Maine Prairie Township
Board Meeting
May 13, 2008
Chair Loewen opened the board meeting with the pledge to the flag. He recessed to Planning & Zoning at 7:05 p.m.
Board members present: Supervisors John Wicker, Jim Unterberger, & Dennis Loewen, Clerk/Treasurer Terre Harff, Deputy Clerk Beverly Adolph. Others present Chuck Froehling, Lonnie Hendricks, Andy Hildger, Roger Neil, George Weral, Alvin Fischer, Gene Merten, Red from Tri Co Tree Service and Bill Thell.
Chair Loewen asked if there were any additions or corrections to the April minutes. With none Supervisors Wicker/Unterberger made a motion to accept the minutes as presented. Motion carried.
Treasurer’s report was reviewed. Supervisors Unterberger/Wicker made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented. Motion carried.
Chair Loewen did not contact Jerry Finch, Clerk Harff was asked to remove this from the agenda until further notice. The decision was to still to go ahead with the comprehensive growth plan at some point with someone from Lynden Township to give guidance on this process.
Board of Appeals minutes were reviewed with a slight change to John Wieneke. The evaluation was lowered not his taxes. The board approved the rest of the entries. It will be forwarded to Tina, the Assessor.
Township Association meeting on April 25th in Freeport was well attended. Supervisor Unterberger, Clerk Harff and Deputy Clerk Adolph attended from Maine Prairie.
City of Rockville – Letters sent to Christine Scotillo at the Office of Administrative Hearings by our Lawyer Thede were reviewed. Supervisor Wicker presented a copy of a letter that Mike Loesch was sending to Scotillo. Gene Mertens attended the City of Rockville meeting where they made the decision that the City would like it to go directly to a hearing and forgo mediation. The board said it will be a wait and see how it goes forward.
LUCA has been sent back on April 29th, 2008. Clerk Harff made copies of everything and will be turning in a bill from Kinkos.
Clerk Harff presented a letter from Fire Trac wondering if the township was interested in their business building for a township hall. It was declined because it was not handicap accessible, location was in the most southern part of the township, and the rooms were not large enough for an open meeting room.
Township Website: Clerk Harff is looking for direction from the board. The board is looking at township history as a home page, contacts, pictures of the monument, links to the county, topics at the top of the page or in a dropdown windows, and policies but not ordinances included. It was suggested the clerk meet with Mary and go from there.
Newsletter: It was suggested that the township go ahead with a newsletter; including donations, farming the right of way and information about the town hall.
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The board reviewed the budget. Clerk Harff said the Annual meeting left the
revenue at $575,000.00. They also increased the Fire Protection Fund to
$70,000.00 ($10,000.00 increase) and the Town Hall Fund $10,000.00
($5,000.00 increase). So we need to lower one of the other funds by
$15,000.00. The Blading fund has over $105,000.00 in savings; she is
suggesting lowering that fund by $15,000.00. Supervisors Wicker/Unterberger
made a motion to change the budget to lower the blading fund by $15,000.00
making it $50,000.00. Motion carried. Levy amount for 2009 General -
$70,000.00, Road & Bridge - $330,000.00, Snow Removal - $45,000.00, Blading
- $50,000.00, Fire Protection - $70,000.00, and Town Hall - $10,000.00 for a
total of $575,000.00.
Board reviewed the minutes of the special meeting with Lawyer Thede. Wording change; about the City of Rockville have no plans for increasing city sewer or road plans for future in the detachment area. Supervisor Wicker/Unterberger made a motion to accept the minutes of the April 15th, 2008 5:00 p.m. meeting with wording changes. Motion carried.
Clerk Harff read the resolution passed at the Township Association Meeting concerning financial help from Federal & State governments for the reflective signs required by law. The letter from the association asked that each township sign the resolution so it can petition for Federal and State Funds. Supervisor Unterberger/Wicker made a motion to sign the sign resolution. Unterberger – Yes, Wicker – Yes and Loewen – Yes, Motion carried.
