Minutes for Regular Board Meeting of Sept. 9, 2014

Present: Supervisors, Tina McKeever, Roger McKeever, Deb Johnson; Clerk, Doug Schwecke; Treasurer; Alicia Kangas, Fire Chief, Phil Bonin; Asst. Clerk Gale Ring, Commissioner Bruce Martinson, and residents of Schroeder.

The meeting was called to order by T. McKeever at 7:06 PM R. McKeever moved to approve the minutes from the regular Board meeting of Aug.11, 2014. D. Johnson seconded. Motion carried.

Treasurer’s Report: Receipts for July totaled $1,141.57. Disbursements totaled $5,227.19. The ending checkbook balance as of Aug. 31 was $23,404.41. R. McKeever moved to approve the treasurer’s report. D. Johnson seconded. Treasurer’s Report was approved. R. McKeever moved to approve checks #3358-3380 in the amount of $3,339.31. D. Johnson seconded. Motion carried.

Lodging tax debit slips of June – $2,568.03 and July -$4,801.40 were approved and signed.

Commissioner Martinson: Bruce reported that Kelly Schliep has been hired by the County Highway Dept. MnDOT is seeking projects to be funded through their “Corridors of Commerce” program, which improve the movement of freight and remove barriers to commerce. R. McKeever moved to nominate the lowering of the roadbed on Hyw 61 under the railroad bridges by Taconite Harbor to increase clearance to legal height as a project for MnDOT’s Corridors of Commerce program.. Second by T. McKeever. Motion carried. Commissioner Martinson volunteered to contact MnDOT with our recommendation.

Scott Harrison from EDA asked for a resolution pledging LTTA money as a second security for  general obligation bonds to revitalize and expand Superior National Golf Course. He gave a history of the golf course and various funding programs since its beginning in 1987. It has paid back the revenue bonds using profits over the last 20 years. The general obligation bonds would be repaid first using golf course profits, secondly, if needed, with LTTA money, and lastly, if needed, with county tax money. The Township would be pledging about 25% of the lodging tax collected annually. Discussion included the need for, the viability of, the benefit to Schroeder and the region, and future liability from Superior National Golf Course. T. McKeever moved to adopt the attached resolution. R. McKeever seconded. Motion carried unanimously. The resolution was signed and given to Scott Harrison.

SAHS- Linda Lamb thanked everyone that helped with John Schroeder Days and the pancake breakfast put on by the Fire Dept. Activities included a historical walk, sawmill tour, vendors set up by the Cross River Historical Center and this year’s traveling exhibit, “Ojibwe Faces”. Their newsletter is now in color and looks very nice. They have a wine tasting fund raiser coming up this month.

Fire and Rescue: Phil reported on the coal fire at Mn Power. There were also numerous rescue calls last month. COMO is sponsoring an annual training event tomorrow night. Louisa Trachta has retired as EMS Chief. Phil will now share that post with Kim Janke from Tofte. It was suggested by C. Muggley that if we need to change our regular Tuesday meeting to another night, we consider going to Wednesday instead of Monday as we have been. This would then not interfere with the fire meetings and if someone didn’t know of the change they could still make it the following night.

Paul Wanous addressed the Board about their efforts to gain legal access to their land. He said they have been working on this for 3 years. The original easement was declared null as it was tied to an individual instead of the land. The original parties cannot be tracked down so intent cannot be established. There are some legal issues tied to questionable document recordings many years ago. This is the main reason Cleveland Cliffs is not prone to give them an easement. They have an easement from Allete for access on the east side, but would still need to cross Cleveland Cliffs land to get to it. On the west side they would like to use the old track as well. Mary Van Doren, affected property owner on the west side,  stated that while they had been interested in a cartway a couple of years ago, they have since gone  through considerable time and expense to build a new road for their property coming in from Cramer Rd. Also that when her property was last surveyed it showed the old track was entirely on her property, not on the line, and would therefore need to be rebuilt. The Board again said they thought the best course would be for the Township to give them an easement, on an adjoining parcel owned by the Township, giving them access to the west side of their property. This would require them to put a new path in as well.  Also the Board said they would pass a resolution requiring a security deposit, to be held in escrow to cover any Township expenses, before proceeding with the cartway petition. Mr. Wanous stated they would have to consider their options before proceeding and would get back to us. No action was taken on the resolution to require a deposit.

Road and Bridge: The grader is not fixed yet so Laboda Construction has been contacted to grade Sugarloaf Rd. yet this fall. They were the only one of three companies contacted, who were interested in doing it on a regular basis. Tina would contact Randy Merrit to see about getting our grader fixed. Clerk was asked to contact Arrowhead Cooperative to ask about them sharing expense for the road work on Skou Rd. Snowplowing for the upcoming winter was discussed. T. McKeever moved to appoint a committee to set guidelines for how and when the plowing was to be done. D. Johnson seconded. Motion carried. Roger McKeever, Charlie Muggley, Curt Laboda, Karl Crawford, and Greg Johnson were appointed to the new committee.

Cemetery: All flowers and ornaments must be removed from the cemetery by Oct. 15. There are 63 unsold plots in the cemetery, with none being sold the last 4 years, so it was decided that expansion of the cemetery was ot needed at this time.

Recreation: The port-a-lets will be removed after MEA week end. We are still having problems with trash being left behind by tourists. Clerk will look into having signs made to try to deter this.

Maintenance: The Town Hall has been sprayed for cluster flies again this year. Outside light still needs to be fixed.

Other Business:  The Lake/Cook County Association of Townships will meet at the Schroeder Town Hall Oct. 8. We will be hosting and providing a meal. Skip Lamb said he has contacted the County about concerns about gravel truck traffic and pedestrian safety. Also maybe having the gravel pit route trucks up Sugarloaf Rd. to keep traffic moving one way. There will be a hearing looking for public input concerning the proposed changes to the County Land Use Guidelines at GM Community Center, Wed. Sept. 17, 6:30 – 8:30 PM.

1. McKeever moved to adjourn. D. Johnson seconded. Motion carried.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:18.

Respectfully submitted,

 

Doug Schwecke, Clerk