SCHROEDER TOWNSHIP

      Minutes for Regular Board Meeting of June 11, 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 T. McKeever at 7:00 PM.

B. Martinson moved to approve the agenda as presented. R. Anderson seconded. Motion carried.

R. Anderson moved to approve the minutes of May 14, 2019 regular meeting as presented. B. Martinson seconded. Motion carried.

Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Carla Menssen reported: Receipts for May totaled $404.26. Disbursements totaled $5,502.31. The ending checkbook balance, as of May 31, 2019, was $5,084.41, and a Total Balance of $140,229.69. B. Martinson moved to approve the treasurer’s report. R. Anderson seconded. Motion carried. R. Anderson moved to approve checks #4612-4634 in the amount of $4,614.00. B. Martinson seconded. Motion carried. After discussion on interest rates for our CD’s, R. Anderson moved to approve Grand Marais State Bank as our official depository. B. Martinson seconded. Motion carried.

Lodging tax collected for March 2019 was $1,596.02.

Commissioner Storlie: Ginny reported that the vacation rental ordinance passed unanimously. Details for implementation are being worked out. A joint County/City of Grand Marais meeting was held to discuss issues about the YMCA, county roads within Grand Marais, and shared law enforcement costs. More meetings in the future. The 911 system needs to be updated. Looking into working with Lake Co. on that. Reserve funds have been set up for hwy. equipment and bridges. $1,200,000 has been collected so far from the ½%sales tax for transportation. The first estimate on next years budget shows a 5.9% increase. There will be a townhall meeting at Birch Grove on Aug. 26 about the budget. Bob Thompson has been appointed as County Assessor as Todd Smith failed to pass his last state mandated qualifying test. A building committee has been set up to oversee the maintenance and upgrading of the County’s 22 buildings. Commissioner meetings will continue to be videotaped.

Fire Dept: Phil reported that there were only 6 people at last night’s meeting. Summer is always tough on attendance. The 3 local departments met with a MN Power engineer to review water access at Tac Harbor. No calls last month.

Road and Bridge: Rick reported Laboda Grading has graded Sugarloaf Rd. and it looks to be in good shape. Rick has fixed the washout on Skou Rd. The ditches will need to be cleaned out some time. Cook County will be crack sealing next year and hopefully we can do ours at the same time. Discussed weight restriction signs for Baraga and Schroeder-Tote Rds. Overweight permits could be issued to anyone needing to use the roads and would place more responsibility on any truckers using the roads. Residents may not want any more signage. Road committee was asked to look into “Children at Play” & “Narrow Road” signs as well. Cook County will be ordering culverts in the next week and if we combine our orders we will save on shipping costs. R. Anderson moved to approve purchasing up to $15,000 of culverts. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried. Roads committee will meet 9 AM on Sat., June 15, to compile an order and discuss signs.

Cemetery: Bruce reported that a volunteer, cleaning up at the cemetery, backed into one of the arches. He is checking on repair costs but hasn’t received any back yet. T. McKeever moved to authorize B. Martinson to have repairs made to the damaged arch, at his discretion. R. Anderson seconded. Motion carried. Some black dirt has been ordered to fill in some sunken spots and the grass has been raked and fertilized.

Recreation: The dog waste station at Harbor Park has been installed. Thanks to the Great Place grant and to Rick for installing it.

Maintenance: Clerk will check to see if Karl is still planning on painting the porch this summer. Railings on the back deck have been upgraded. We need to find out if our bathrooms are ADA compliant and if not what needs to be done.

Other Business: TSSSD- Our petition to detach is now before the Office of Administrative Hearings and we are waiting for their final ruling. Supervisors approved adding a link to a substance abuse treatment website to the Resource page on our website.

Correspondence: Sent-videotaping letter to Commissioners

Received–  2018 population estimates-217, households-107

Public Comments: Greg Westigard asked the Board, under what circumstances would the township consider taking over maintenance of a private road. He asked because he felt that could influence future development. The road committee will look into the pros and cons.

R. Anderson moved to adjourn. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried. Adjourned at 9:06 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Doug Schwecke, Clerk