NORTHERN TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS – Monday, July 11, 2022. Northern Town Hall, 445 Town Hall Road NW, Bemidji, MN.
PRESENT: Supervisors Jess Frenzel, Mike Kelly and Chris Lahn. Absent; Curt Blumhagen and Gary Barnard. Treasurer Doug Kranich, Road Supervisor Tim Vigen, and Clerk Mary Israelson. See sign-in sheet for guests.
MINUTES: A motion was offered by Kelly, and seconded by Lahn, to approve the minutes of the June 27, 2022, meeting as presented. The motion carried unanimously.
VISTORS:
ROAD REPORT:
Ditch Mowing – Vigen reported that the work is mostly done and acceptable, except for a few areas that need to be re-done.
Crack Filling – The contractor has indicated that this work should be done around the 3rd week of July. They are behind schedule and have lots of work.
Trees – The trees near the mobile home park on S. Movil Lake Rd were removed.
E. Movil Lake Road North – Vigen would like to have some discussion regarding the portion of road north of the S. Movil Lake Road intersection. The first portion of the road is blacktopped and is in pretty bad shape, with it being quite broken up and dished out. He is wondering if the Board would consider that portion being milled out, filled, and re-paved. Kelly and Frenzel explained that this project has been brought to the residents in the past, with the thought that the entire portion of road in Northern Township (the northern end is in Turtle Lake Township) be built to the proper engineering standards before the funds are spent to repair it and blacktop. There are two (2) areas where the road curves and would be required to be straightened out slightly, but the two (2) property owners are not willing to give up the property for it. It was agreed to wait to talk with the entire Board about this matter.
Tavistock/S. Movil Lake Road – Joel Johnson is going to have a walk-through for this project tomorrow morning, with Frenzel and Vigen indicating that they will attend. The work is expected to begin around Labor Day.
JOINT PLANNING BOARD (JPB) REPORT:
The upcoming meeting has a case dealing with rip-rap on a property on Lake Bemidji, and a Resolution that addresses the mobile home park properties owned by Beltrami Ironwood Investments, and how the on-going violation issues will be dealt with in the future.
TOWNSHIP/CITY EXTENSION OF SERVICES:
There has been correspondence that indicates that our project has made it through the first phase of the Federal Bonding process, while the Beltrami County request for road dollars did not. There was also some correspondence regarding the PPL, and Lahn indicated that he will follow up with Mark Fuller regarding it. It was agreed to meet with Attorney Jason Kuboushek on Aug 8th at 4:30 p.m.
RURAL FIRE ASSOCIATION (RFA) REPORT:
Blumhagen was not present to report tonight, but had forwarded an email from the City Finance Director regarding the overages in the fire department budget for this year. The quarterly meeting will be July 28th at the Fire Station 4 location.
BUILDING/PROPERTY:
Cemetery – The repair work to the fence is not completed yet, with the extra fencing needed on order.
Garage – The work is progressing, with a wait expected for the doors and siding materials. A natural gas connection is required, and there needs to be a decision made on whether or not a new connection from Town Hall Road be used, or to tie into the existing connection on the town hall building. If a new connection is used, there would be an additional fixed minimum monthly charge (@ $20) regardless if gas is used, and if it were tied into the existing connection, there would only be the added expense from a contractor of digging the line in and connecting. It was agreed to get a quote from the building contractor for that expense.
APPOINT ELECTION JUDGES:
A motion was offered by Kelly, and seconded by Lahn, to accept the recommendation of the Clerk to appoint the following as Election Judges for the upcoming Primary and General Elections; Dianne Dockendorf, Pat Neurauter, Mary Locke, Mary Morton, Lisabeth Underhill, Mary Pietruszewski, Sharon Russell, and Clerk Mary Israelson. The motion carried unanimously.
LIQUOR LICENSE:
On-Sale License for the Bemidji JayCee’s at the Beltrami County Fair – A motion was offered by Lahn, and seconded by Kelly, to approve the Township Consent, with it carrying unanimously.
TREASURER REPORT:
Bills – Kranich presented the bills payable with check numbers 11215 to 11244 totaling $57,694.18, with the larger payment to; City of Bemidji for the Joint Planning quarterly assessment – $14,275.75, Wagner Plumbing for the new water heater and softener – $2,760.00, Bemidji Bituminous for the approach on Center Point Crt – $6,380.00, Johnson Construction for various work – $5,229.25, and Lake Concrete for gravel on Raspberry Crt – $8,033.20. A motion was offered by Kelly, and seconded by Lahn to approved payment of the bills as presented. The motion carried unanimously.
Treasurer Report – Cash by Fund balances are; Revenue – $216,314.25, Road & Bridge – $632,802.11, Rural Fire – $(64,168.69), and Sewer District Waville – $9,049.07, and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Federal COVID Relief funds – $91,562.49, for a total of $885,559.23. A motion was offered by Kelly, and seconded by Lahn, and carried, to approve the report as presented. Kranich reported that the county tax settlement and the ARPA 2nd distribution were both received after the 1st of July, totaling more than $754,472, so are not included in these totals.
Certificates of Deposit – Kranich recommended that due to the receipt of those funds, he recommends the following CDs be set up at Security Bank USA: $400,000.00 for 30 days at 1.30% interest, $150,000.00 for one (1) year at 2.0%, and $150,000.00 for 1.5 years at 2.07%. Consent was given for the recommendation.
Budget – Frenzel asked that a mid-year review of the budget be done for the next meeting.
CORRESPONDENCE:
- The JPB office had set up a Doodle Poll for the joint LGU Fall Tour, 2) pictures of weeds from property owner regarding noxious weed complaint, 3) information from City Finance Director regarding the over budget of 2021 finances of the combined fire department, 4) note from Engineer Mark Fuller regarding the blacktopping of the Acorn Ridge Plat, 5) email from David Hengel, Executive Director of Greater Bemidji, sent to members asking if they would like him to stop in for a visit, 6) receipt of the county tax settlement in the amount of $527,608.55, 7) notice of the quarterly RFA meeting scheduled for July 28th at 7:00 p.m. at Fire Station 4.
Acorn Ridge – Kelly reported that he has looked at the road work and it has been noted that there are some wash-outs following the weekend rain, and some weeds that need to be knocked down. But, it is near being ready to turn over to the township.
Weeds – The Clerk will follow-up with the County Hwy Dept regarding the weeds in the ditches. A letter had been sent to the property owner in violation, but a follow up call is needed.
OTHER:
Road Maintenance Bid – There was some discussion regarding whether or not the road maintenance work should be put out for bids, as it was always done in the past. It was agreed that it would be a good idea to do this again, in order to avoid open contract issues.
Clerk’s Hours – Frenzel asked that the Clerk’s hours be posted. The Clerk noted that she is working 20 hours per week, and set hours are difficult to adhere to since there are times when it needs to vary due to meetings, trainings, etc. She has been trying to maintain hours on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays, but sometime there are longer days, so other days are shortened. The Deputy Clerk is also working some hours.
With no further business forthcoming, the meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m.