Annual Meeting March 8, 2016
Crow Wing Township held its annual town meeting on Tuesday,
March 8, 2016 at 8:30 pm at the Crow Wing Town Hall. Present were township clerk
Susan Amick and
those on the attached roster plus late comers.
Susan called the meeting to order and the pledge to the
flag
was recited.
Susan Amick gave opening comments sharing the purpose
of the
annual township meeting “the people’s meeting”, and how it is run by the
residents, not the town board. She also
explained the need to elect a moderator and outlined the role of the moderator.
George Burton
nominated Carol Wermter as moderator. Kathleen
Lordbock nominated Art Lordbock as moderator. There were no other
nominations. Art was voted in as moderator.
The first item
was to agree to an end time to the meeting,
reconvening if necessary to complete business. Sue Kern made a
motion to end at 10:30pm. George Burton seconded the
motion. The motion passed unanimously.
The minutes of the 2015
Annual meeting were read by Susan
Amick. Brad Arnold made a motion to accept the
minutes as read, Doug Kern seconded it, motion passed.
Susan Amick read the election results:
Office
of Supervisor:
Greg
Smith 34 votes
Office
of Clerk:
Susan
Amick 33 votes
There
were no write ins for either position.
Susan Amick read the board of audit report, copies were
given to those who requested one.
Greg Smith read the road report for Dave Schultz
who was
absent , Weatherbee, Cook & 50th
were worked on this year by Tri City Paving. Greg shared the problem with sheeps
foot
compaction divets on the road surface.
There is approximately 1.5 miles with these divets that do hold
water. Tri City has stated they will
repair the problem in the spring. Greg
has talked with several contractors who have given advice on how to handle the
problem. The board will work on the
matter in the spring when roads are clear.
Cook road had fabric material laid between the gravel and laptop. Dave
noticed when looking at the work being
done one day that the fabric was not overlayed in the center properly. Now there
is about 700 feet of cracking down
the center of the road. We have 40 miles of roads that last
about 20
years. We would need to upgrade 2 miles per year to maintain our roads.
Estimated price for repaving 1 mile of road is $125,000 - $135,000 at today’s
cost. We will need $250,000 to $270,000
per year.
The street improvement fund
now has $0 as we just did about 9 miles of roadway.
Other major costs per year are-
* $1,000 per mile for crack
sealing every 4 to 5 years.
* Snowplowing, sanding and
grading, $20,000-$45,000.
* Mowing ditches $3,000
* Maintenance $5,000-$10,000
Brad Arnold gave the planning
commission report. Mr. Arnold addressed
the appearance of Big Wood Timbers outside.
The purpose of the planning commission is to address land use permits
but they have begun to ask land owners in advance about intended property
appearance. Brad shared that Justin
Burslie/NJPA has been serving our township and it has been working quite well
for us this past year and that the PZ budget easily covered expenses with some
left over. There was an increase in the
economy & permit sales, plus a fine tuning of the program which led to the
positive numbers. Justin is here at the
town hall every Wednesday afternoon, at PZ meetings, by appointment and phone
call. The Planning Commission meets
every 2nd Monday here at 6:00.
PC is always looking for people interested in getting involved & are
encouraged to talk to Brad. The adoption
of Statute 462 was addressed by Brad regarding if PC members can be on the
board w/o being a property owner. It was
stated that the need to own their own property is not a requirement to be on
the board. How much to spend on property
violations was discussed. There have
been some ordinance revisions that have taken place. Violations are addressed
by the board as they
are reported, they are not sought out by the commission. Brad asked residents
how they want to handle violations. He also asked how residents want to handle
the zoning in the corridor along the 371 corridor south of the new and old 371
exchange – do we desire commercial development there or not? Kathleen
Lordbock asked about what violations
consist of. Brad explained it relates to
garbage & refuse overfill on property that ends up on neighboring property,
& includes excess old junk, tires, chemicals, etc. There is quite a variety
of situations
currently. Violators are charged $10
month fee. Randy Powers asked if it
should be raised. Brad explained the
procedure of the investigation that occurs regarding violations, time given to
address the matter before fines, etc.
Randy Powers shared that he has witnessed the town board “bend over
backwards” to try to help those in violation with property clean-up &
expressed there may be a need for stronger actions.
Greg Smith gave a recycling
report. We now have 6 dumpsters and 1
specifically for cardboard. We receive approximately $9,500 from the county
each year to run the program. St Mathis,
Fort Ripley & Crow Wing are part of the program. It was noted that the clerk
does receive
calls thanking the township for the helpful workers and good service. It was
noted that we also have a person pick
up e-waste also.
Greg Smith read the proposed 2017
levy amounts to be approved. General
Fund $65,000; Fire Fund $53,000; and
Road & Bridge $300,000 for a total of
$418,000 George Burton made a motion to
approve the requested amount of $418,000,
Carol Wermter seconded the motion.
Motion passed.
Ginny made a motion to keep notice
posting sites the same (town hall, website & Wild Rice Depot being a curtesy
posting location), Tom Merton seconded it. Motion passed.
Randy Powers made a motion that
gopher bounties remain at $1.50. Zach
Rogers seconded the motion. Discussion
on raising the amount was had. Motion
passed to keep same.
Donation requests for 2016
were presented. Don Hannahs from Zone
One First Responders was present to share stats on the 23 medical runs to CWT
last year. Zone One is upgrading their
training to be able to give people the best care. They are continuing to update
radios. They are the only first responder group not
affiliated with the fire department, are all volunteers and make no money off
of their work; all donations go into new equipment. They serve 9 other townships,
but CWT has the
second most calls they attend. Four of
the team members live in CWT, two are paramedics. Their services are about giving
back to the
community – they receive no profits or pay.
George made a motion to donate $2,000 to Zone One, Doug Kern seconded
the motion. Kathleen Lordbock brought
discussion forward to increase amount to be able to pay for a radio,. Kathleen
made an amendment to raise the motion
to $3,000 instead of $2,000. The motion
to donate $3,000 was voted upon and
passed.
Ginny Rogers, executive
director of Lakes Area Pregnancy Center spoke.
She gave an overview of projects happening in remodeling their new
building & reported an increase in client visits per month doubling over
this past year. Ms Rogers discussed positive
changes and additions to the program as well as areas of need they are trying
to address with increased staff, and connecting their clients in the community
for greater support. There are clients
from Crow Wing Township utilizing LAPS services. Doug Kern made a motion
to give $1000
donation to LAPS, Zach Rogers seconded it.
Motion passed.
Doug kern made a motion to
donate $250 to Crisis Line. Kathleen
Lordbock seconded it. Motion
passed.
Carol Wermter was present to
talk about the CW historical society.
The society is currently dealing with the buildings at the fairgrounds
which are requiring attention & maintenance, including making them handicap
assessable. There was discussion
regarding if we want to limit donations to things that serve our township or
expand beyond it. George made a motion
to approve $250 for historical society.
Doug Kern seconded it. Motion
passed. Doug Kern made a motion to
leave American Legion safety school at $0.00, Randy seconded it. Motion passed.
George Burton brought up
discussion on the possibility of changing the election hours to 1-7pm due to
the lateness of the annual meeting following it. Susan pointed out that currently
it is
required by state law to keep polls open until 8pm.
Brad made a motion for the
election date on March 14th hours to be from 2-8pm, followed by the
canvass meeting at 8:15 then by annual meeting at 8:30pm. Tom Merton seconded
the motion. Motion passed.
Carol made a motion to
adjourn, George seconded the
motion. Motion passed.
Meeting adjourned at 10:17pm.
