Minutes: June 11, 2019 Regular Board Meeting

Presented for approval at the July 9, 2019 Board Meeting

                                 

June meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Michelle Meis with the Pledge of Allegiance. Supervisors present included, Brandon Mell and Betsy Rising. Also present was Clerk Stan Iskierka, Treasurer Mary Dillner and Deputy Clerk Kelli Storck. Supervisors not present was John Paitl and Jared Landon.

 

Agenda (Additions or Changes)

Additions to New Business:

  • AED
  • Verizon
  • Salt/Sand Shed
  • Clean-up Date

 

Motion by Rising seconded by Mell to approve Agenda. Approved.

 

Approve Minutes

 

Motion by Mell seconded by Rising to approve May Minutes. Approved.

 

Treasurer’s Report

 

Motion by Rising seconded by Mell to approve Treasurer’s Report. Approved.

 

Bills

 

Motion by Mell seconded by Rising to approve paying bills. Approved.

 

 

Variance

  • Tim Donelon (49725 Afton Ave) – Requesting a variance to build a (20’ wide x 32’ long) garage 15-feet from the road (with a garage peak of 15’- 6”).

 

            No Action Taken on this variance as the Board did not approve this variance. The Board has        concerns with vehicles/trailers parking in front of the garage which would then encroach on       the road right-of-way which would impact the grading and plowing of the road. The Board            suggested he build a shorter garage or consider an alternate option, but at this time, Mr. Donelon refused to consider another option.

 

Open Forum

 

  • North Rush Shores Development (Duane) – Requesting approval for final plat of the North Rush Shores development (County Road 1/Belle Isle Drive). Iskierka gave Duane information on how to apply for a culvert permit.

 

Motion by Mell seconded by Rising to approve the final plat for the North Rush Shores development. Approved.

 

  • Acacia Trail – A resident has concerns about the yield sign coming from the Rush Haven campground and is asking if the sign can be changed to a stop sign because currently drivers are not yielding to the yield sign. The Board will ask Rush Haven to put up a stop sign coming from the Rush Haven campground driveway. The resident also has concerns about the weight limit of trucks driving on Acacia Trail that do not have business on that road and wondering if there is something we can do about it. The Board cannot do anything about the weight limit of the trucks driving on that road as the Board does not know if they have business on the road or not. The Township Board will request that Rush Haven campground put up a stop sign. Iskierka will contact Rush Haven and request they put up a stop sign at the end of their driveway.

 

Motion by Mell seconded by Rising that Clerk Iskierka contact Rush Haven on behalf of the Town Board and request that they put up a stop sign at the end of the driveway to prevent vehicles from rolling onto Acacia without coming to a complete stop. Approved.

 

Maintenance Report

 

  • Blue signs – Almost done with installation around the lake. Still having difficulty with getting locates done. Also, some residents are upset about the placement of the signs. The Board stated that we will install all of the signs and it is the residence choice if they want to remove the signs as the Township is not responsible for what the residents do with their signs
  • Graded roads
  • Some roads still have frost boils
  • Cut-up and removed a downed tree on Clover Trail

 

Motion by Paitl seconded by Landon to approve the maintenance report. Approved.

 

Road Committee

 

  • Road Precedence – Rising stated that they have barely touched the roads as they have been very busy with keeping the roads graded. One of the high priority roads is the frost boils on South Alpine and 487th. Mell stated that we should not be overly concerned as roads have been wet and that graveling and chloride are a priority. Rising stated that Anchor is the next in priority. It was decided that we will fill pot holes on Anchor. The contractor said he should be able to complete this task by the beginning of next week.
  • Gravel – Rising mentioned that we may be running low on gravel. The contractor stated that we may need to hold off on doing 500th and 505th until next year so that we can use that gravel for Clover Trail as the thin layer of gravel allotted is not adequate, so another layer of gravel will be needed on Clover Trail. Rising stated that some of the turn arounds need to be graveled. The contractor does not think that we will need all of the 500-yards of gravel allocated for Town Hall. Being that it is hard to get the belly dumps in the turn-arounds, all of the 500-yards of gravel will be dumped at Town Hall and the contractor will bring the gravel to the turn-arounds.

 

Contract Committee

 

  • Maintenance Modification – Mell drafted a Road Maintenance Contract Modification and he recommends that sometime between now and August 13, 2019, both Muddy Gap and the Board execute the modification. The third contract year extension was previously approved.

 

Motion by Mell seconded by Rising that the Board approves this contract modification and sign the modification tonight and request that Muddy Gap Hollow also sign’s tonight. Approved.

 

Policy Committee

 

  • Hours – Mell presented a draft of the current Compensation Policy with suggestions made to the policy. He asked the Board to look this draft over. We will discuss the policy at the July meeting when all of the Board members should be present.

 

 

Old Business

 

  • Mailbox Stand – Iskierka talked to the county in regards to them collecting a permit fee for the cost and installation of the 911-sign’s and the swing arm mailbox stand for new homes. Iskierka will update the current 911-Sign Resolution to include the swinging arm mailbox stand. Iskierka will forward the draft of the new resolution to Mell for his review.

An employee from The City of Rush City called Iskierka and inquired about Nessel          Township installing signs for residents in Rush City. Iskierka told them that we could        possibly do that for the cost of $200.00 which includes the sign and installation of the sign.

Iskierka needs approval to purchase 10-swing arm mailbox stands for the approximate      cost of $1,000.

