd.
Cannon Falls, MN 55009
Dave
asked Wendy if she was progressing forward.
Wendy
said yes she was.
Joyce
reminded Wendy to keep the board informed monthly as to her progress.
Joyce told Wendy (if she couldn’t
come) to send the board a letter and say if she had entered into a contract.
She said she would.
Wendy Carroll left the meeting at
that time.
Cartway
Geoff Griffin of Greater Southwest
Holdings, Rochester, MN, came forward.
He began saying the township had a strip of land ¼ mile NS, 2 rods EW
running along the edge of his property.
Your (township’s) strip of land was landlocked, it doesn’t touch any
public facilities . So we have
petitioned to get rid of that strip of land which doesn’t seem to serve any
purpose. It was originally initiated to serve the back part of our property
when it was in separate ownerships, now that it was in one ownership, it didn’t
serve any purpose. We foresee it being
a problem in the future because of weeds and nuisance.
The board looked at pictures of
the land and surrounding the area.
Dave asked if neither end was
attached to any public road?
Geoff said that’s correct.
Dave said so even if someone
wanted to access it they would have to drive across non public roads to get to
it?
Geoff said that’s correct.
Joyce wanted to know who’s
property was on the south of them.
Geoff said they owned that.
Joyce said there was a public
hearing and you made your request. Your
reason was what?
Geoff said foremost to clear up
the title issue as they didn’t have complete control of this quarter section
(where the Cartway was).
Joyce asked if there was something
wrong with their title, they did have a title, correct?
Geoff said they did have a title,
but there was exception from their title.
To us and our legal counsel it made no sense to have a piece in there
that was land locked and there was no one to get in there and maintain that
piece of property.
Vince said if there was a noxious
weed on that property a legal county representative didn’t need anyone’s
permission to go in there and expel the weeds.
So we would never be in violation of that.
Geoff said that’s it.
Joyce wanted to know if any of the
petition signers spoke at his public hearing, giving any reason for this?
Geoff said No.
Discussion ensued about Cartways.
Dave felt the Cartway currently
had no need, there was no public access without driving across public property,
it was basically all on his (Geoff’s) property. He (Dave) was having a hard time justifying keeping it, unless
someone could point out why we should not abandon it.
Joyce said two property owners
nearby spoke against it at the public hearing. She said the Planning Commission
made a motion to deny it. She didn’t
hear a very good reason (from the petitioner) i.e. to clear up the title.
Geoff said if the quarter mile by
2 rods strip of land was connected out to the county road, so it had the
potential of service and purpose, it might be different but it doesn’t connect
to anything on the south end and so it just sits in the middle of his property.
Vince said the land east to you
did (connect) and that was an issue to
him. He felt that that landowner did
feel there was a purpose to having it there.
We didn’t have the right to take away his option of what that neighbor
could use that land for.
Geoff said he (the neighbor) said
it hastened development.
Geoff reiterated that at one time
it was needed to access the back property, but since then it became one
contiguous property.
Vince said it was still public
property.
Joyce called from the audience for
Joe Vandenheuvel to speak.
Joe asked if the board had been out to see the piece of property, which
was State Statute mandatory.. He felt the cartway had nothing to do with
mortgage purposes. The township or any
one else that had an interest in it had a right of extending that cartway out
to the nearest public road. Why would
the township vacate, donate or give away real estate without compensation? It made no sense. The township would be very foolish to give this away without
compensation.
Mark Dubbels commented that the
title was easily written around.
Secondly, had they found out if the cartway was owned by the
township? If it was township property,
real acreage, wasn’t that giving away public property?
Joyce Moorhouse made a motion to
deny the vacation of the Cartway inasmuch as no compensation was offered.
Vince Cockriel seconded the motion
Motion passed 2/1 Dave Garner voted Nay.
New Business
Mayor Weibel’s
Letter
Joyce explained that Mayor Weibel
was again having his meetings with the townships and he was asking for a
representative.
Vince said he wouldn’t mind
sitting in on the meetings.
Joyce Moorhouse made a motion to
have Vince Cockriel represent the township at Mayor Weibel’s meetings.
Dave Garner seconded the motion.
Motion passed 2/0 (Vince abstained)
Liquor License for Summit Golf Course
Joyce Moorhouse made a resolution
to renew the Summit Golf Course liquor license.
Dave Garner seconded the
resolution
Resolution passed 3/0
Manure Management – Hovel Farm
The clerk stated that the Planning
Commission had requested that she check on information that was being talked
about where there would be a delivery of 500,000 pounds of liquid manure being
delivered into Stanton Township. The
contract was between two farms; Hovel and the Dibble Farm. She checked with the county and she spoke to
Steve Schmidt and he said yes there was a contract on file there and that the
Dibble farm was one of several farms listed.
There was no date or plan mentioned in the document but they (the Dibble
farm) could (accept manure) if they wanted.
He added they respected township rules but we would have to enforce our
own.
Dave asked if that wasn’t
gallons.
