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 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
conflicts of interest.
None were heard.
Approval of Agenda:
Item 2 – add “Know” to “Right to”
Dave Garner made a motion to
approve the agenda
Vince Cockriel seconded the
motion.
Motion passed 3/0
Dave Garner made a motion to
approve the 7-17-07 board minutes as submitted
Vince Cockriel seconded the motion
Motion passed 3/0
Dave Garner made a motion to
approve the 7-23-07 board minutes as submitted
Vince Cockriel seconded the motion
Motion passed 3/0
Public Information – Right to
Know
Dave stated that at any public
meeting the audience definitely had the right to hear, and if they couldn’t
hear to make it known to the chairman, and have it corrected. That was why we had microphones, why we had
public meetings, that’s why we had an audience out there. He would like to get it on record that the board,
not only approves, but mandates that all public meeting discussion were audible
to the public.
Joyce said all our meetings were
public meetings, that meant they were the board’s meeting but the public had a
right to hear what was being said.
Vince said he agreed.
Joyce said we would then go on
record as having agreed that our meetings were all public meetings and the
citizenry had a right to hear what was said at those meetings.
Treasurer’s Report
Ken Ebert reported the investments
or the CD remained unchanged. It would
be maturing in October 2007. It’s value
was $70,342.13.
Disbursements were $62,943.31
We had received the first check
from the levy and that total was $86,202.22
Dave Garner made a motion to
approve the Treasurer’s Report
Vince Cockriel seconded the motion
Motion passed 3/0
Vince Cockriel made a motion to grant Mr. Modrak a
zoning certificate for his 2 story addition to his house along with a deck.
Dave Garner seconded the motion.
Motion passed 3/0
Permit fee of
$ 191.00 was paid.
Vince
Cockriel made a motion to grant a zoning certificate to Dave Roers for an addition
onto his garage.
Dave
Garner seconded the motion.
Motion
passed 3/0
Permit
fee of $ 100.00 was paid.
The
Hughes explained that the steep hill they lived on had few places flat enough
to build a detached garage. Their house
only had a one car single garage at present.
Their hardship was the topography of their land.
The
Hughes presented drawings and photos of their land and site plans along with 6
letters of support from their nearest neighbors.
Dave and
Vince both stated they had gone and seen the site, and could understand why the
Hughes wanted it there.
Dave
added that it would not standout, it would fit right into the neighborhood.
Vince
Cockriel made a motion to allow the 23 foot front variance.
Joyce
Moorhouse seconded the motion.
Motion
passed 3/0
The
Hughes requested a building permit for a detached garage size 36 x 40 feet with
a cost of $25,000.00
Joyce
Moorhouse made a motion to grant a zoning permit to Brian Hughes to build a
detached garage with a 23 foot front variance.
Vince
Cockriel seconded the motion.
Motion
passed 3/0
Permit
fee paid $ 115.00
Betts
reported she needed permission to spend monies to publish the Hughes public
hearing. She had not requested
permission at the July 2007 regular meeting
Joyce
Moorhouse made a motion for the clerk to spend money to publish Hughes public
hearing in the Beacon.
Vince
Cockriel seconded the motion.
Motion
passed 3/0
Betts
reported she had applied for a HAVA grant.
This year they were requiring the board to pass a Resolution just to
apply for the grant.
Joyce
read aloud the resolution:
“The township board is hereby
authorized to:
a) Apply for a grant from the Office of the Secretary of State
of Minnesota for Federal funds pursuant to Title II, Section 261 of the Help
America Vote Act for the sole purpose
of improving access to polling places in this township for persons with
disabilities;
b) Enter into an agreement with the Office of the Secretary of
State governing the receipt, expenditure, reimbursement and reporting of such a
grant;
c) Receive and account separately in a manner sufficient to
meet generally accepted government accounting principles sufficient to pass
federal audit; and
d) Expend any sums received in the manner indicated in the
grant application and agreement with the Office of the Secretary of State.
No further action by a town
meeting is required for actions related to this grant. “
Joyce
Moorhouse made a motion to make the Resolution for the HAVA Grant
Dave
Garner seconded the motion.
Motion
passed 3/0
Betts
said the last item was that the clerk was going on vacation from September 1 to
September 8 and that Cheryle Peters, the deputy clerk, would have her keys to
the town hall and would be filling in for her.
