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KABETOGAMA TOWNSHIP REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 2, 2007
Chairman Nevalainen opened the meeting at 7:00 pm. Board members present were Supervisors McGregor and Town, Clerk Manninen, Treasurer Kiner and Deputy Clerk Tomczak along with 11 guests. All attending recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Agenda - add insurance to new business for agenda. Approve the agenda with the one addition by Supervisor Town 2nd by Supervisor McGregor, motion carried.. Minutes – the minutes were approved on a motion by Supervisor McGregor, 2nd by Supervisor Town, motion carried. Treasurers Report – Township Checking Beginning balance on 9/1/07 $40,122.29, Income $197.73, expenses $18,767.92, end balance on 9/30/07 $21,552.10. Lodging Tax Acct – Beginning balance on 9/1/07 $13,328.07, Income $11.350.24, expenses $10,438.58, end balance on 9/30/07 $14,239.73. Road Acct. – beginning balance 9/1/07 $26,868.62, income $83.46, expenses $40.00, end balance 9/30/07 $26,912.08. CD – balance $26, 956.42 Account for community building has been set up, beginning balance is $10,000.00. The treasurer’s report was approved on a motion by Supervisor Town, seconded by Supervisor McGregor motion carried. Old business; Canister site work will be done by Greg House. Supervisor McGregor will speak with him. Clerk Manninen will revise the contract for the current year. Community building planning report: The University of MN gave us three proposals so far for the new building. Some of their ideas are to put a lot of windows on the south side to increase solar heat gain. Put a clerestory or sky lights at the peak of the building to get sunlight further into the northern parts of the building. Allowing some or all of the clerestory windows to open for natural ventilation. Simplifying the exterior of the building to reduce construction and maintenance costs. They are hoping for more detailed site information particularly a topography survey. Marlene Tomczak spoke with two different survey companies regarding a topo survey. Arro Survey and Neil Manninen. Mr. Manninen could do the work for half the costs of what the other company could. Chairman Nevalainen moved to hire Neil Manninen for $600.00 plus the costs of having the data transferred to print. Supervisor McGregor seconded, motion carried. The money will come from the community improvement fund. Puck’s Point Subordinate Service District: The Township received a letter from Gary Whipple stating he no longer wished to be in the service district. After some discussion the board decided to accept his letter. The township will incur the costs for this instead of the service district so as to keep the process moving. Chairman Nevalainen moved to accept this letter and amend the resolution that had previously been passed to include Mr. Whipple into the service district. Clerk Manninen will send a certified letter to Mr.Whipple. These materials must be published, posted and mailed to all members of the district. A letter was also received from Mr. Lindberg asking to not be included in the district. The Lindberg’s were never formally included into the district because the signature on the deed could not be verified. A certified letter will be sent to Mr. Lindberg stating the township has accepted his letter and he is not in the district. Mr. Ruppe, the township attorney has sent a letter to J&B Family Limited asking once again for all the documentation needed for the township to verify so they may come into the district. J&B limited has not responded to the letter from the attorney. Supervisor Town made a motion to have the township pay the costs for the letter sent to J&B and that no more contact be made to them or incur any other costs. The district would like to move forward and cannot wait any longer for this information. Seconded by Supervisor McGregor. Motion carried. A Public Meeting for the Puck’s Point Subordinate Sewer District will be held on October 22, 7:00 pm at the Kabetogama Fire Hall. Chairman Nevalainen moved to hold this meeting, seconded by Supervisor McGregor, motion carried. A notice will be in the paper on October 6th and notices will be sent out to all members of the district and the public is welcome to attend. Planning Commission Report: In place of a meeting, there was a presentation by Chris Holbeck, Voyageurs National Park biologist, Dr. Matthew Julius, Assoc. Professor of Biology, St. Cloud State University, and his intern, Mark. All have been conducting assessments of Water Quality. The speakers explained the various forms of algae present. Following last year’s blue-green algae bloom, there was concern about the health of the lake, however, there was no bloom this year, as was expected following the drought and high temperatures during the summer, leading them to believe that Kabetogama is unique in that it is able to regain its health, under the proper circumstances. Studies have also been done on the effects of houseboat gray water, campsites and day use sites, houseboats having the most effect, campsites less and day use the least. The houseboat gray water doesn’t seem to affect the entire lake, but does have an impact on the bays where the sites are, most of all the sandy areas. However, the greatest effect on the quality of the entire lake is caused by the resorts and private residents along the south shore of the lake. Many sewers and septic systems are failing and leaching into the lake, emphasizing the need for sewer districts and education for the residents to be aware of the contents of the soaps, lawn fertilizers, etc. that they use, especially avoiding phosphorus, and controlling shoreline runoff. Ongoing studies and educational presentations will be made. New business: Insurance for property across from the Community Hall. The community club board members wanted to know if the Township could include this piece of property with the Township Liability Insurance. Chairman Nevalainen spoke with a township attorney who said the township could insure this piece of property only of the township leased the property. A motion was made to lease the property from the Kabetogama Community Club for $1.00 by Supervisor Town, seconded by Supervisor McGregor, motion carried. A lease will have to be drawn up. Chairman Nevalainen will talk with an attorney about writing up a lease and Deputy Clerk Tomczak will look over the current insurance policy and report back to the township board at the November meeting. Lee Herseth question; the Lady Slipper Festival organizers are looking for start up money for the festival. Can the township donate money toward to this group? Chairman Nevalainen will ask a township attorney if we can legally donate to this group. He will also ask the attorney what the township can spend the funds for out of the account we have from the 5% revenues we receive for collecting the lodging tax from the resorts. Chairman Nevalainen will report back at the November board meeting. Betsy Warrington reported on the trails clearing weekend. There was good weather and there were 19 people clearing cruiser lake trail Saturday and 12 persons clearing the KabAsh trail on Sunday. A celebration with about 16 people total was held and a good time was had by everyone.. The following claims were approved on a motion by Supervisor McGregor, seconded by Supervisor Town, motion carried.
Motion to close the meeting by Supervisor McGregor, seconded by Supervisor Town. The meeting closed at 8:15. Respectfully submitted, Mary Manninen, Clerk, Kabetogama Township
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