Betts said it probably was. She continued that the county said lots of
places were spreading 5,000 to 3,000 gallons per acre. She then spoke to Mrs. Hovel today and she
said she would like to come to the meeting.
So if there were any questions they could be addressed.
A representative of Hovel farms
said they had been putting manure on Dibble’s farm for 25 years and he never
felt it was anything but a crop nutrient.
Dave asked you’re applying liquid
manure, tining it in?
Mr. Hovel said yes. Right now they were running 3,000-3,500
gallons an acre.
Dave said it was a natural resource
being put into the ground, it’s not running off or into the streets.
Vince asked if there were any
complaints in the years past?
Mr. Hovel said John Dibble had
always hauled the manure himself.
Joe said he was a neighbor to the
land and he had no complaint about the manure. The practice that Hovel was
using compared to what John Dibble used was the difference in night and day. He
said there was a concern in the area to tine the manure into the soil with a
residential area being right down stream.
There was a concern for the ground water. There were many private wells around there.
Joyce called for any other
comments.
Brad Hovel spoke and said pig
manure was safer than anhydrous ammonia.
Ken said he was asked to explain
the definition of Levy vs. Budget.
He explained the levy was how much
we were going to ask for from the citizenry.
The budget was how much, from
wherever, we were going to spend.
Ken produced several documents on
the overhead projector showing breakdowns for many years.
He said he would give printouts to
everyone after the presentation.
Ken gave
the presentation showing via mostly graphs how spending had been charted over
the years explaining increases, etc. He
explained each fund for each year.
Lastly Ken showed the
$135,00.00
levy for this past year, $ 182,000.00
for this year and $ 205,000.00 for
2008.
Joyce
asked if there were any other questions for the treasurer’s presentation.
None
were heard.
The levy
for 2007 was $182,000.00 (that what was mailed in)
Dave
asked the Chair if she wanted to discuss the 2008 levy at this time?
Joyce
said we needed to complete the statements that they made by saying it was
$25,000.00 over and we have put that aside until it’s to be received.
Dave
said we had to establish a goal for the 2008 levy. How much we were going to
ask for. The statement before was
correct, that John Miller made. Last
year the board voted on a $90,000.00 increase.
That was not based on the $182,000.00.
What was asked for at that time was a $90,000.00 increase. That got tabled.
Dave
said MAT advised us to put aside the $25,000.00.
Joyce
reiterated the Levy should have been $157,000.00 for 2007 and we would increase
it by $90,000.00 for 2008. But we still
had that overage of $25,000.00. But if
we add that $25,000.00 on to the $157,000.00 we come up with $182,000.00.
Vince
said we discussed putting that $25,000.00 in to escrow, right?
Dave
said we did, that was what MAT suggested we do.
Vince
continued saying then we would deduct that amount from the $90,000.00.
Dave
said that’s what was recommended, but it’s basically up to us.
Dave
said let’s all agree that the 2007 Levy was $182,000.00.
All
agreed.
Dave
said let’s start with the $182,000.00 so we can be consistent. He recommended the first thing we should do
was to deduct the $25,000.00 that we got this year so we can apply it to next
year. We need to determine what we need
to add.
Vince
said if we needed the $90,000.00 as we did here a few months back then we need
$65,000.00.
Joyce
said 2008 would be $247,000.00. ($65,000 plus $182,000.00). Joyce explained a
lot of the increase was to try to replenish the Building Fund at $20,000.00 a
year other wise it would take years and years to get enough money to build a
maintenance shed for our equipment.
Possibly in 3 years we could build that equipment shed.
Ken
stated that the board had to watch what they were spending, why they’re
spending and for what they’re spending it on.
Vince
said he remembered the three main things that the township needed was the
building fund needed to be brought back up for future needs such as the
blacktopping, the other thing was an obligation to get that building, the old
town hall equipment building, moved from site down here. We didn’t have any money for that. The 3rd
thing was that our equipment was getting worn out, that budget was down. Those things to him, even as a citizen some
months ago, made sense.
Joyce
added the new bridge being put in next year would also be at least $20,000.00.
Dave
went back over his notes and explained the increases and accounts that had been
previously discussed. This was for
2008.
Establish
a Legal Fund: $ 20,000.00
Increase
Road and Bridge: $
20,000.00
Increase
General Fund – Equipment: $10,000.00
Put into
Building Fund – for a new equipment shed: $
25,000.00
Equipment
Replacement (subfund) $ 10,000.00
Create
Fixed Assets Fund- i.e. flagpoles etc. $
5,000.00
____________
Total
Increase $
90,000.00.
Joyce
questioned if we could reduce any of the amounts. Also the fact that we
borrowed from the Road and Bridge fund to pay the overage of the new Town
Hall. We said we would pay that back as
the board saw fit.
Vince
said we need those answers for the September meeting.
Joyce
said the levy increase would be $65,000.00 for 2008.
Dave
asked Ken if he could tell him the state of the funds for 2007, what our
current levy was per fund.