Betts said she would email the Cheryle’s phone number to the board
members.
Joyce
wanted to speak about information which had been sent to the clerk and her
regarding the 2010 Census. It involved
a CD from the census bureau and the information was not to be shared with
anyone except the two people responsible in the township. It also involved a list of rules and
regulations. She and Betts had agreed to do this project. There would be a workshop for this for the
LUCA program on the CD. The workshop
for training on September 6th would be in Rochester and Betts would
be on vacation. Other locations would be Sept 17th in Wilmar, the 18th
in Appleton, on the 19th Slayton,
MN. The training session would be 5
hours.
Dave and
Vince wanted to know more about the project.
Joyce
read aloud the letter she received from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce.
After
reading it she asked if they should attend another training meeting, other than
Rochester.
Betts
said she should be the person to attend another meeting.
Joyce
said then she would go to the one in Rochester.
Dave
said they usually choose the closest meeting.
Betts
said she would just put in for her time and would attend one of the other
meetings.
Pothole/Sinkhole on 311th Street
Dan stated the pothole had been
filled with cement.
Tree and Brush Removal
Joyce
felt this expense could be added into the levy.
She said
she had received complaints from different people in the township saying that
trees and brush should be removed. She
also felt it was important to put a Stop sign at 310th and 23rd
Ave because there was so much brush there.
She had spoken with a person and they told her for $1,360.00 they would
remove all the trees in the right-of-way on 310th St. She wanted to
know what the other board members thought of this, and if she should get
another bid.
Dave
said he would not want to spend any money until after the levy was done.
Joyce
added that it would take about 2 days and they would grind up everything and
they would also treat tree stumps so they would not grow back. She said there were other roads that needed
work, such as Oxford Mill Road. When
the levy was looked at she would like this to be considered. She had instructed Dan this past week to
fill in some holes on the roads which appeared after all the rain we had.
Discussion
ensued regarding poor vision at 310th and the scout road curve due
to the corn crop. Joyce said she would contact the farmer and see what could be
done.
Meetings Attended
Dave
reported attending the Cannon Falls meeting on July 16, Special meetings on
July 23rd and on July 30, 2007
Vince
reported along with attending the same meetings he also attended the Cannon
Falls Ambassadors meeting on August 13th.
Joyce
reported attending the same meetings as Dave and Vince. She added that she had called the county,
John Schuler, and she met with him by the mortuary along with the current
contractor who was doing work for the county this summer. At their meeting the contractor
measured 59th Ave Way along
with 303rd and 304th. This was done in regards to the paving of
those roads. He also measured the
street widths and he said that they were wide enough, 59th being 22
feet wide, the others being 18 feet wide and none of them needed to be any
wider than that. He also said the
contractors would have to come in and do a grading of the roads then they would
be putting 2 surfaces on; the first would be 1.5 inches, then some sort of a
final coat of another 1.5 inches for a total of 3 inches and that was what the
county recommended. She believed the
company was called Rochester Sand and Gravel.
The county did get a bid from them and when they checked with the state
the bid he got was too high to add on to the amount the County was allowed to
have for this year. John Schuler at the
county recommended that Stanton would let them do it next year and then we
would know it would be up to specifications.
Dave
asked what was the bid.
Joyce
said the county would not tell her.
Rochester Sand and Gravel asked not to give out the bid because it would
be bid on next year by other companies.
She met with them for an hour.
She also attended the Hwy 52 Project meeting at Cannon Falls City
Hall. It was again a discussion on the
northern site, which was County 24, and the direction in which County Rd 24
would go. There were 2 plans. One would round 24 and go into the city and
the other would go more at a straight angle.
The city had to decide which of the two designs they wanted to go
with. After deciding which one the city
wanted then the north and south sites would be compared. MN-DOT told Cannon Falls that if they could
prove in their paperwork that a bridge over 52 at 24 was highly recommended or
needed then the federal government would come through with probably 85% of the
cost. The other 15% of the cost of that
overpass would fall on local government, which would be Cannon Falls and the
County.
