Alexandria Township
Alexandria, Minnesota 56308
Minutes of the meeting of April 15, 2013
A regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Alexandria Township was held on the 15th day of April, 2013 at the Alexandria Township Conference Room, 610 Fillmore Street.
ROLL CALL: Supervisors present were Joel Dahlheimer, Lyle Hammerschmidt, Jul Feuling, Russell Niskanen, and Bryon Alstead. Also present were Gregg Raisanen, Clerk, and Mona Billmark, Treasurer. As said members formed a quorum and the meeting was called to order by Chairman Alstead at 6:00 p.m.
Feuling, seconded by Hammerschimdt, made a motion to adopt the agenda with the addition of approval of the March 18, 2013 minutes. Motion carried unanimously.
Dahlheimer, seconded by Hammerschmidt, made a motion to approve the minutes of the 03/18/2013 regular board meeting as written. Supervisors Feuling and Hammerschmidt abstained. Motion carried. Hammerschmidt, seconded by Niskanen, made a motion to approve the minutes of 04/01/2013 with the addition of Supervisor Feuling’s name in reference to a records retention policy. Supervisors Dahlheimer and Feuling abstained. Motion carried.
Niskanen, seconded by Dahlheimer, made a motion to authorize payment of claims 13078-13088 in the amount of $7,263.53, net payroll $644.14, EFTPS $1,315.39, totaling $9,223.06. Motion carried unanimously.
CITIZEN’S CONCERNS: None
PLANNING AND ZONING: Zoning Administrator Oleson reported that he had contacted Kathy Hodges, Jack’s Family Recycling, to invite her to the meeting to discuss a revised screen plan for the business. She had indicated due to recent family issues, she would be unable to attend a meeting until the end of May. The board discussed the current situation at the business and was in agreement that storage is expanding into areas not permitted by the conditional use permit. The board directed Zoning Administrator Oleson to work with Township Attorney Johnson to write a letter to Kathy Hodges indicating that if she is unable and/or unwilling to meet with the town board to develop a revised screening plan, the board will schedule a public hearing to consider revoking the existing conditional use permit for the facility.
Zoning Administrator Oleson reported that Kathy Hodges inquired into replacing the burned house with a used double wide mobile home and inquired if permit fees would be waived. Past practice for other residential structures that have burned is to not waive the fees. The board was in consensus to not waive fees in this situation.
ENGINEER’S REPORT: The board scheduled road inspections tentatively for May 4th, weather permitting. Hammerschmidt, seconded by Niskanen, made a motion to authorize Engineer Kuhn to obtain written quotes for 5,000 tons of class 5 to be installed on township roads. Motion carried unanimously.
OLD BUSINESS: Clerk Raisanen reported that he had contacted the Minnesota Association of Townships to inquire about the requirement of oath of offices for appointed clerk and treasurer positions. They recommended that the clerk and treasurer do an oath every two years, the same as elected positions. He reported that both the treasurer and clerk did an oath of office.
Clerk Raisanen provided a copy of the payment estimate sheet that is required every time a road project is put out for bids. Minn. Stat. 160.17 requires that prior to making final payment on any road project that requires sealed bids, the engineer has to certify to the board that the work has been done and performed according to the contract. The payment estimate sheet requires certification from the contractor and town engineer that the work is completed according to contract documents and is also approved by the clerk.
The board reviewed documents pertaining to records retention provided by the clerk. Clerk Raisanen reported that the township has followed the recommended timelines for retention of documents; all the minutes and audit reports are retained indefinitely, election results and all meeting material are retained for at least 7 years. The board was in consensus to not adopt a formal records retention policy at the present time.
NEW BUSINESS: Clerk Raisanen reported that the township had received correspondence from Dan Olson, Board Chair of Douglas County, indicating that the current lease for LAR will terminate at the end of 2013 unless the county commissioners have been notified 30 days prior to the end of the lease that LAR wants to continue with a new lease. Chairman Alstead reported that the lease that was forwarded to the township has not been signed by LAR and that they have been attempting to negotiate with the county commissioners on an incremental lease rate increase instead of the proposed change from $0.395/ft2 to $1.00/ft2. Chairman Alstead indicated that user fees will have to increase under the new proposed lease rates since the LAR budget would not be able to support the increase under current funding.
Clerk Raisanen reported that request for quotes were sent to three companies for quotes for replacement traffic signs. M & R signs provided a quote in the amount of $2,740.80 to replace signs in Sections 25-28. Dahlheimer, seconded by Niskanen, made a motion to purchase the signs from M & R signs in the amount of $2,740.80. Motion carried unanimously.
Clerk Raisanen reported that Larry Steidl’s term on the planning commission had expired. Dahlheimer, seconded by Niskanen, made a motion to appoint Larry Steidl to a three-year term on the Alexandria Township Planning Commission. Motion carried unanimously.
Being no further business, Hammerschmidt, seconded by Dahlheimer, made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted….
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Gregg Raisanen, Clerk
Approved this ____ day of ________, 2013
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Bryan Alstead, Chairman