SCHROEDER TOWNSHIP

      Minutes for Regular Board Meeting of June 12, 2018

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

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

R. Anderson moved to approve the agenda as presented. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried.

T. McKeever moved to approve the minutes of May 8, 2018 regular meeting as presented. R. Anderson seconded. Motion carried.

Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Carla Menssen reported-Receipts for May totaled $224.25. Disbursements totaled $5,166.20. The ending checkbook balance, as of May 31, 2018, was $82,748.03, and a Total Balance of $227,936.62. T. McKeever moved to approve the treasurer’s report. R. Anderson seconded. Motion carried.

T. McKeever moved to approve checks #4339-4360 in the amount of $7,432.32. R. Anderson seconded. Motion carried.

Lodging tax debit slip for March 2018 in the amount of $1626.81, was approved and signed.

Dave Rannetsberger from MN Power was on hand to update us about Tac Harbor Energy Center. He stated that the overriding reason the plant was idled until 2020 was for economic reasons and that they always had and at the time of idling were still in compliance with all emission standards. The plan to restart the plant this summer to test run the generators and use up the existing coal will not be happening. Again, it comes down to economics, it would just cost to much, about 2-3 million dollars, to restart the plant. The existing coal will be shipped by boat or truck to other plants for use. MN Power is still actively working on repurposing the plant, but nothing is definite right now. They are talking to Cook County about leasing the maintenance building for the highway dept. Dave was asked if there was a place on MN Power property that we could store some gravel. Dave said he would check and get back to us.

Fire Dept: Phil reported they had a meeting last night. Attendance has been very good. Worked on maintenance issues, mainly repairing the brake line on the secondary pumper. The Board reviewed the cost analysis from PERA about benefit level increases. After discussion it was decided to increase the retirement payments since the fund is at a level which should not require any contributions from the Township and would bring us up to similar levels with the surrounding departments. T. McKeever moved to raising the benefit level for the Schroeder Firefighters vested in the statewide volunteer firefighter retirement plan administered by PERA, from $1300 t0 $1500 effective Jan. 1, 2023. R. Anderson seconded. Motion carried. OSHA- Attorney Tyson Smith, Chair Bruce Martinson and Fire Chief Phil Bonin met with OSHA officials in Duluth on May 16. They agreed to a final settlement with a penalty of $2200. R. Anderson moved to approve ck# 4361 in the amount of $2200 made out to MNOSHA. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried. Working to finalize an employee handbook and completing respiratory training compliance.

Road and Bridge: R. Anderson reported that 5 beavers have been removed that were plugging a culvert and flooding Sugarloaf Rd. Sugarloaf has been graded and is ready to be graveled, hopefully next week. Thorsen’s has been notified that we accepted their bid for paving and is scheduled for mid to late summer. Discussed the plow truck. R. Anderson moved to approve sale of the plow truck by sealed bids, minimum bid of $15,000, with the money going into the Road & Bridge Fund. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried. Snow removal contracts are due to be renewed this year. Notice will be published in Aug.

Cemetery: Thank you to Chuck Whiteside for the great job he did repairing the planter at the cemetery.

Commissioner Storlie: Absent, but reported by email that the Tofte transfer station will have extended hours on Thursdays, 11-5, during the summer.

Recreation: Lawrence Landherr and Denny Fitzpatrick spoke to the Board about their concerns about the proposed Border to Border OHV trail, which would run across Schroeder Township. Concerns included increased traffic, road damage, no guarantee of funding for road maintenance and repair, damage to streams and wetlands from off road travel and noise pollution. No action was taken. The dog waste station is installed and the dog park is being used and appreciated. Dywers Lake resolution was tabled until July.

Maintenance: Discussed replacing the faucets in the restrooms. Decided to move the newer one from the women’s to the men’s restroom and install 2 new ones in the women’s restroom. There are some holes on the path to the ballfield/dog park that need to be filled in. The steps by the rear exit need to be fixed. Decided to have Karl reinforce them for now and maybe replace with a bigger one in the future.

Other Business: TSSSD- The detachment process is moving forward. The next step is a public hearing. They will try to set it for 6 PM, July 17, at the Schroeder Townhall. Support for Birch Grove Community Center was tabled. Clerk was asked to request more information from Tofte. Supervisors reviewed the current compensation sheet. R. Anderson moved to approve the compensation as presented with one change, that being raising the rate for Fire Chief from $10/hr to $20/hr and deleting the $25/hr OSHA rate. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried.

Correspondence: Sent–

Received– MAT cards, summary of WECONNECT listening sessions, population estimates for Schroeder 2017- 218 persons(+8) and 106 households(+4)

Public Comments: Sharps containers have been installed in the restrooms and firehall.

T. McKeever moved to adjourn. R. Anderson seconded. Motion carried. Adjourned at 9:14 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Doug Schwecke, Clerk