Joyce
also had called the township attorney the day of the meeting with Cannon Falls
on Annexation (7-30-07) and he said it was alright to have the meeting but if
all else failed we could say we needed to confer with our attorney before we
made any decisions. He told Joyce that he was working with some townships who
had gone into this (annexation) and had gotten themselves into trouble. She had
previously asked Eric Hedke if there was some paperwork that could be followed
and he had sent her a Local Improvement Guide.
In the guide it showed a process that could be followed for doing
special assessments. If any board
members would like a copy she could forward a copy of it to the clerk and then
the clerk could forward it to them. Our
attorney advised her that he could help if or when we wanted help so that we didn’t get ourselves in
trouble.
Ad Hoc
Committee Report
John Krantz reported that he had gotten a bunch of questions from people
in Stanton Township to look over at the Ad Hoc committee meeting. When he heard that the board was meeting
with Cannon Falls he gave the board copies of the questions so that the board
would have a reference of what they were going to be going over at the next Ad
Hoc meeting, because the board’s special meeting was before the Ad Hoc
meeting. Since the annexation subject
came up so quickly they had decided to change their focus from Townships to
Annexation, and the pros and cons of it, and what direction they should have. At the Ad Hoc meeting they started to go
over the list of questions. The meeting
was also attended by Greater SW Holdings and their excavator. There was dialog all during the meeting
between everyone. At the end of the
meeting John asked if it would be possible for them to take copies of the
questions and possibly answer the ones that the Ad Hoc members couldn’t answer.
He found that the most interesting part of the evening was when they were told
the developer was not going to be building any houses. They (the developers) whole process was to
just excavate with sewer, water and curb, then sell the lots and they’re
gone. So apparently when it came to
‘first time home owner homes’ no one would be controlling the building
process. They said there would be
contracts for everybody regarding the turkey farm but if the developer was not
even going to be onsite, or be the builder, he could not understand how they
were going to control all this. He said the developer said they would sit down
with Cannon Falls and try to answer some of the questions but he didn’t know if
there was enough time with the way Cannon Falls was moving the whole
(annexation) process ahead so fast. But
all they could do was try. He added
that as far as the Ad Hoc committee goes they were just trying to answer
questions and anybody that had any more questions that they want answered, they
could call, or email and add them to the list and Cheryle Peters would take
care of it. So the whole process now
was for the committee to answer questions on Annexation.
Mark Dubbels said he had a couple of statements. When the Ad Hoc committee was set up it was
for education and research only. So he, as chairman, and was absent at the last
meeting, had no idea that there was a list being brought forward to go through
or to be presented to you (the board).
It was in his estimation that the Ad Hoc committee was in no way shape
or form ready to present the town board with anything, rough or in it’s final stages. He was concerned that the Ad Hoc was being
used in a different format than was originally set up. He had received a letter stating that this
list was an official Ad Hoc document presented to the town board. Mark wanted to know how the board felt about
this. Did it concern them.
Joyce said she didn’t feel the list of questions said anything about the
Ad Hoc committee what so ever on it. It
was just a bunch of questions from different people and she felt John compiled
them. She received a copy of them, but
they had not discussed them. If they
answered any of the questions it was not anything she used at that meeting
(with Cannon Falls) and they were all aware of what the questions were. She felt it was OK for the Ad Hoc committee
to bring up and discuss some of the questions because they were probably all
questions that we were all thinking about anyway.
Vince stated that at the meeting with Cannon Falls we were coming up with
lists of potential questions and the clerk was recording them, and John Krantz
came up with questions and so it was no presentation. He didn’t recall John mentioning the word Ad Hoc.
Dave said he did remember John saying he was from the Ad Hoc (when the
list was presented.)
Joyce said she didn’t think it was that important, it was just a list of
questions.
It was announced that the next Ad Hoc Committee meeting would be
September 4th at 7:00 PM, Tuesday.
Old
Business
Fee for
Copying
Betts stated that this was in regards to Clerks having to make copies for
the public. At the summer short course
it was brought up to the clerks and it was recommended to charge .25 per copy
for the first 100 copies then after that it would be actual cost. That would include the clerk’s time, the
paper and ink/toner involved. She
wanted to know if the board had thought about that in the last month and if
they had made a decision.
Vince felt it would be best to call other townships and bring back what
they were charging.
