Minutes: November 9, 2022 Regular Board Meeting

Presented for approval at the December 13, 2022 Board Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Chair Michelle Meis, the Pledge of Allegiance was recited.  Supervisors present includes Stan Iskierka, Branden Mell and Betsy Rising.  Clerk Mary Winter and via Skype, Treasurer Mary Dillner were also present.

Agenda

 Add to Old Business on Agenda – Old Salt Shed.

Motion to approve the agenda by Betsy Rising, seconded by Branden Mell.  Approved.

Minutes

Motion to approve the minutes by Branden Mell, seconded by Stan Iskierka.  Approved.

Treasurer’s Report

Motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report by Branden Mell, seconded by Betsy Rising.  Approved.

Bills

Motion to approve paying bills by Branden Mell, seconded by Betsy Rising.  Approved.

Open Forum

Nothing at this meeting.

Road Maintenance Report

  • Tried to get all roads tidied up.
  • Rain will mess up the roads in the next few days.
  • Stan and John went on a tour of several roads including Shorewood, Belle Isle and Blue Heron looking for items blocking the road and the condition of the roads. 
  • Blue Heron has a dip in the road.
  • Signs that were here and post are all caught up that needed to be replaced are done.
  • Weather looks like after the rain it will be freezing and mess up our roads.
  • Branden mention to hit the roads hard when it stops raining and grade what you are able to.
  • John will attack the heavily travels roads as weather permits before the freeze.

Committee Reports

  1. Road Committee – 
  • Stan Iskierka requested the clerk order the next 75 tons of salt in December on this year’s budget.

Motion to approve the clerk to order 75 tons of salt in December by Branden Mell, seconded by Betsy Rising.  Approved.

  • John had a question from a resident if we will be applying straight salt to the roads this winter.
    • Branden stated we have had a consistent message for a long time, until we have the storage space to keep the sand, the salt and a mixture we don’t have any other option but to keep the mixture.  Once we had the capability to store additional mixtures we could talk about policy.
    • Only 1 or 2 people on Alpine want straight salt.  If these people ever come back and have a majority of people on Alpine which has an SSD the board could consider talking about updating the policy.
    • Stan continues to get information on cutting back on salt consumption.
  1. Budget Committee – 
    • Reminder to post the public meeting on the Budget for December 2, 2022
    • Clerk will post meeting on door. 
    • Supervisor Brandon will not be able to attend.
  1. Contract Committee – 
    • Braham Fire Invoice
      • Braham sent an incorrect invoice for $19,147.15.  Branden contacted Braham office to correct.  Correct amount $15,836.66
    • Fish Lake Terms of Agreement
      • Branden and Michelle met with Fish Lake Township concerning fixing a pot hole on Blue Heron, a shared road.  Our agreement does not address pot holes.  It addresses routine maintenance and then it talks about major road construction (milling or overlaying).  It was agreed upon that we do not need to rewrite this whole agreement just for potholes.  Fish Lake Township will contact our road committee supervisor, Stan, and if it is for small repairs such as pots holes it can be addressed and together, they will make the decision of the path forward for the repairs. 
    • CenturyLink WIFI 
      • All information needed from Nessel township has been sent to CenturyLink to close out our business subsidy agreement.  They will contact us when they are ready for our review with CenturyLink.
  1. Policy Committee – 
    • Nothing at this meeting.
  1. Clerk’s Township Update – 
    • Clerk present monthly report of township happenings.  

Old Business

  1. Service Order Template
  • Branden had an example of what could be used when we have a contract/service order with a contractor to ensure the invoice gets to the Township for payment prior to our board meeting.  In the “Notes” we can add the following information.
    • Invoices must be received by the close of business on the first Friday of the month.
    • Invoices received past the monthly deadline will not get processed until the following month.
  1. Old Salt Shed
  • Supervisor Stan received a quote from Kelling Barn Restoration for the repair of storm damage for the old salt shed for $9,500.00.  
  • Both Stan and John will be present when contract starts to work on the old salt shed.
  • Old salt shed should be done by mid-December.
  • Stan will obtain Certificate of Insurance.

Motion to approve quote from Kelling Barn Restoration for the repair of the storm damage on the salt shed for $9,500.00 by Betsy Rising, seconded by Stan Iskierka.  Approved.

New Business

  1. Reminder – Board of Canvassing Meeting – Friday, November 11 at 10:00 a.am.
    • Information Only.  
  1. Reminder – Budget Meeting – Friday, December 2, at 9:00 a.m.
    • Information Only. 
  1. MAT District 7 Open Seat for Board Rep on the Board of Directors
    • MAT has a process in place to replace the Board Representative for District 7.
    • Voting for the new Board Representative is January 31st at 8:00 p.m. in Wright County in Annadale.  Voting is only in person.  
    • MAT is in charge of putting candidates on the ballot.
    • CCATO has additional funds.  Chair Michelle will be working with the bus company, Lorenz, to get a 56-passenger bus to take board members from Chisago County to attend and vote at the meeting.  
  1. Added – Letter to Dwayne Peterson 
    • Supervisor Branden asked if we had received a call from Dwayne Peterson about 498th.  
    • Clerk stated that we have not been contact by the resident in reference to the letter sent to him. 
  1. Added – Chloriding in County 
    • Chair Michelle stated at the CCATO meeting there was a new member who stated that we all do chloriding in the county and if we all go together and run on our own timeline and use our own equipment instead of trying to hire this out would this benefit all of us in the county.  He will look into this. 

Motion to adjourn by Betsy Rising, seconded by Branden Mell at 8:14 pm.   Approved.