MP11-36
Maine Prairie Township Board Meeting
July 12, 2011
Chair Loewen opened the board meeting with the pledge to the flag at
7:00 p.m. The meeting was recessed to move to the Planning &
Zoning meeting. Meeting was reconvened at 7:25 p.m.
Board members present: Supervisors Dennis Loewen, Ron Kuechle, John
Wicker and Clerk/Treasurer Terre Harff. Others present Ron Albers,
Lonnie Hendricks, Charles Craft, Jim Unterberger, residents from
Eclipse, Eldorado and 98th Ave and residents from Evergreen, Edom and
202nd St. Chuck Froehling was absent.
Chair Loewen called for any additions or corrections with none,
Supervisors Wicker/Kuechle made a motion to accept the minutes.
Motion carried.
Chair Loewen called for the treasurer’s report. Clerk Harff explained
$223,182.31, the first half of the levy money, was deposited. With
discussion, Supervisors Wicker/Kuechle made a motion not to move any
money into the money market savings because of the road projects moving
forward and the interest is not much different from what is earned in
the checking account.
Old Business:
Beaver Problems: Supervisor Wicker is checking with the DNR to see
what the best method is to rid the area of beavers. It was also
suggested to check online to see if the Oregon DNR has any solutions.
It was also discussed to continue with putting a screen on the culvert.
Easements for road ditch reconstruction have been turned in with the
exception of the people on 135th St and one is missing from 140th St.
Hendricks explained they are having some problems on 145th St because of
all the rain, the clay area needs to dry up. The question as to if
Balsam Rd can be done with the wet spots. All supervisors were
asked to go out and view the problem and it will be discussed at the
next meeting.
Randy Sabart came to the meeting to explain what needs to be done with
Eclipse, Eldorado and 98th Ave and Evergreen, Eden and 202nd St.
Sabart spoke with residents on the Pearl Lake roads explaining what
should be done on their roads. He explained the road is only an
18’ wide top surface and approx 2800’ long for all three roads.
Sabart suggests adding gravel to create a 4” base and lay 3.5 inches of
bituminous to make it a 7 ton road. There are concerns with
water flow, there are no drainage measures being done now so it was
suggested to do a concrete belly guard, a curbing system to drain water
away from the buildings. Sabart estimated a cost for the project
at $206,600.00. Adding to the cost is engineering, soil borings,
bid specs, publically bidding, require bonds, insurance from contractors
and the reviewing of the project while in progress; anticipating the
total cost of $272,700.00, on these three roads?
Jean Kimlinger is worried that their driveway would be too low and the
water would go through their garage. Sabart explained their place
would be one that would need a belly guard and some work might need to
be done to divert the water but the engineers would need to work with
the homeowners. Tom
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Kimlinger wondered how the cost went from an estimated cost at the June
meeting of $127,000 to an estimated cost of $206,000. Rose Wilson
was also concerned about her driveway. The board directed
Clerk Harff was asked to send copies of the estimates to the residents
requesting they come in to the next meeting. The board was going
to try to get an estimate from a local company.
Evergreen Eden & 202nd St – Sabart explained these roads would need a
little more work. He suggested doing a soil survey explaining that
lighter soils do not make good road material (more frost susceptible).
Sabart suggested that 2.5 miles of road would need to be reconstructed.
Sabart felt about 4,000’ would need to reclaim old tar, reconstructed
with extracted of material, replace with class 5 and add 3 inches
of bituminous to have it become a 7 ton road. With a 200 per day
road count, a 7 ton road is suggested with 22’ road top. It was
suggested to have 1 – 1 ½ foot on each shoulder. With the estimate
over one million; it was suggested that 202nd street be the one to start
with because of the blowouts.
Jim Phlepson was concerned about the cost and did not feel that it needs
to be an engineered project. He stated the road was done 20 years
ago with 2” bituminous and he felt the engineered cost was way out of
line. He would like to see a road company come in and bid it out
and use that figure. Discussion was that 20 years ago there wasn’t
proper preparation and the cost to build roads was a lot less at that
time. Wicker explained that this information from the engineer is
just a guide to use when searching out bids but the reality is that the
cost of putting in tarred roads is high. Property owners do not
want to give up their tarred roads for fear of lowering their property
values. Residents want the road to be repaired and patched.
Wicker explained that there is no sense to put $25,000 into a small
patch without properly removing the material that created the problem.
Loewen explained that the road will not be done this year. The
concern is that the board is considering reconstruction of the whole
road and leaving it gravel. Sabart felt the road has used up the
life of the road; it is not good to over-lay until it is known what
materials are under the road.
Marty View Circle – Sarbart felt the road should not be accepted unless
the road is built properly. There are sections in that road that
are going to have a drainage problem and needs more ditching.
The concern now is that the road doesn’t have class 5 gravel on as a
base material, the material needs to be tested to see what is hauled on
the road now. Supervisors Loewen/Wicker made a motion to have the
clerk send a letter to Louis Kunkel to have him come into the next
meeting to discuss the road requirements. Motion carried.