Betts said she would and would put it on the agenda for next month.
Culvert
Bids
Betts handed out sheets with the companies she contacted and the bids
that were and were not returned to the supervisors from those companies.
Discussion ensued about the culvert bids.
Joyce read that Lametti and Sons bid was for $34,890.00
Mulvihill Excavating was for $9,970.00
Henry’s Excavating was for $5,750.00
Vince Cockriel made a motion to accept Henry’s Excavating bid for
$5,750.00
Dave Garner seconded the motion.
Motion passed 3/0
Dave asked what the guard rail situation was.
Betts replied that he (H & R Construction) told her he was pretty
busy but that he would maybe be able to do it the first part of September.
Dave said he would like the guard rails up as soon as possible.
Betts said she would call him.
Poison
Ivy Bids
Betts handed out sheets with the companies contacted and the bids that
were returned to her.
Companies contacted were Ag Partners who said no because of insurance,
Ides of Randolph who said no due to insurance, Central Valley of Northfield
who’s bid was $780.00 and DuBar Tree Service of Cannon Falls who’s bid was
$650.00
Discussion ensued regarding the Poison Ivy bids for poison ivy control on
Sciota Trail.
Joyce reminded the clerk to get a copy of the companies insurance.
Vince Cockriel made a motion to grant the bid to DuBar Tree Service for
$650.00.
Dave Garner 2nd the motion.
Motion passed 3/0
Annexation with Cannon Falls – Documents
Received
Discussion ensued regarding items which were requested from Cannon Falls
meeting on July 30.
Joyce read the list aloud along with response from Cannon Falls:
3 copies
of Cannon Falls 2003 Comprehensive Plan – Cannon
Falls did give 3 copies
If the
city has been given a Plat, Stanton Twp would like 1 copy of the legal Plat by
the developer. – Cannon Falls said it was N/A
1 copy
of Traffic Design for Project. – Cannon Falls said it was N/A
Sewer
and water…did the city have to bring it to the developers property? = yes or no? Cannon Falls said the developers will be
responsible for the cost.
1 copy
of each Annexation Agreement with CF Twp.
Cannon Falls did send copies of a
couple of agreements
Stanton
twp needed to be notified of a date when the fire and police
responsibility would be assumed by Cannon Falls. Cannon Falls said at the
point of when Annexation was final.
1 copy
of developer Soil Test to assure the viability of the project. Cannon
Falls said N/A
1 copy
of the purchase agreement or title to” right of way” by developer to connect to
County 24. Cannon Falls said that copy was given.
1 copy
of the Legal Survey of Property which was recorded with the county. Cannon
Falls said it was N/A
3 copies
of Cannon Falls Comprehensive plan dated just previous to the current 2003
one. Cannon Falls did give 3 copies.
1 copy of the 2 mile mapping done by Goodhue County. No
Response.
Total number of copies was 322
(pages) @ .25 each. For a total of $81.00.
The clerk paid for the copies out
of her own money.
Joyce Moorhouse made a motion to
have the clerk reimbursed for the $81.00 spent.
Vince
Cockriel seconded the motion
Motion passed 3/0
Vince
said he wanted to comment that he did remember the Mayor saying that he would
make copies available to the board members at no cost.
Joyce
wanted to discuss and remind everyone that right of ways were owned by all
property owners in the township. But
that didn’t mean that anything could be done with them, because Stanton
Township had an easement on all the right of ways. Also, Right of Way has become an issue with her because the
people requesting the annexation are claiming that they own the right of way,
but we all own right of way in the township.
As far as taxes go residents were not taxed on the right of way
property. She verified that with the
county. Everyone in the township owns the middle of the road and that’s called
Right of Way and we are not taxed on it and you cannot use it for anything
because Stanton Township has the easement.
As far as 315th Street goes, it is a street in Stanton
Township. Stanton has the easement for
that. There was a house back in behind
there (315th St.) and we cannot give up our right of way or easement
of the right of way to Cannon Falls because we would leave those people without
a road in Stanton Township. She said
they (the developers) bought the right of way but that does not allow them to
use it in any way they wish. She felt
the State would uphold those findings.
Dave
wanted to know when they (the board) wanted to try to do orderly annexation.
