Town Board meeting

August 12, 2004

 

Pledge of Allegiance

Roll Call

            Present:  George Sundstrom, Bruce Aho, Corlis West, Stephen Dahl, Jeff Cook

 

I. Approve Minutes

·         George made a motion to approve the minutes as they were mailed, Stephen seconded.  Motion passed

 

II. Concerns from the Audience

·         Marcie Stromgren – commissioner candidate

 

III. Approve Agenda

·         Move - Community center to the beginning of the meeting behind Correspondence.

·         Storm water mandatory education– Old Business

·         Stephen – Road and Bridge item

 

IV. Correspondence

·         Letter from Charlie E. Bille requesting a zoning appeal.  2004 Board of Appeal members are John Bowen, Jeff Cook and David Miller. George would like to make a motion to give the chairman the ability to set a date and time for the Board of Adjustment after consulting with our attorney, Jeff seconded.  Motion passed. John Bowen was involved 10 years ago with Mr. Bille’s first variance request and Board of Appeal; he feels he should not sit on this board.  George made a motion to appoint Bob Abrahamson interim citizen at large on the Board of Adjustment, Corlis seconded.  Motion passed. The Board of Appeal will be August 30, 2004 7:00 p.m.

·         Regional Storm Water committee. Jeff made a motion to sign the Regional Storm Water agreement so we can get one of our educational points out of the way, Corlis seconded. George requested question on the motion – motion carries   Motion passed Corlis signed as chair.

·         Buried cable request – this is a County Road not a Township Road, request will be returned unsigned.

·         Motorized use on the Snowmobile Trail – each supervisor received a letter from the DNR, there will be no study which makes the issue “dead in the water”. 

 

Community Center

Jeff Schultz and Mike Wardlow representatives from Johnson Control were here to renegotiate the contract currently held with their company.  The current contract had been negotiated for five (5) years however structure size changed with the additions of the portable classrooms.  Corlis made a motion to table this issue until September, Jeff seconded.  Motion passed. 

 

V. Treasurers Report

·         No report

VI. Department Reports

a. Police Report

o        Report read and approved

b. Fire Report

o        3 fairly large fires.

c. Legal

o        Tim was contacted by Phil Strom to discuss the possibility of moving $130,000.00 funds set aside by the State for community school improvements.  These funds are distributed on a “use it or loose it” plan, the feeling was it would be better to use the funds than to loose them.  The intent is to have the funds placed directly into the Capital Improvement Fund and eventually replace the portable classrooms with something more permanent.  An agreement, and an expense schedule should be created between landlord (Town of Duluth) and tenant (North Shore Community School) for projects currently done with the funding.

d. Town Hall

o        Hall Rental Agreement

·          George made a motion, under applicant signature, put in parenthesis “at least 18 years old”, Stephen seconded.  Motion passed. 

·         Stephen made a motion to include on page 5; “if alcohol will be present the town shall hire a licensed law enforcement officer or licensed security guard to provide security for the event”, Corlis seconded. Motion passed. 

·         George – no animals in the building as in the old rental agreement.

·         George made a motion to fill in the blanks and adopt the policy as amended, Bruce seconded.  Motion passed. 

o        Old Computers

·         Corlis made a motion to allow Don McTavish permission to recycle the old computer, expenses are covered under misc.  Motion withdrawn.

·         Corlis made a motion to ask Don to look into a second PC for the township and come back with a recommendation, Jeff seconded.  Motion passed.

e. Planning and Zoning

o        The board is now current with the ordinance. A second scheduled meeting for the 17th of this month to reconvene the ordinance discussion. 

o        Permits are coming in fast and furiously.

f. Recycling

o        People are starting to come in from Knife River, they cannot be turned away. 

o        Garbage is still a problem.

g. Road and Bridge

o        Annual Road inspection done by Bruce Aho and Jeff Cook. 

·         Greenwood road - sewer is not complete, roadwork will be scheduled once the sewer project is done. 

·         Wildwood road - is in the process

·         Gamble road – a major project, nothing will be done at this time.  M

·         Mace road - looks good, turn around is a bit small.

o        Bruce received a phone call from Harold Christensen.  The FEMA Grant information is incomplete, once it is completed $17,000.00 just sitting there waiting for us.  It was the township understanding all information had been completed a year or more ago.  Bruce will contact. 

h. Cemetery

o        George checked into a loudspeaker system.  Radio Shack does not handle loud speakers any longer so George will rent a generator allowing the use of a loudspeaker at the Memorial Day service. 

o        As of today no one has called with a bid to straighten the arch (arch is a pieced unit, not one piece as originally thought). 

VII. Old Business

·         Living Wage – George did a bit more research.  We originally adopted the St. Louis County Living Wage ordinance.  The county never adopted their ordinance because they were under the impression the State was going to adopt a living wage ordinance, which the State never did.  So as of this time Duluth Township and the City of Duluth have living wage ordinances but the county does not.  George will continue to research the issue. 

VIII. New Business

·         Election judge approval - George made a motion to approve the additions to the election judges, Corlis seconded.  Motion passed. 

IX. Pay Bills

X. Motion adjourn