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KABETOGAMA TOWNSHIP REGULAR MEETING April 7, 2009
Chairman Nevalainen opened the meeting at 7:00 pm. Board members present were Supervisors McGregor, Town, Treasurer Kiner and Clerk Manninen, Deputy Clerk Tomczak along with 2 guests. All attending recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
Agenda - The Agenda was approved with the addition of Logging in the Township to new business, on a motion by Chairman Nevalainen, seconded by Supervisor Town. Motion carried.
Minutes – the minutes were reviewed by all present. The minutes were approved on a motion by Supervisor Town, seconded by Supervisor McGregor with the removal of the line PPSSD is shovel ready, motion carried.
Treasurer’s Report -
Payroll – Kiner, $179.16; Manninen, $399.10; Nevalainen, $317.14; Town, $46.78; McGregor, $46.77.
The treasurer’s report was approved on a motion by Supervisor McGregor, seconded by Supervisor Town, motion carried. Deputy Clerk Tomczak suggested that the lodging tax income and expense be broke out on the treasurer’s report. The Clerk and Treasurer will work this out.
Old Business –
Planning Commission Report - Gary Amundson attended the meeting and gave a presentation of his concept for the development of the Kabetogama VNP Nature Interactive Camp. Jerry Mitchell recommended that the Township Board of Supervisors send a letter to Mr. Amundson offering the Township’s support of the concept of the camp as presented to the Planning Board. Betsey will compose a letter to forward to the Township Board. The Comprehensive Plan was reviewed. Ben VanTassel was contacted about the completion of Task 3 under the agreement with ARDC. He advised the Board to follow the implementation matrix in the back of the plan and review it. This is being done at each meeting. Transportation; it was suggested that Bob Nevalainen contact Ben about setting up a meeting with St. Louis County to find out where we are on the county’s construction plan for the roads in the Township. Supervisor, Ed Town, has contacted Ron Garden from St. Louis County about performing a road review, possibly the first week of May. Bob asked members of the Board and residents of the Township to help him establish a list of concerns that he can give to Ed to address during the review. Bob can be contacted by email or phone. Residents are also encouraged to contact county commissioner, Mike Forsman regarding their concerns. Bob contacted Jen Westlund of the DNR regarding the maintenance of the entrance to Woodenfrog State Forest Campground. She will be contacting St. Louis Co. about grading. Land Use; Jerry Mitchell recommend that the Township send a letter to the DNR and to Forest Capital requesting their consideration of leaving a buffer area between the roadways and the areas being logged for aesthetic purposes. Open Board position; Jerry Mitchell expressed his delight in filling the open Planning Board position. His term will expire in 2012. The Planning Board will recommend his appointment to the Township Board. Community Entrance. Marlene Tomczak reported that during the Township’s Annual Meeting, it was approved to provide up to $750.00 for improvements to the community entrance. The money is to be used for materials including wood chips, but volunteer labor is needed to unload the chips, prepare the surfaces and spread the chips. Bob read a letter from St. Louis Co. regarding their septic system ordinance provisions. The County is soliciting input from Townships regarding what needs to be changed and what works well. Community Hall: A bill from the architect for the completion of the plans for the new hall as well as the estimate of the cost of the building was submitted to the Township. The Building Committee will meet with Andy Hubley from ARDC and Mike Larson from SEH on Tues., April 7 to discuss the timeline of the proposal and to see what funding is available. A grant writer recommended by ARDC will also be involved but is unable to be at the meeting. $20,000 was included in the 2010 Township levy to be put toward the construction of the hall. Voyageurs National Park: Mike Ward and Chuck Remus will be attending the Lake Association annual meeting. New campsites will be constructed. Trails/Roads; VNPA didn’t get funding for a Spring Trail Maintenance this year, but will be sponsoring a Tree Planting weekend in the Fall. Bob contacted St. Louis Co. regarding signage for the Lady Slippers. This isn’t in the County’s jurisdiction. The Township may be able to fund signage. Marlene will check into the locations of the Lady Slippers where signage might be needed. Namakan Basin Waste Water Project; The Joint Powers Committee met in Cook on March 26 and appointed officers. Bob gave a report of the meeting. The next meeting will be held April 23. Lake Levels: The IJC reports that the lake levels have to stay in the rule curve and so far, they are doing that. Concerns regarding high water were expressed. Community Road Clean-up; the dates are May 1st and 2nd. Volunteer waivers; It is recommended by the MAT that Townships provide a waiver for volunteers to sign holding the Township harmless in case of an injury to the volunteer. A form is available on their website and volunteers working on projects in the Township will be asked to sign them. The next Planning Commission meeting will be held on July 6th at 7:00 pm. Chairman Nevalainen moved to send the acceptance letter to Gary Amundson that Betsey Warrington wrote, seconded by Supervisor McGregor motion carried. Clerk Manninen will transfer this letter onto township letterhead and send it out. Chairman Nevalainen moved to accept Jerry Mitchell to the Planning Board, seconded by Supervisor McGregor, motion carried.