Joyce
explained the processes Cannon Falls was going through regarding Annexation to
the audience.
Steve
Emery mentioned setbacks from a feedlot (the turkey farm) and wouldn’t they
(the developers) have to go to the county and request a variance. He read there
was a 1 mile limit from city limits to a feedlot.
Vince
said in going through the (Cannon Falls) comprehensive plans he saw a lot of
contradiction in what they said they wanted to do and what they were doing,
that they expected Stanton to jump through a lot of hoops in a very short
time.
Dave
asked if the other board members wanted to even talk to Cannon Falls about a
possible Orderly Annexation.
Vince
said if they want us to rush to meet the September 15 deadline, that was
unreasonable. We asked for basically 8
things and they came forth with 4. Now
we were a week and a half away from the deadline. He would like to see significant input from the Ad Hoc Committee,
he would like to see some public meetings on our side of the highway. He just didn’t think that the time frame was
there.
Dave
said do you (the board members) believe Cannon Falls is going to take the 120
acres.
Joyce
replied do you believe Cannon Falls is going to take the 120 acres?
Dave
said yes.
Joyce
said yes too
Dave
said then we should try to get something out of the deal.
Joyce
said no, if they really wanted an Orderly Annexation they would have come to us
honestly when we wanted to meet with them last November. They had never come to the table with only
Orderly Annexation on their mind.
Joyce
asked Dave what he thought they would get out of Orderly Annexation
Dave
said he would try to get a couple of things.
A standstill agreement saying they (Cannon Falls) would not annex
anything for the next 12 months. Then
during those 12 months Cannon Falls and Stanton Township would negotiate a comprehensive
orderly annexation (agreement) for the rest of the township, so we would know
what’s going on.
It could
say if the land owner came forward (with petition) then this would be the
corridor where there could be annexation.
It would just mean this was where the growth was going to happen. An orderly annexation agreement would not
mean something was to be annexed in.
You could protect every land owner because of that statement. If the
land owner didn’t want to be annexed in you could stop it. Anything was negotiable at that point. We could use this as leverage to get Cannon
Falls to sit down with us and negotiate in good faith a comprehensive orderly
annexation to cover the next 20 years.
Something we didn’t have now.
Then every citizen would know if they were in or out of that annexation
area. If you didn’t have an agreement
we would be going though this 120 acres every time and having this discussion
every time. He felt we should try to
use this as leverage to try to get Cannon Falls to sit down with us. We’re not giving up anything, they were
going to take it anyway. Dave continued
saying if we don’t do something now the same thing will happen again with another
120 acres.
Vince
said that what they (Cannon Falls) had done with the dual track was a
tremendous show of bad faith. It set
the tone for everything they were going through tonight. He agreed with Joyce if they had come to us
6 months ago it would be a different matter.
Discussion
and comments continued with audience input.
Dave
asked if he could bring the discussion to a conclusion.
Joyce
said she felt more time was needed to look at the paperwork.
Vince
said if someone called for a vote he would have to vote against racing to an
orderly annexation agreement at this time.
He felt it would be best for the community, in his mind, not having a
chance to hold any public meetings and finding out what individual home owners
that border this property, giving them a chance to be heard and speak as Cannon
Falls was doing with their citizens.
Dave
asked would you like to try to get it done in the next month.
Vince
said No. He would try though, but to
him there was an arbitrary date that needed to say…why the big rush? He was willing to listen, and put his time
in but he felt nothing was explained to him why they should be in a big
hurry. He understood the developers
being in a hurry to get some things in order, but that’s their deal, not
ours.
Joyce
added it they were going to call for a vote on it tonight she would have to say
they (Cannon Falls) had set the course that they want to go. She didn’t feel the developers were really
sincere in what they were doing there.
They didn’t even have a plat yet, what they gave us was not a plat.
Dave
asked if she felt we owed Cannon Falls an answer.
Joyce
said no, but if he wanted an answer she was not ready to make that decision
yet. She wanted to read through and study this (Cannon Falls documents) and she
had not had the time.
Vince
added that there were still 4 items on their list that hadn’t been given to
them yet.
Mark
Dubbels stated that because he was at the meeting with Cannon Falls and did
hear the Mayor say all documents would be made available to Stanton Board at no
fee, so he would like some kind of motion from the board asking for the eighty
some dollars of tax payer money back.
