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KABETOGAMA TOWNSHIP REGULAR MEETING September 2, 2008
Chairman Nevalainen opened the meeting at 7:05 pm. Board members present were Supervisors Town and McGregor, Treasurer Kiner, Deputy Clerk Tomczak along with 7 guests. All attend recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
Agenda – The Agenda was approved as read with one addition of the following item, letter to St. Louis County on behalf of Eagle Wing Resort, on a motion by Supervisor Town, seconded by Supervisor McGregor. Motion carried.
Minutes – the minutes were reviewed by all present. The minutes were approved with two corrections, add last names to Marlene and Sande on community center news and use first and last names when referring to anyone in the township minutes, add roads to other on the agenda, on a motion by Chairman Nevalainen, seconded by Supervisor Town motion carried.
Treasurers Report –
Payroll – Jill Kiner, $145.90; Manninen, $316.20; Nevalainen, $265.68; Town, $46.77; McGregor, $93.55.
The treasurer’s report was approved on a motion by Chairman Nevalainen, seconded by Supervisor McGregor, motion carried.
Old Business –
Joint Powers Agreement – Chairman Nevalainen read a memo from Gary Cerkvenik regarding this matter. Some highlights from this memo were:
Mr. Oberstar has submitted the authorization request under the Water Resources Development Act II (WRDA II) for the Namakan Basin project to the subcommittee and there is a chance that WRDA II may be out of committee before January and he was going to meet with staff after Labor Day to walk through the details of the bill, including our request. Senator Klobuchar is fully supportive and would work with us to get the request in WRDA II in the senate, though she feels the Senate will not take action until 2009. We received $100,000 from St. Louis County to help fund the development work on the project. The IRRB just passed their budget last week, so the staff and commissioner are now considering our project grant request. Jim Johnson figures that within two weeks we should know if we will get the funds from IRRB. David Dill has also agreed to sponsor a direct appropriation request for our project in the Minnesota House of Representatives. There is a need now for an effective organizational structure to operate on a timely basis. We discussed the possibility of a joint powers authority agreement between the Township of Kabetogama, the CLWSD, and St. Louis County (representing its interests and those of the residents of unorganized Ash River). The county agreed to help us set up such a structure, and Commissioners Nelson and Forsman asked the county administrator to advance this issue.
Chairman Nevalainen made a motion contingent on our receiving the $100,000 from IRRB, to authorize Gary Cerkvenik to do the following: prepare legislation for the Minnesota legislature, travel to Washington DC this fall to work on the WRDA II request. Also to appoint our chair (Robert Nevalainen) to authorize travel and other issues between our meetings if it is a timely issue, and authorize our attorney (Bob Ruppe) to work with Gary Cerkvenik and St. Louis County to develop the correct organizational and legal framework for the project. Seconded by Supervisor McGregor, motion carried.
Chairman Nevalainen moved to accept a contract with Gary Cerkvenik up to 12/31/08, seconded by Supervisor McGregor, motion carried.
Community Center Report – Have had two meetings with James Cowgill Architect, to review the schematic of the community center. He made a few adjustments on it. An area has been set aside for the mechanics for the building. Sande Moyer showed schematics to the audience and explained what changes were made to the original plan. Mr. Cowgill is asking different businesses in the area for estimates on electric, plumbing and such. Marlene Tomczak has sent out 19 letters for grant applications. IRRB replied to our grant application for a community center. They no longer provide grants for community centers. Chairman Nevalainen moved to accept the contract with Jim Cowgill, Architect, with the removal of item #1 general liability clause, contingent upon the approval of our Attorney, Bob Ruppe, seconded by Supervisor McGregor, motion carried. Marlene Tomczak spoke of two workshops that will be held at RRCC, one on October 9, on Grant Applications, $20.00 per person to attend and the other one is on November 6th on fund raising which is also a $20.00 per person registration fee. The community center committee is asking if the township will pay for these trainings. Supervisor McGregor moved to allow three of the community center committee members to attend these two trainings and pay for their registration fees, seconded by Chairman Nevalainen, motion carried.
PPSSD – Easement letters have been sent out to all who did not sign them the first time around. Direct appropriations were not approved for this time around. They will be reapplied for. There was another application sent in on a 569 grant application for .5 million for research for sewer districts.
Insurance – Dan Greenswig response to the question of Insurance Liability. If they’re independent contractors state law requires them to have workers’ compensation insurance unless they’re exempt. If they’re exempt, they should say why in their contract with you; the most common exception is for sole proprietors. I can give you some sample language about this if you want.
As to liability coverage, there aren’t legal minimums in most cases and we at the insurance trust don’t require certain minimums as a condition of the town’s own insurance. It’s really a judgment call for you. If someone is doing odd jobs for you, painting the side of the town hall or performing custodial services for example, it doesn’t necessarily make sense to ask for $1,000,000 + of insurance. It would be nice to have something, but it’s probably not realistic to expect much. On the other hand, if someone’s using heavy machinery to do road work, there’s more chance someone could get hurt and you should consider requiring more insurance.
The thing to remember is that if someone gets hurt by an independent contractor without insurance, the town board may have to look that injured person in the eye and explain why there’s no money to take care of the problem. That’s why the test isn’t so much a legal one as it is a question of the board being comfortable it made a reasonable evaluation of the cost and benefit of requiring certain amounts of insurance from certain kinds of contractors. If the cost to your taxpayers of requiring liability insurance from a contractor is more than benefit of protecting people who might get hurt by that contractor, it’s legitimate to make an informed decision to require less or no insurance.
Jay Tomczak has decided not to plow the township road, (Pucks Point), any longer because the insurance costs have gotten to high. This will be addressed at a later date.
Other Roads –
What is the right of way on township roads? Chairman Nevalainen looked this up and it is a 30’ right of way.
Roads need graded again, County and township roads are a concern to township residents. Supervisor Town will make a call to the county about this. The county put chloride on the county roads and not on the township roads like they were supposed to.
New Business – copy machine needs to be removed from the fire hall. It can be placed at the canister site. Supervisor Town will take care of the removal.
Fire hall storage – Can the township utilize some file storage space at the fire hall. This will be brought up at the Fire meeting and decided upon.
St. Louis County Health department was at the community hall doing an inspection and there are no violations but the fire extinguisher hanging on the wall needs to be recharged. Marlene Tomczak will call Falls Fire & Safety to inspect and charge the extinguishers.
St. Louis County (Eagle Wing Resort) – a letter was drafted to be sent to St. Louis County stating that the township is working on the sewer issues in the area. This letter gives the land owner some additional time to work out the sewer issues. Supervisor Town moved to have this letter sent out to St. Louis County, seconded by Supervisor McGregor, motion carried.
Claims – There was a motion by Supervisor Town to approve the following claims, seconded by Supervisor McGregor. Motion carried.
Supervisor Town moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:25 pm, Chairman Nevalainen seconded, motion carried.
Respectfully Submitted,
Mary Manninen, Clerk Kabetogama Township |