 

Motion by Rising seconded by Mell for Iskierka to purchase 10-swing arm mailbox stands. Approved.

 

  • Blue Heron – There will be a Joint Powers meeting tomorrow at 1:30 and crack sealing will be included in the discussion.

 

  • Anchor Avenue – Mell stated that he spoke to Greg Anderson who is with Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc. (SEH) regarding a proposal for Anchor Avenue. Mell said that their proposal is in line with the Boards request to prepare bidding documents for the pavement of Anchor Avenue.

 

Option A: Is to make some repairs to the existing base, apply a 2” overlay, and gravel the shoulders to match.

Option B: Is to grind the existing bituminous pavement and underlying gravel to create a new gravel base. Then apply two 1 ½-inch lifts, for a 3-inch total of new bituminous pavement with 1-foot gravel shoulders.

 

Rising asked how will we be paying for the engineering cost and how will we notify the residents. Mell stated that he would like the Township to pay for this initial cost. He also would like one of the Anchor Avenue residents to be the designated spokesperson. This person would present the residents with the draft petition, a set of drawings and some estimates of the cost. Iskierka recommends that we start this Anchor Avenue SSD in steps. 1. Engineering; 2. Get the cost; 3. Locate a spokesperson; 4. Give the petition to the spokesperson to try to get 51% or more of the residents to agree to start a Subordinate Service District (SSD). Iskierka will mail and scan/email the signed proposal to SEH.

 

Motion by Mell seconded by Rising to accept the SEH proposal to prepare bidding documents for Anchor Ave and that the Township pays for the cost, out of the 2019 Blacktop budget. Approved.

 

  • Special Board Meeting Minutes – Approval needed for the May 30, 2019 Special Board Meeting minutes.

 

Motion by Rising seconded by Mell to approve the May 30, 2019 Special Board Meeting Minutes. Approved.

 

  • Dust Control – Per the County, Rush Haven does not have to pay for chloride Acacia Way.

 

New Business

 

  • Crack Sealing Bids – Iskierka presented the Board with two bids which include Blue Heron. Iskierka suggested that we remove Blue Heron from the bid until a plan is made with Fish Lake Township as to what we want to do with this road. If Blue Heron is removed from each of the two bids, then Fahrner will be the lowest bid. Iskierka asked the representative from Fahrner if he would be able to start Bayview right away. The representative could not give a definite answer as to when he could start Bayview, but thought it would possibly be September or October. The Fahrner representative stated that the repair work that needs to be done on Blue Heron is above and beyond crack sealing. He stated that the Fahrner bid includes flex-patching with poly fiber product and they would inject stone on top of that. Iskierka announced that the Blue Heron paving grant that Fish Lake Township was going to apply for, did not get awarded to them as we are not qualified. He stated that the Joint Powers meeting with Fish Lake Township is to discuss what to do with the repairs on Blue Heron on June 12, 2019.

 

  • The low bidder, to include Blue Heron Trail, is Prefer Seal Coating. The low bidder, to exclude Blue Heron Trail, is Fahrner. After the Joint Powers meeting the clerk is authorized to notify the lowest bidder.

 

Motion by Mell seconded by Rising that we accept the low bid pending the exclusion of crack sealing on Blue Heron which will be determined at the Joint Powers meeting. Approved.

 

  • AED – We received notice that we did not get a grant from Allina Health for an AED. They will give us a $100 discount. Storck will look at previous minutes to see what amount was approved to purchase an AED.

 

  • Verizon – Mell talked to a representative at the Verizon office in Cambridge in regards to a price quote for a Verizon MiFi. This device takes in a Verizon phone signal and turns it into wireless internet. The device is $75.00 and if we set up an auto-pay it is $75.00 a month for the service of 15Gb high speed and unlimited slow speed. If we did not set up auto-pay, it is $80.00 a month. The 2-year agreement would be written to the tax ID. Iskierka asked about combining internet with the phone. Rising asked if we need a landline in the office. It was decided that we discuss the possibility of eliminating the landline at the office and also discuss the MiFi at the July meeting.

 

  • Salt/Sand Shed – Mell spoke to Sherman Buildings, J Austin Construction and Cleary Building Corp about salt and sand sheds and asked what they recommended. The design that they came up with is a 30 x 30 building with a 14-foot ceiling clearance with a gable-end entrance. It would be similar to what we have except there would be a wall down the middle separating it into bays. It would be green treated 2 x 6 walls going up 10-feet on all interior walls. Only received one bid. Mell has received one price quote which is from Cleary Building Corp at $27,473.00. Mell will follow-up with the other two companies. Mell asked if the Board had any suggestions of other builders that they wanted him to get price quotes from. Iskierka inquired about the possibility of splitting the existing salt/sand shed into two separate bays. We will discuss a building style and prices once Mell gets more bids and talk about putting this as a line item for the annual meeting.

 

  • Clean-up Date – The clean-up date will be August 24. Meis will contact Evergreen and will create a flyer.

 

  • 480th – Iskierka wrote a letter to Harris letting them know that they are taking over 480th.

 

  • 540th – Iskierka wrote a letter to Royalton asking them if they are going to do any graveling on 540

 

  • Pick-up Truck Usage – Mell suggested that we put this on the agenda to discuss if we are going to sell the Township pick-up truck or how we can utilize it more often.

 

  • No Parking Signs – Mell will call the Sheriff’s Office to remind them about enforcing the No Parking signs on July 5 on Clover.

 

Motion by Rising seconded by Mell to adjourn at 9:30 pm. Approved.