With the annexation by ordinance there still had to be a public hearing
and we as residents could say our piece.
Dave
said the developers did come before the board with their concept and they
talked about the density they wanted and we informed them we could not support
that density, and that was it.
Mark
continued saying that Annexation by Ordinance was a State Law process. To finalize that process certain things and
benchmarks had to be met. He was not
seeing that documentation.
Joyce
said she spoke with the Mayor last week and he had told her if there were any
documents she had not received she should contact him. She advised the clerk to send the list of
items not received to the Mayor. He would see that we got those documents.
Mark
asked if he could see a motion to get our tax money back.
Joyce
said she thought that Cannon Falls would provide them with all the documents as
they knew they could not look at one document, they needed to have 3 because
they individually needed to see them.
Joyce
Moorhouse made a motion that we request of Cannon Falls to return our $81.00
for the documents which they said they would provide us with.
Vince
Cockriel seconded the motion.
Motion
passed 3/0
Joyce
asked the clerk to send the letter.
Dave
told the clerk to make a copy for the mayor besides the city administrator.
Betts
asked if she could quote from the minutes.
She was
told yes.
Joyce
said she told them they could not meet without holding a public meeting and so
they needed 3 copies.
Dave
said he still felt we should tell Cannon Falls that either we’re not going to
consider or we would consider, or what.
He felt we owed it to Cannon Falls to say something to them, instead of
leaving them hanging.
Joyce
Moorhouse made a motion that they were still considering on their request for
Orderly Annexation and when they received all the documents that they had asked
for, in which the Mayor had now promised we would receive, we would discuss the
issue in the near future and entertain a motion at our next board meeting.
Vince
Cockriel seconded the motion
Motion
passed 3/0
Road Paving
Joyce
said she would continue to work on the process of getting the necessary
information regarding the paving of 59th, 303rd and 304th
streets. She felt the next thing that
had to be done was that they needed to come forward with some type of request.
They had already presented a petition, but there was other paperwork that had
to be done. When she got that they would discuss it at the next board
meeting. The county, she thought, let
out bids after the first of the year.
Dave
said he still had reservations about bonding, he really didn’t want the
township to go into debt.
Joyce
said the bond that they would get from the bank went back to each property
owner and there was a way to do that where we would not be involved. She stated she would have the document that
the MAT attorney had sent to her, it was just a website. She was told (the procedure) was the same
for towns as it was for cities.
Some
discussion ensued regarding assessments.
Levy for 2008
Joyce
stated that the Levy discussion was done in May 2007.
Joyce
recapped the discussion from that meeting by reading aloud the minutes
pertaining to the levy:
The Levy
was explained by Ken as it was what the board was asking for from the citizens.
The
Budget was how much and from wherever (fund) we were going to spend.
Kens
data showed $135,000.00 Levy for this past year. $182,000.00 was the Levy for this year (2007). $205,000.00 was the proposed Levy for
2008. There was an error of $25,000.00
in the 2007 Levy. Last year the board voted on a $90,000.00 increase, that was
not based on the $182,000.00. MAT had
advised the board to set aside the $25,000.00 (error). The levy should have been $157,000.00 for
2007 and it would be increased by $90,000.00 for 2008. We still had the overage of $25,000.00
because the clerk took a wrong figure when she sent the Levy into the
county. She had used the Budget figure
to add on to instead of the Levy figure. If the $25,000.00 was added onto the
157,000.00 it came to $182,000.00 It
was decided to put the $25,000.00 in escrow.
It was also decided to deduct that amount from the $90,000.00. The board then agreed that the 2007 Levy was
$182,000.00. The first thing to be done
was to deduct the $25,000.00 from the $182,000.00 so that it could be applied
to the next year. $90,000.00 minus
$25,000.00 in escrow would mean they would be asking for a $65,000.00 increase.
A lot of
the increase was to replenish the building fund at $20,000.00 a year. Then possibly they could build a maintenance
shed in 3 years. The 3 biggest needs
were the blacktopping (for handicapped parking) at the new Town Hall parking
lot, the maintenance building for the new town hall property, the equipment was
getting worn down and the fund for that was down also. The new bridge which was supposed to be put
in in 2008 was also a factor. The
explanation of the requested $90,000.00 increase was explained:
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.
