MP10-02
Maine Prairie Township Board Meeting
January 12, 2010
Chair Wicker opened the board meeting with the pledge to the flag.
Board members present: Supervisors John Wicker, Dennis Loewen, & Jim
Unterberger, and Clerk/Treasurer Terre Harff. Others present Chuck
Froehling, Lonnie Hendricks, Mike Nelson and Charles Craft. Bev Adolph
and Ron Albers were absent.
Chair Wicker called for any additions or corrections of the minutes.
Changes to information about Willow Creek clean up. Supervisors
Unterberger/Wicker made a motion to accept the corrected minutes.
Motion carried.
Chair Wicker called for the treasurer’s report. Clerk Harff presented
the board with the financial report that will be presented to the residents
at the annual meeting. Supervisors Wicker/Unterberger made a motion to
accept the treasurers’ report. Clerk Harff announced the audit will be
Feb 10th & 11th.
Old Business: Supervisor Wicker attended the City of Rockville Fire
Board meeting. The budget was reviewed and contract discussed.
The board was not informed what portion of the budget the township is
responsible for. There will be a member of the Rockville Fire Dept at
the annual meeting for questions. Before the annual meeting, the
board will need to review fire districts. Clerk Harff read the motion
made at the 2009 annual meeting concerning the fire districts.
Gravel crushing – It was decided to continue to speak with Knife River
concerning the gravel out of the Sommers pit. Supervisor Unterberger
will speak with them again to see if the price can be lowered.
Clerk Harff asked for advisement on how many ballots should be ordered.
It is something she will not be able to duplicate because the state law now
states the townships with over 500 registered voters will be required to use
the HAVA machine ballots. Supervisor Unterberger/Wicker made a motion
to order 200 ballots, with discussion as to how many ballots were used in
the past elections, Unterberger rescinded his motion and restated it to
order 300 ballots since the public accuracy test will also need to be done,
Wicker seconded, motion carried.
Sauk River Watershed material was reviewed. Information will be placed
in a file.
With no further old business, new business was called for.
Mike Nelson, MN Engineering & Construction Services, presented what his
business is and how he helps cities and townships with road bids, getting
proper bonds, contracts and finalizing the inspection to road projects.
The board thanked him for coming.
City of Kimball meeting - The board suggested the date of the meeting to be
Feb 4th with an alternate date of Feb. 2nd. Clerk Harff will contact
the city mayor.
Mailbox Complaint – Kathy Johnson sent a letter complaining about her
mailbox being knocked over. Supervisor Loewen went to the area and
reviewed her complaint. The board suggested the clerk send her a copy
of the townships mailbox policy and a copy of the letter, sent to all
residents living on Carnelian Lake Rd, stating that all the mailboxes were
going to be relocated. Supervisor Unterberger also stated that a
letter was put into the resident’s doors stating when and where the
mailboxes would be located.
It was announced that the County Land Use and Zoning Meeting will be January
19th from 7:00 -9:00 p.m. at the new county building on 138th Street, Waite
Park.
MP10-03
Gambling Permit – “Hands Across the World” will be holding a fishing contest
on Pearl Lake in January. Supervisors Unterberger/Loewen made a motion
to accept their gambling permit. Motion carried.
Day at the Capitol – February 24th with registration due February 7th
Local Board of Appeals – Supervisor Loewen/Wicker made a motion to continue
to have control of the appeals process. Motion carried and papers were
signed to send back to the Assessor’s office.
Comprehensive Growth meeting – Four dates were presented to the board for
the next meeting. February 25th was selected and with that being the
original date of the comprehensive meeting, no legal notice will need to be
published. Clerk Harff was asked to notify Community Growth Institute.
MN Dept of Transportation – Clerk Harff received a letter concerning
township information might have been open to the public on the internet from
Feb to Dec 2009 before it was detected. They suggested keeping an eye
on accounts for fraud.
Web Site – Clerk Harff read the email received from Mary Mueller concerning
the website. Supervisors Loewen/Unterberger made a motion to pay her
$50.00 an hour when services are required.
High Speed Internet – Clerk Harff stated that she chose to put high speed
internet in her home because of the problems she is having downloading some
of the large files coming in. She also found working on the township
website was running really slow in transferring the files onto the site.
She presented all the cost figures. With the bundle she chose for her
home computer, she could add the township computer with a router and save
the township about $50.00, with that get 5 email addresses so each
supervisor could get a township email address, they would not need to use
their personal email address. Clerk Harff requested the township
reimburse her $20.00 a month for service to the township. Supervisors
Loewen/Wicker made a motion to pay the clerk $20.00 a month for the use of
her internet service. Motion carried.
Annual Meeting Agenda – Tentative agenda: Open Forum, Fire Districts, Road
Issues (Elm Street Extension), Town Hall Property, Comp Growth Project,
Recap Rockville Detachment and Donations (keeping speeches to 2 min.).
Clerk Harff was asked to email last year’s agenda to the board.
Short Course – Mon., March 22nd in St Cloud. Tabled till February.
Newsletter – Clerk Harff requested guidance for changes or additions to this
year’s news letter. She would like to get them out before the March
25th Comp Growth hearing. Harff stated she would need to have
something about the precinct changes. Harff was directed to email a
copy of last year’s newsletter to the board.
Hurrle’s reply to the board’s letter – Supervisor Unterberger stated that
Larry had called to say he would work with the township this spring
concerning a field approach to his field on 150th Street & 73rd Ave.
Hurrle also said he would pay for the damaged street signs.
Unterberger felt the township should pay half of the cost and labor. A
bill will be sent to Hurrle’s for $39.75 to cover half the cost.
Snow across road – Lonnie Hendricks explained the problems the maintenance
company is having with snow being plowed across and onto the road.
Hendricks wanted to know how the town wants to handle it. With much
discussion, it was decided that the people are breaking the law and the
sheriff should be called.
Green Acre Changes – With the many changes, the board encouraged all
affected to attend the upcoming meetings.
MP10-04
Clerk Harff explained the board needs to write up a grant letter before
getting money for the SCORE trash pickup. This is new for the township
but the county no longer gives out SCORE money with copies of the bill.
The board asked Harff to draw something up and bring it before the board.
Clerk Harff explained she has one easement signed for 145th St., one she is
meeting with tomorrow and one she is still trying to set up a date to meet
with. She will have the documents recorded as soon as it is completed.
With no other new business, Supervisors Unterberger/Wicker made a motion to
accept the building permits.
Supervisors Loewen/Unterberger made a motion to approve the bills presented
including the cost of recording the 145th Street documents.
Balance Brought forth: $ 114,518.93
Money received
+ 38,002.67
Balance total
$ 152,521.60
Expenses:
- 65,471.02
Balance in Ck Bk $ 87,050.58
Total Investments + 676,454.87
Total Value of Twsp $ 763,505.45
Supervisors Loewen/Wicker made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion
carried.
Terre Harff, Clerk/Treasurer