Minutes for Regular Board Meeting of June 9, 2020
Present: Supervisors, Tina McKeever, Bruce Martinson, Rick Anderson; Clerk Anna Green; 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.
R. Anderson moved to approve the agenda as presented. B. Martinson seconded. Motion carried.
R. Anderson moved to approve the Local Board of Appeals and Equalization meeting. B. Martinson seconded. Motion carried.
B. Martinson requested a change on the May minutes. This would change “hourly wage” to “hourly rate.” Also, under recreation B. Martinson requested to change Chuck VanDorens pay to say that his work should stay under $500.00 and not $250.00. R. Anderson made a motion to approve the May minutes with the two changes made. B. Martinson seconded. Motion Carried.
Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Carla Menssen reported: Receipts for May totaled $2,378.98. Disbursements totaled $1,645.51. The ending checkbook balance, as of May 31, 2020, was $59,168.00 and a Total Balance of $196,886.59. B. Martinson moved to approve the treasurer’s report. R. Anderson seconded. Motion carried. R. Anderson moved to approve checks #4845-4865 with 4863 voided in the amount of $5,669.29. B. Martinson seconded. Motion carried.
No lodging tax was received.
Commissioner Storlie: In May the property taxes were extended to July 15th. In the process of doing that, the interest rate was set to 2% starting July 16th and it will increase by 1% each month. Mike Tardy has been hired as a temporary highway engineer. As of June 9th, the county had 2 candidates for a highway engineer that will be reviewed. The travel advisory has been updated on a weekly basis according to the Governors terms. The courthouse will open for court system hearings and business only on June 15th. On July 1st, the courthouse will open for limited access. At the community center the condenser system has failed. This is used for cooling the cement. It was voted unanimously to put in a whole new system. Cares act, money has been allotted to counties. 600-800,000 dollars will be received in Cook County. This money must be spent before November. If the state were to allocate this within the week, Commissioner Storlie states that a plan would need to be in place to allocate what they would put the money towards. The task force would look into this. There are 3 labor unions in Cook County. A closed session for labor negotiations has been set. This includes the Law Enforcement, County Employees and the Highway Employees. They are asking that the whole board be involved. Rick asked a question about how much money went into the Law Enforcement Center regarding the projects that they would like to update. Commissioner Storlie stated that none so far but maybe the task force would decide on that.
Fire Dept: Phil reported that they had a good turnout at their meeting on Monday night. New air packs are needed. According to Phil they would be $600-800 for a new tank. Reconditioned ones would be about $2,000 apiece. These ones would be bigger. Grants will be looked into for this. Phil is looking for a new fire Chief as well as a secretary. A new lock was installed. A few false calls were reported but no other calls.
Road and Bridge: Curt Laboda did some repairs on the Sugarloaf Road. The culverts will be installed within the next couple weeks. Emails have been sent to the DNR regarding the application for the culvert on the Sugarloaf by the Superior Hiking Trail. No response has been received. Bruce requested a road and bridge meeting to be scheduled to go over culvert issues, and others. This was scheduled for Tuesday July 7th at 6pm at the town hall.
Cemetery: Bruce reported that Peter Knudsen put in fertilizer and raked the cemetery. Bruce asked for a motion for Horace and Linda Lamb to buy lots 1,2,3, and 4 of block 19. R. Anderson made the motion to sell the lots to Horace and Linda Lamb. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried. A cemetery deed form will be filled out. Bruce updated about asking the North House Folk School to build a structure for the water tank. This probably would not be completed this year due to Covid- 19.
Recreation: T. McKeever stated that she called MnDot to see when the Cross River wayside rest would open. They are looking at June 15th to reopen the parking lot and the bathrooms unless the Governor reports otherwise. Rick reported that more “doggy-bags” need to be refilled at the station at the park.
Maintenance: Kitchen project is on hold. Rick has not heard about the gutter project, but it is in the schedule. Rick is looking into other options for the siding project. He states that a hoist should be rented by the township and that could possibly help with getting a contractor. Rick will look into costs and have some prices for the next meeting.
Other Business: Last month it was voted unanimously to deny the request from the Schroeder Area Historical Society. The historical society listed the statute 138.053 in their request. Rick felt that their request does not fit the statute even though the statute allows the town to give money to the historical society. This statute has a cap amount and expresses what the money should be used for. In the request, it states that the money would be for tourism related. This is not allowed under the statute stated in the request. According to Braidy Powers, our levy of $50,000 is the ad valorem tax. If multiplied by the percentage stated in the statute, only $1209,00 maximum can be given to the society. The statute states that it must be for historical work. A revised letter will be sent to the Schroeder Area Historical Society.
A work session has been scheduled in regards to changes on the Schroeder Loan Program on July 7th at 7p.m
Chuck VanDoren is requesting to use the town ball field for Fourth of July festivities. The town hall building would not be used at this time. The money made would be for Birch Grove School. Bruce stated that he would be comfortable with the township paying for Port-a-Potties on township properties. R. Anderson made a motion to approve Chuck VanDorens request to use the town ball field and for the township to pay for up to 4 Port-a-Potties. B. Martinson seconded. Motion carried.
Correspondence: Sent– None
Received– None
Public Comments: None
R. Anderson moved to adjourn. T. McKeever seconded. Motion carried. Adjourned at 9:06 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Anna Green, Clerk.
Schroeder Township 