The levy
increase for 2008 would be $65,000.00
The
current levy for 2007 per fund was:
Ken
reported:
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
It was
proposed to have a sub fund for legal.
Discussion
ensued about each fund.
Possibilities:
Legal fund:
reduce to $15,000.00
(sub
category of General Fund)
Road and Bridge: leave at $87,000.00 or increase at
$20,000.00
(2009
new bridge, plus previous sending had sometimes been as high as $
103-$107,000.00 )
General Fund: leave the increase at $10,000.00
Create a Building Fund: reduce to $5,000.00
( for
Equipment Shed)
Equipment Replacement Fund: leave at $10,000.00
increase
(sub
fund under Road and Bridge)
Fixed Assets: leave at $ 5,000.00
(sub
fund under General for flag poles etc.)
The 2008
Levy would be when we would be able to take back the $25,000.00 in escrow.
We could
not set a budget until the Levy had been set.
Joyce finished the reading at this point.
Joyce
asked the other board members if they had changed their minds at all.
Vince
replied no, but he did feel it would be important to make the old town hall
asbestos free early next year. He
recommended taking that money out of the building fund.
Dave
felt there were two things to be voted on at the meeting about the Levy in
September.
1. What
to do about the $25,000.00
2. The
$90,000.00 and to break it down
Between
those two votes we could come up with the certified Levy.
The 2008
Levy was being proposed at $222,000.00
That
broke down to:
General
Fund $ 75,000.00
Road and
Bridge $112,000.00
Fire
Fund $ 30,000.00
Building
Fund $ 5,000.00
Vince
felt it was important to lay out the things that were beyond the board’s
control, like the $20,000.00 for the new bridge, there was no money in the
building fund. We were responsible to
keep the roads safe, passable and maintained ..that was a number 1 job.
Ken said
if you looked at the “actuals chart” you can see the changes. In the past we had money built up for cash
replacement of equipment. The levy then
was never increased. He felt they
should be asking ‘how much was it going to take to keep us running’. That money that was in reserve was not there
now.
Joyce
said there isn’t anything that can keep running at the same levels, we were
under increase costs just like everyone else.
Ken
noted the Levys since 1997: the general fund had stayed the same until 2005 and
it was only the fire fund that was split out from it.
Vince
said you couldn’t keep the levy the same when the receipts were going down and
the claims were going up. Also there
was a lot more going on in the township now than 2 years ago. He remembered when he would come to meetings
just a few people were present and the meetings were much shorter, there was
not much going on. Now we had meetings
until 11 PM…that all adds up.
Discussion
ensued regarding the new Levy increase and the need for increases.
Joyce
asked when they would receive the increases.
Ken said
in 2008
Mark
recommended having overhead pictures and handouts for the citizens attending
the meeting in September. Also, having a slide saying what’s a budget, what’s a
levy. How to fix $25,000.00 error. Then a second portion (of the meeting) for
the new levy.
Joyce
said then on September 11, we will meet to discuss the Levy for 2008
Old Town Hall – Asbestos Issues
Vince
read the report from Twell Environmental who had examined the old town hall for
asbestos.
Power
and water would be needed at the site for the work.
It was
noted the old town hall did not have water.
Samples
were taken from the roof, under the floor boards, under the benches, and the
walls. The township could save money by
utilizing our own resources because things they (Twell) considered hazardous
material were things like; paint, drain cleaner, window cleaner, lighter fluid,
any of those type things were considered hazardous materials. We could just load up any of those things
and remove them ourselves. Total proposal was $3,933.00.
Regarding
the contents and structure of the building Vince said there were many who were
interested in taking much of the inside structure.
Joyce
asked if Vince would speak about the topic at the meeting in September so that
they could Levy for that work to be done.
Vince
said yes he would.
Ken
asked the board why the other company who examined the old town hall was not
used to do the most recent examination.
Dave
explained that the first company (Indigo)came in only to examine the air
quality of the old town hall.
Vince
said in the first examination there was never any asbestos (physically) looked
for or identified.
Dave
added the first study looked for air quality, for mold and bacteria.
Joyce
asked if they (Twell) wanted to take the building down.
