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KABETOGAMA TOWNSHIP REGULAR MEETING June 2, 2009
Chairman Nevalainen opened the meeting at 7:10 pm. Board members present were Supervisors McGregor and Town, Treasurer Kiner, Clerk Manninen and Deputy Clerk Tomczak along with 9 guests. All attending recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
Agenda - The Agenda was approved, with the addition of St. Louis County Water Plan 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 with two spelling corrections on a motion by Chairman Nevalainen, seconded by Supervisor McGregor, motion carried.
Treasurer’s Report -
Payroll – Jill Kiner, $101.59; Manninen, $386.01; Nevalainen, $473.36; Town, $46.78; McGregor, $46.77.
The treasurer’s report was approved on a motion by Supervisor Town, seconded by Supervisor McGregor, motion carried.
Old Business –
Chairman Nevalainen gave a review of the Namakan Basin Joint Powers meeting he attended on May 23, 2009. The Joint Powers board officially signed a contract with the firm SEH on May 7, 2009. They will be doing the engineering and comprehensive plan. Julie Kennedy from SEH will be working with our area. She gave an update at the meeting for the three districts (Ash River, Kabetogama, Crane Lake). She gave a review of the process of preparing the comprehensive plan using a geographic information system which the county is putting together. They have it done so far, up to the Laurentian Divide. The two commissioners on the board recommended that we send a request to St. Louis County that they go ahead and move our area up on the schedule. Currently they are moving from South to North. Now because of this project going forward we need our area done soon. This is a computer program and what it does is have each parcel on it. It is a program on a computer that will show all the septic systems and wells in our area. There will be some type of survey done at each site to determine where all the wells and septic systems are located. There will be a meeting with Ms. Kennedy who will explain this process in further detail. It was stated at this meeting that there will be no compliance checks or enforcements to any individual regarding the wells or sewer systems. Ms. Kennedy has been asked to attend our July board meeting. The Joint Powers Board will request a monthly report from the engineering firm for each district. There will be another Joint Powers meeting on June 25th. Tim Watson will attend this meeting as Bob won’t be able to attend.
Commissioner Nelson gave a report on the Joint Powers Board between Koochiching County and St. Louis County. Koochiching County has already passed a resolution to join the Joint Powers Board with St. Louis County. St. Louis County was to pass their resolution last Tuesday and they have to pass it a second time also. This board may consist of one Koochiching County Commissioners and two St. Louis County Commissioners who would have voting authority. This is not set in stone and may change. They are asking the board members to sit in on this as advisory members with no voting authority. Gary Cerkvenik gave an update on the federal water energy grant. He put an application in for the 2009 for $900,000 but we were not granted anything because we need to be shovel ready and we are not. He has submitted for 2010 the same amount. He is working on the WRDA 2 request for the new Joint Powers Board (St. Louis County, Koochiching Co.) to sign. On the state level he is pursuing three avenues, the 569 grant, the clean water legacy fund, and the state bonding. Mike Forsman who chairs the Joint Powers Authority will be the one who will make the decisions and sign for the state bonding.
Road Review – Supervisor Town met with Ron Garden and Jack Schelde and the St. Louis County Engineer. They went around the area and addressed each item Ed had on his list of road issues. Some items may be taken care of sooner than others. We as a township must pursue these issues continually to get them taken care of sooner rather than later. Clerk Manninen will draft a letter to St. Louis County and Mike Forsman stating our concerns about our roads and what we expect to see done with them. This will include asking them to keep our local operator.
Roads – Calcium Chloride needs to be taken care of and grading needs to be done. Chairman Nevalainen will make the contact to order the chloride. If anyone else wants Chloride they must contact Bob before he orders it. Clerk Manninen will send a letter to St. Louis County requesting that they grade Pucks Point Road after the next rain.
Town Hall – Nothing much new on this. Letters have been sent out requesting donations. Noting has come back yet. Marlene read a letter from Andy Hubley from the ARDC. It was stated that they could offer there time at $5,000.00 for about 70 hours depending on who in there office did the work. Right now is a difficult time to look for funding as the economy is so poor.
New Business –
Governor’s Opener – A request for $12,000 has been made to the township for seed money to get things started for the Governor’s Opener. After a lengthy discussion Supervisor McGregor moved to give $12,000 for the opener contingent on the approval of the Township Attorney on weather we can legally do this or not. Seconded by Supervisor Town, motion carried.
North St. Louis County Soil and Water District – Chairman Nevalainen received a letter inviting someone to attend a meeting with this group. It was decided that Chairman Nevalainen would send a request for an update from them rather than anyone attend this meeting.
Supervisor Town moved to accept the following claims, seconded by Supervisor McGregor, motion carried.
Supervisor McGregor moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Chairman Nevalainen, motion carried.
Respectfully Submitted,
Mary Manninen, Clerk Kabetogama Township |
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