Namakan Basin – Bob gave a report from the Namakan Basin Joint Powers Board organizational meeting held on March 26th, at the Cook Land Department. Attendees were, Commissioners Mike Forsman and Keith Nelson, Robert Nevalainen, Rob Scott and Steve Weiber. Officers were elected as follows; Commissioner Forsman Chairman, Robert Nevalainen Vice-Chairman, and Rob Scott Secretary. Mr. Mitchell provided background on the JPA funding. The JPA board has $100,000 available at the St. Louis County Auditor’s office. There is a grant agreement with IRR to provide up to $50,000 in matching funds with an additional $50,000 possibly becoming available July 1, 2009. For initial planning purposes, the JPA Board can anticipate a total of $200,000, with $100,000 being immediately available. Jim Johnson gave an overview on S.E.H.’s proposal for the Vayageurs National Park Water Protection Program. The proposal is a two phase study to develop a comprehensive plan to address the area’s water quality issues. The scope of services includes the preparation of a preliminary engineering report, funding efforts and project oversight. The purpose of the study is to develop a plan for wastewater treatment in the Namakan Basin. There was some discussion regarding requesting proposals from other sources for this project. It was decided that a notice will be posted in the paper for other firms to submit request for proposals by April 20, 2009 to the St. Louis County Administrator’s office. The next JPA Board meeting will be held on April 23, 2009 at 2:00 pm at the Cook Land Office.
The Kabetogama Township Board members discussed additional billings from Gary Cerkvenik. Chairman Nevalainen moved to have the Clerk send Mr. Cerkvenik a letter stating that Kabetogama Township will no longer pay him wages after April, 2009. Seconded by Supervisor McGregor, motion carried.
Roads – The board discussed talking with St. Louis County about making sure our area is on the 5 year plan for road construction in this county. Road Supervisor Town will be meeting with Ron Garden to perform a road review. Chairman Nevalainen asked that the board and residents come together with a list of concerns for the May meeting that can be given to Mr. Garden on road issues. It was also suggested that anyone in the area with road concerns should send a letter to Commissioner Forsman. The more complaints sent to the county the quicker we may see results. Chairman Nevalainen suggested that maybe the township look into the purchase of a steamer to remove ice from road culverts. The township could ask the Kabetogama Fire Department if they would be willing to store the piece of equipment and make use of it in return for storage. Chairman Nevalainen will research this and bring his finding back to the Board. Road Supervisor Town will contact Jack Shelde about immediate road concerns that should be addressed right now.
Community Hall Building Committee – the committee met at the Kabetogama Fire Hall on April 7, 2009. Committee members present were, Jean Reichow, Char Brown, Sande Moyer, Marlene Tomczak, Lee Konen, Vickie Peterson and Betsey Warrington. Also present were Ed Town Kabetogama Township, Andy Hubley ARCD, Dennis Tabbert USDA Rural Development and Mike Larson SEH. Sande Moyer gave a recap of the progress made so far and presented the plans by Jim Cowgill, Architect. Dennis Tabbert spoke about the Community Facilities pre-application for the loan grant program and discussed possible funding sources. He stated that there probably aren’t any grants available from the USDA, but that the project would be eligible for their loan program. If additional funding is obtained from fund raisers, donations, grants, etc. the final loan amount can be reduced. Mike Larson suggested that the committee establish what level of debt the Township can afford, and then proceed to get the funding from other sources for the balance of the cost of the project. He suggested meeting with Senator Bock, Representative Dill and Congressman Oberstar. The State Dep. Of Commerce may have some energy efficient funds available? The challenge is working through the legislature. He will get cost estimates and send a proposal for SEH to help in the process. Andy Hubley thought grants might be available through the Dept. of Transportation as the project could be considered “Transportation Enhancement”. The building could house a Transportation Museum possibly with the Voyageur Theme. Additional money may be available for the information kiosk and bike racks. He thought there was a “fair to good change” of acquiring these funds. He will work with Mike to establish a plan for the committee and will look at what ARDC can do for us and a cost estimate. It was a general consensus that the committee needs some professional leadership to establish budget, grant, donation and loan plans and come up with who’s going to do what and how is it going to get done. Dennis went over the pre-application forms to be completed for the USDA. Sande and Marlene will work on these. Both Mike and Andy have agreed to work together to come up with a plan and cost estimates for moving forward and will get back to Sande in a couple of weeks.
PPSSD Debt. – The Kabetogama Township Board of Supervisors discussed the issue of the PPSSD members paying back the debt incurred on this project. The board unanimously agreed that this debt. needs to be paid back to the township. It was decided that Chairman Nevalainen will put together the data for different scenarios of paying the funds back and will send this information out to all of the PPSSD members. The members will be able to look this over and make comments and suggestions to the town board.
Signs – Chairman Nevalainen contacted St. Louis County about obtaining signs from them stating that it is unlawful to pick Lady Slipper flowers. The county responded that they don’t have signs for this issue. The township will look into obtaining their own signs to put out. The board is still looking into sinage for Kabetogama signs along the highway from Orr to Kabetogama and from International falls to Kabetogama.
New Business – Economic Stimulus Resource Workshop, Supervisor McGregor moved to allow Chairman Nevalainen to attend this workshop on April 27 at the IRR building. Seconded by Supervisor Town, motion carried.
Spring Short Courses – information was brought back from the courses and shared with the board and residents. Highlights were; increase in the liability cap, Volunteer Service Statement agreements, Workmans Comp, MN Benefit Association and CTAS accounting software. Clerk Manninen will bring information back to the board on MN Benefit Association benefits and costs, CTAS and Workmans Comp and check to see of the Playground at the Community Hall is covered under our insurance.
VNP Jobs – Chairman Nevalainen spoke about the fact that another full time job has been lost at the Park in our area and what if anything can be done about this.
Logging – The board would like a letter to be sent to Forest Capital and the DNR about keeping a buffer area between the roadways and the logging area for aesthetic purposes. Clerk Manninen will draft a letter to be sent out.
Chairman Nevalainen moved to accept the following claims, seconded by Supervisor McGregor, motion carried.
Chairman Nevalainen moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Supervisor McGregor, motion carried. Respectfully Submitted, Mary Manninen, Clerk, Kabetogama Township. |