Vince
said no. They would just remove the
siding on the east and west ends.
Discussion
ensued about using different companies to do the actual removal.
Joyce
called for any other business
None was
heard.
New Business
Planning Commission – adding
new member.
Joyce
said she had been thinking about the planning commission making decisions about
the ordinance and she felt there could be a tie with 2 members voting one way
and 2 voting the other way. It also put
a burden on them if one or two of them wanted to go on vacation.
Joyce
Moorhouse made a motion to appoint John Krantz to the Planning Commission.
Vince
Cockriel seconded the motion.
Joyce
asked for any discussion.
Dave
said he still did not see the need for a 5th member. If they looked back at the past history all
he saw was 4/0 votes. He disagreed with
Joyce.
Vince
stated there was a lot more going on in the community right now than there ever
had been. To have an extra bit of
experience from somebody in a different part of town, he liked a wide range of
opinions.
Joyce
called for a vote
Motion
passed 2/1 (Dave Garner voted no)
Joyce
thanked John Krantz for accepting.
Clearing The Roadside
Dave
said he didn’t want to spend anything until he found out what we were going to
have next year.
Joyce
said it was our responsibility to keep the roads clear. Possibly at the annual meeting we could say
that each land owner was responsible for his roadside.
The
clerk was asked to put it on the agenda for the next meeting under Road Report.
Dave
recommended each individual (board member) should go out and take a look and
determine which roads were the worst, then come back with a list. We should spend money on the most critical
roads first.
Joyce
said it should be noted on the road trip to also inspect trees.
Joyce
called for any other new business
John
Miller pointed out on the minutes that it said the Hughes property (building)
was shown as 86 x 40 feet and it should have been 36 x 40 feet.
It was
on the Board Meeting minutes, not the Planning Commission minutes.
Betts
noted the error and said she would correct it.
John
also noted that for the permit the cost for Rick Schaefer was $18,000.00 and
the permit fee was $118.00, it should have been $108.00. Also, the numbering for permits there were
two #5’s.
Betts
said she would correct that, showing Rick Schaefer as #6.
Dave
Garner made a motion to refund $10.00 to Rick Schaefer.
Joyce
Moorhouse seconded the motion.
Motion
passed 3/0
Upcoming Meetings
Joyce
reported a meeting on August 22 at 10:00 AM, the Highway 52 project.
On
September 4th was the Ad Hoc Committee meeting
On
September 11 was the continuation of the Annual Town Meeting for the Levy.
On
Monday September 10th was the Planning Commission meeting, note
change in date.
Vince
reported September 10th was the Ambassadors meeting.
Joyce
added the 6th of September was the Cannon Falls Public Hearing on
the Annexation by Ordinance at Cannon Falls City Hall.
Dave
would be at the National Town Meeting in Washington DC from the 4th
of September to the 7th of September.
The
clerk was advised that in case of an emergency she should notify her deputy
clerk that Dave would be absent during that time.
Betts
reported she had received a flyer from GTS, Government Training Services, there
would be training sessions in Rochester on September 26 on “Spotlight on
Subdivisions” and “How to Avoid Drowning in Lake Shore Development” September
30th in Fergus Falls.
Joyce
added the “District Forum Meeting and Election” was Thursday August 23rd
at the Cologne Community Center in Cologne, Carver County, MN. Tentative agenda was Mr. Walters, District 4
director for Minnesota Association of Townships at 7:00 PM.
Also,
there was an Open House on August 23rd for Henry Sorenson who served
on the county public works coordinator, he served for 10 years.
Ken
mentioned the MAT Annual Meeting November 15-17 in St. Cloud, MN
Mail
The
clerk went through the mail with the board.
Betts
advised the board that the ESS (Election Systems and Software) had notified her
that their rates would be going up.
CAPX2020
– letter received regarding putting up power lines in the future from Minnesota
into Wisconsin. A small portion of
Goodhue county would be involved.
Joyce
Moorhouse made a motion to pay claims
Vince
Cockriel seconded the motion
Motion
passed 3/0
Claims
were paid.
Dave
Garner made a motion to adjourn
Vince
Cockriel seconded the motion.
Motion
passed 3/0
Meeting
Adjourned at 10:50 PM