Supervisor Loewen made a motion to adopt the new road standards similar
to St Joseph Township.
With discussion, Loewen rescinded his motion to review the standards
more closely and have different standards for the diversity of roads in
the township. The board wants to make sure that there is a
developer’s road agreement included. This was tabled for the next
meeting. It was decided that this issue should be brought up at
the Legal Seminar in September.
Patching 83rd Ave by where the culvert was repaired, Loewen is getting
the numbers together.
Adolph- damage to the hay field – All supervisors looked at it with
pictures taken. The damage was minimal. As far as the
money he had to pay when putting his irrigation under the road, he was
sent back to the city to work his issues out with them. No action
was needed unless he is heard from further.
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Crack Sealing, it was explained the roads that were tarred within the
last few years will be the roads that receive crack sealing first.
Jim Unterberger feels that crack sealing is a waste of time. The
board has checked with other townships and feels it is important to get
crack sealing into a road plan. After crack sealing the roads will
need to be placed on the road plan for seal coating.
Kingston Street – Tiling will not be done until fall. Clerk Harff
reported that Kingston Township maintenance man was going to haul
gravel. She suggested he speak with the tiling crew before
starting the work. Kuechle will speak with Clerk Scheifelbein from
Kingston Township.
With no other old business, new business was called for.
Carnelian Lake Road – Clerk Harff received a call of a tree down after a
storm. She contacted Hendricks and they went to look at it.
They reported they could not take it down because it was hanging and not
lying on the road. Clerk Harff called Norgren Tree Service and
they came out with their truck to remove it. Wicker reported that
a tree is also hanging on Edom Road. Norgren will be contacted
for other trees that need trimming.
Culverts – Wicker will be checking into culvert prices from a couple of
different companies.
Road Retro reflectivity plan was drawn up by RSmS. Supervisors
Loewen/Kuechle made a motion to adopt the plan as presented.
Motion carried.
Rockville Fire is not completed yet.
Kimball Vet clinic – Clerk Harff again spoke with Kimball Vet Clinic and
they do not want to take in the township dogs. After confirming
this, the City of Kimball Police Dept. will be notified not to pick up
the township dogs. If they get township dogs reported to them, a
supervisor should be called. Supervisor Loewen/Kuechle made
a motion to pay for the one dog but to let them know that no other dogs
brought to the Kimball Vet Clinic, will be paid for. Motion
carried.
Weeds in the township – Clerk Harff sent out letters about the bull
thistle problems in four different locations. All locations have
been dealt with. The weeds in the township are not as bad as
previously.
78th Ave – By Bob Libbesmeier – Erosion from the last heavy rains has
washed ground out of the field and it has gone into the ditch. A
culvert will be needed in a field approach with the washout area filled
with riprap. Road needs Class 5 gravel. The question:
If the driveway and field approaches are in the right of way, what is
the township responsibility? Needs to be addressed with the
township lawyers.
Hendricks fixed a washout by Schindele’s culvert on 179th Street.
A washout was repaired by Mickey Krippner on 113th St where class 5
gravel was added. It was reported that water went across the road
on 133rd Ave.
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Hendricks reported that they started the ditch work on 145th but with
the rains, the clay ground has made it impossible to work until it dries
out. They are considering starting in a different area that
doesn’t have
so much clay. Easements were turned in for 140th and Balsam Rd.
There is one easement to get, Kuechle will speak with Libbesmeier.
Clerk Harff received a request for money from the Hwy 15 Coalition.
Supervisors were not interested.
Supervisor Kuechle received a call from the County Sheriff’s office
concerning an accident that took out a stop sign on 205th St. The
information was given to the clerk to pursue the police report.
Supervisors Wicker/Kuechle made a motion to accept the permits presented
from Planning and Zoning. Motion carried.
Claims were presented; Clerk Harff questions a bill she had just
received from MATIT for insurance. She is reluctant to pay it
until it can be checked into further. The township
association has grouped policies together and she did not receive a
declaration page along with the bill. She would prefer to deny
payment until it could be checked out further. Supervisors
Loewen/Wicker made a motion to pay the bills with the exception of the
MATIT bill, which could be paid after it is confirmed by Township
Association as to what it all included. Motion carried.
Balance Brought forth: $ 289,235.44
Money received
+$ 1,177.09
Final 1st Half of Tax Levy+$ 95,969.07
Balance total
$ 386,381.60
Expenses:
- $ 11,390.40
Non Sufficient Check
22.90
Balance in Ck Bk $
374,968.30
Total Investments + $
783,397.14
Total Value of Twsp $1,158,388.34
Supervisors Loewen/Wicker made a motion to adjourn at 9:30 p.m.
Motion carried
Terre Harff, Clerk/Treasurer
Maine Prairie
Township
12670 Co Rd 149 Watkins, MN 55389
Phone: 320.398.2905 Fax:
320.398.2906
clerk.mpt@meltel.net
Copyright (c) 2008