Ken
said:
Levy for
General Fund was $50,000.00
Levy for
Road and Bridge was $87,000.00
Levy for
Fire Fund was $45,000.00
That
added up to $182,000.00
Dave
said the proposal was to create a sub fund for legal (in the General Fund.)
Ken said
it was more of a line item rather than a fund.
Ken said up until 4 years ago we had 2 funds, Road and Bridge and
General, there was no Building Fund. It
was after a short course that the Fire Fund was broken out and created.
Vince
said it was good to break out the line items.
Once we created a fund and put citizen money there then we would pay out
of that fund.
Dave
said lets go through each fund.
Discussion
ensued about each fund.
Possibilities:
Legal fund:
create at $15,000.00
(sub
category of General Fund)
Road and Bridge: leave at $87,000.00 or increase of
$20,000.00
(2009
new bridge, plus previous sending had sometimes been as high as $
103-$107,000.00 )
General Fund: leave increase at $10,000.00
Create a Building Fund: create at $5,000.00
( for
Equipment Shed)
Equipment Replacement Fund: create at $10,000.00
increase
(sub
fund under Road and Bridge)
Fixed Assets: create at $ 5,000.00
(sub
fund under General for flag poles etc.)
Dave
said now (after adjustments) he came up with an increase of $65,000.00. That
was based on the $182,000.00. We should
reduce this by the $25,000.00 we got this year but were not entitled to, so we
should ask for a $40,000.00 increase on top of the $182,000.00.
Ken said
which would bring it up to $222,000.00.
Dave
said if we work off the $182,000.00, the 2007 levy, from that basis we were
asking for a $40,000.00 increase. The
2009 Levy would be when we would get back the $25,000.00, basically taking it
back out of the escrow account.
Dave
said the Levy came before the Budget, you couldn’t set the Budget until you
knew what the Levy was.
End of
Discussion
The
Sportsman’s Club representative came forward requesting a liquor license.
Vince
Cockriel made a resolution to allow the Sportsman’s Club to have a 3.2 liquor
license for 2007
Dave
Garner seconded the resolution
Resolution
passed 3/0
No upcoming meetings were listed.
Joyce Moorhouse made a motion to
open the mail.
Vince Cockriel seconded the motion
Motion passed 3/0
Mail was disbursed.
Dave Garner made a motion to pay
claims
Vince Cockriel seconded the motion
Motion passed 3/0
Ken announced that a check had
been lost in the mail and he needed the board’s approval to reissue the check.
Dave Garner made a motion to
reissue the $50.00 check to Mark Dubbels
Vince Cockriel seconded the motion
Motion passed 3/0
Ken announced claims came to
$2,812.00
Claims were paid.
Joe Vandenheuvel from the audience
stated Dave Garner had done something which was borderline illegal. Dave had come to a meeting late and Bob and
Joyce (supervisors) had already approved the minutes. Dave reopened them. Joe
said that’s illegal, once approved they couldn’t be revisited.
Note: MAT’s response to this
question:
From: Kent Sulem [mailto:ksulem@mntownships.org]
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 7:49 AM
To: Dave Garner
Subject: RE: procedural question
The
board was within its authority to reconsider its earlier approval and to insert
the corrections found by the late arriving supervisor.
Sincerley,
Kent
Sulem
MAT
Attorney
Vince Cockriel made a motion to
adjourn
Joyce Moorhouse seconded the
motion
Motion passed 3/0
Meeting adjourned at 11:14 PM
MAT’s Response:
4-19/07
“If
the township does not do its own planning and zoning, then the county's
regulations prevail. If the county requires the township to approve of a
subdivision of property, then the board has the authority to act without
further hearings, etc. Because the ultimate decision is that of the
county, the board's action is mainly advisory and a courtesy to try to avoid
conflicts. Thus, so long as the board is comfortable with the proposal in
question, the actions taken are fine. As for setting precedence, it does
to a small extent, but each proposal should be discussed on hits own merits and
a decision made. The board can also change its mind with a new application
if it feels it made a mistake after the current process is complete, but in any
case it should create a record as to why it says yes or no.”
Sincerely,
Kent
Sulem
MAT
Attorney
---------------------------------------------------------------
4-20-07
The
answer to your question is the lawyer's favorite, "It depends"
If
your township's zoning ordinance has a provision dealing with the subdivision
of land such as the one being proposed, then the township would should be the
deciding body and not the county. The application to the county would be
irrelevant so long as there is a town ordinance on the same issue that is
consistent with and at least as restrictive as the county's. Under
this situation, the application should go to the town, and the town would need
to handle it as a zoning process, including the need for a formal public
hearing.
If the
township's ordinance does not address this issue, then the process from the
original e-mail would still apply with the additional caveat that the board should
indicate that this application (or future ones) are not inconsistent with the
township's zoning ordinance (or if it appears to be inconsistent, then that
should be noted as to why the application should go to the town's zoning board,
etc.)
Sincerley,
Kent
Sulem
MAT
Attorney