SCHROEDER TOWNSHIP

      Minutes for Regular Board Meeting of April 9, 2019

Present: Supervisors, Tina McKeever, Bruce Martinson, Rick Anderson; Clerk Doug Schwecke; Treasurer Carla Menssen; Fire Chief Phil Bonin, Commissioner Storlie and residents of Schroeder.

The meeting was called to order by B. Martinson at 7:00 PM.

R. Anderson moved to approve the agenda with the addition of Trail Easement and MN Power coming to May meeting. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried.

R. Anderson moved to approve the minutes of March 7, 2018 regular meeting and the Board of Canvas as presented. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried.

Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Carla Menssen reported-Receipts for March totaled $32,900.30. Disbursements totaled $11,609.84. The ending checkbook balance, as of March 31, 2019, was $24,684.76, and a Total Balance of $159,655.62. T. McKeever moved to approve the treasurer’s report and to approve checks #4569-4589 in the amount of $14,884.10. R. Anderson seconded. Motion carried. After discussion on interest rates for our CD’s, R. Anderson moved to cash out our CDs at Grand Marais State Bank as they become due. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried.

Lodging tax collected for Jan. 2019 was $1226.36 and Feb. 2019 was $1144.75. As per our request of last month, Cook County Auditor will from now on transfer the money directly to Visit Cook County, thereby negating the need for us to transfer the funds.

Reorganization: R. Anderson moved to appoint Tina McKeever as Chair and Bruce Martinson as Vice Chair for the coming year. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried.

R. Andesron moved to assign department heads as follows, Road & Bridge- R. Anderson, Cemetery-B. Martinson, Recreation- T. McKeever. Safety committee-T. McKeever. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried.

R. Anderson moved to designate Cook County News Herald as the official newspaper. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried.

T. McKeever moved to keep the posting places the same. R. Anderson seconded. Motion carried.

T. McKeever moved to approve Grand Marais State Bank as our official depository for our checking acct and North Shore Federal Credit Union as our official depository for our CDs. R. Anderson seconded. Motion carried.

T. McKeever moved to adjust compensation with a $5/hr increase for Janitorial, Maintenance and Fire Chief, increase Election Judges from $10 to $20/hr, and set mileage reimbursement at $.58/mile. R. Anderson seconded. Motion carried.

No conflicts of interest were known of at this time. Contact list was updated.

 

Commissioner Storlie: Ginny reported that over 100 people attended the town meeting on the proposed $5,000,000 law enforcement center expansion. It was a good, respectful meeting. The Commissioners have decided to send it back to committee to explore other options. They updated some job descriptions. Bids for the public works building at Hoveland have been selected. All contractors for this job are from Cook County. Paving Mineral Center Rd. will begin this summer. There will be a public hearing on the proposed vacation rental ordinance tomorrow evening.

 

Fire Dept: Phil reported that they responded to the first fire of the year a couple of weeks ago. The firemen all performed well. The structure, on Skou Rd, was saved but had significant smoke and water damage. There was an issue with obtaining water. Will be meeting with MN Power rep to go over obtaining water at Tac Harbor. The rescue squad is looking at replacing there old AED (automated external defibrillator). Cost could be about $30,000.

Road and Bridge: R. Anderson reported on a couple of spring runoff problems on Sugarloaf and Skou Rds. The problems have been addressed and the roads will be fixed once the spring weight restrictions are off. Discussed plowing costs. It has been an expensive year with all the snow. The costs for plowing the bike path greatly exceeded expectations. R. Anderson moved to terminate the bike path plowing contract. It will be modified and rebid next fall. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried. Clerk will notify Karl Crawford, the contractor. R&B committee will meet at 4 PM on April 15.

Cemetery: Bids for lawn care were received from Greg Johnson, David Somnis and Peter Knudson. After comparing the bids, R. Anderson moved to accept the bid from Greg Johnson and issue a two year contract. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried.

Recreation: We have again received a grant from Great Place Project for a dog waste station to be used at Harbor Park. Clerk will arrange to have a portapotty for Harbor Park from Memorial Day through MEA weekend. Rick will help Karl repair if needed and put the dock in. Because of the bike path plowing expense, the Recreation Fund is out of money. T. McKeever moved to transfer $4,000 from Road & Bridge to Recreation. R. Anderson seconded. Motion carried. R. Anderson moved to approve and authorize Chair Tina McKeever to sign a Public Trails Easement & Agreement granted to Schroeder Township by Allete, Inc. T. McKeever seconded Motion carried.

Maintenance: Clerk will check to see if Karl is interested to paint the porch this summer and Art Anderson about the entry flooring. Decided to bring the back deck up to code (railings) and look at replacing later.

Other Business: TSSSD- Our petition to detach has been sent to the Office of Administative Hearings.This should be the final step for us. T. McKeeveer moved to approve Resolution 2019-01, a resolution approving $1,500 to Tofte Township for the 4^th of July celebration in 2020. R. Anderson seconded. Motion carried. Nancy Norr from MN Power will be at our May meeting to report on future plans for Tac Harbor.

Correspondence: Sent-lawn care termination notice

Received–  Tofte EMS, soil composting

Public Comments: none

R. Anderson moved to adjourn. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried. Adjourned at 9:10 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Doug Schwecke, Clerk