Liquor License requests from Kimball Golf Course, Powder Ridge Ski Area and Pearl Lake Lodge. Supervisor Wicker/Unterberger made a motion to accept all three liquor licenses. Motion carried.
Clerk Harff received a call of a missing dog. It is a Maltese breed owned by Bowen Meyer. The wind blew over the dog kennel and the dog ran away. The clerk has the name and number if a dog is reported found.
Red from Tri Co Tree Service was present to turn in his bill for work done on 113th St. He was turning in his bill with a $300 increase over his bid amount for extra work done. Supervisor Wicker said that Larry Krippner was digging up all the stumps. Supervisors Loewen/Unterberger made a motion to pay the bill with the increase. Motion carried.
Supervisor Wicker explained the road width problems on the 145th project.
John Strokhart from MN DOT was the contact person last year when the project
was approved; there is a new head of MN DOT is Kevin Howidson. Howidson will
not accept the intended road width as first planned. MN DOT standard was a
22’ top with 2’ side roads. It was suggested that the township get a
variance to be allowed to put in the smaller road. Howidson said he will not
recommend a variance. Supervisor Wicker felt we should go ahead with the
variance process since the money was approved already. Loewen suggested we
have Wenck Engineering submit comment on it, apply for the variance and get
some representatives involved at the June meeting.
Dust Control: Clerk Harff has sent letters to all previous dust guarding residents. It was discussed to do 66th from Hwy 15, Dellwood and 113th as additional roads. Clerk Harff was directed to send Dennis Carlson’s money back to him stating that 66th will be used for testing this year.
Road right of Way: With all the new irrigation units being put in. It was suggested that if the township roads are irrigated and cause damage, the owner of the irrigator will need to pay the damages.
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Lonnie was asked to extend the culvert over by 126th curve on the east side
of the road, by Gary Linn’s curve. There are also roads that need new
ditching where the snow sets in. One area was 88th Ave by Ken Zutz’s land,
south on 123rd St and 145th St E of Ron Kuechle’s. Lonnie was asked if he
could do that work, with no wetlands and not going out of the right of way,
it is just considered maintenance. Supervisor Unterberger suggested that we
put dollars away each year and repair road ditches and snow traps until the
money runs out.
Supervisors Wicker/ Unterberger made a motion to accept the permits presented at the Planning meeting. Motion carried.
Bills were presented:
Disbursements Check #
Kimball Post Office 5 rolls of forever stamps $ 205.00 4300
Hendricks Sand & Gravel Plowing,Sand & Trash $ 8,649.50 4301
DiversiCom March. Bill 40.02 4302
Murnane Brandt Lawyers Detachment conference 57.00 4303
Stearns Co Auditor Address CD 30.00 4304
Tri Co News Legal’s,election,assessing, road bids,
dust guard,annual mtg 278.25 4305
Ron Albers Permits MP08-03 900.00 4306
Office Depot Norton Security 96.29 4307
Tri Co Tree Service Remove trees on 113th St 3,300.00 4308
Receipts Receipt #
Interest Earned Checking $ 119.08 Bank Statement
2006 CD Interest $ 18.38 Bank Statement
2007 CD Interest $ 33.26 Bank Statement
Money Market Interest $ 987.39 Bank Statement
City of Kimball 2007 Tax Annexation $ 330.40 074530
Office Depot Rebate for Norton virus $ 40.00 074531
Dust Guard receipts From residents $1,896.25 074536
Dust Guard receipts From residents $1,025.00 074537
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Dust Guard receipts From residents $ 212.50 074538
Office Depot Rebate for Norton Virus $ 30.00 074539
Supervisors Wicker/Unterberger made a motion to pay the bills. Motion carried
Supervisors Loewen/Wicker made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion
carried.
Terre Harff, Maine Prairie Township, Clerk/Treasurer