Alexandria Township
Alexandria, Minnesota 56308
Minutes of a special meeting and public hearing held on 3-31-2008
Queens Road and Maple Drive Hearing
Animal Ordinance Amendment Public Hearing
A special meeting and public hearing of the Board of Supervisors of Alexandria Township was held on the 31st Day of March 2008 at the Alexandria Township Conference Room, 610 Fillmore Street. The purpose of the meeting and hearing was to discuss the proposed improvement of a portion of Queens Road and Maple Drive with bituminous surfacing and to hear comments regarding proposed amendments to the animal ordinance.
ROLL CALL: Supervisors present were Bryon Alstead, Louis Ross, Joel Dahlheimer, and Roger Thalman. Also present were Clerk Gregg Raisanen and Attorney Julie Haseman. As said members formed a quorum and the meeting was opened by Chairman Thalman at 6:30 PM. Alstead, seconded by Ross made a motion to recess the meeting and the public hearing was opened.
Attorney Haseman reviewed the procedure, rules and purpose of the public hearing.
Engineer Kuhn reviewed the feasibility report, which indicated that the total estimated cost of the project would be $183,600 and would result in installing two lifts of blacktop on the road surfaces. Rod Eldevik questioned if the contractor who completed the road regrading would have to remove the excess dirt from the project. Engineer Kuhn indicated that the contractor would be contacted to finalized the regrading portion of the project. Sabrina Hertal inquired why the project was not done the same time as the Golden Gate area and that the work on the regrading project was done poorly. She indicated that drainage has been rerouted and that there were sinkholes in the ditches. Engineer Kuhn indicated that the road surface was good and any sinkholes will be repaired this spring. The reason that the Golden Gate Area was paved this year was that a petition was received and processed and the Queen Road area did not have sanitary sewer installed. She also questioned why she was not assessed for the previous project instead of this one since ¼ of the area in front of her lot was paved last year. She would have been assessed less for the previous project.
Attorney Haseman described the procedure for the proposed project. She indicated that the township had received a petition for the project, which was deemed inadequate since the legal description of the project was not accurate, and the number of signatures did not meet the 35% frontage ft. of the project; therefore a 4/5 vote of the supervisors would be necessary to order the project. Estimated construction cost for the project including legal and administrative fees would be $193,000. The township will pay ½ of the construction cost of $79,750 with the remainder paid by the residents, which is $113,250. There are a proposed 28 assessments at an estimated cost of $4044.64/assessment. After the public hearing the board can vote to proceed with bids or reject the project. If the project proceeds with bids, the board can reject all bids and not let the project go forward. Landowners would be notified of the assessment hearing if the project was completed and would have to pay the full amount due within 30 days after the hearing or the full amount would be placed on their property taxes; payable in 5 years at 8% interest.
Attorney Haseman reported that she had not received any letters and Clerk Raisanen verified that he also had not received any letters.
Glen Klimek questioned the reason why his one piece of property would receive a full assessment since he accesses his property of off the county Rd. The board agreed to look at this parcel prior to the assessment hearing if the project proceeds.
Rod Eldevik questioned the validity of 2 proposed assessments for parcel no 03-1691-110 since it is valued at $13,000.00. Attorney Haseman reported that the township had received an appraisal of the property after paving and the appraiser had reported the increase in value would exceed the cost of two assessments. He spoke that wants the township to consider 1.5 assessments as previously discussed at a previous town board meeting. Clerk Raisanen reported that two proposed assessments are consistent with another property similar in nature to his in this area.
Sabrina Hertel made the request to wait complete the project the following year and also inquired into who signed the petition. Attorney Haseman read the names of all the individuals who sign the petition. Bill Rustad indicated that he had never been asked to sign a petition.
Rod Eldevik reported that he was not opposed to the project but opposed the proposed two assessments instead of 1.5 for his parcel of land.
The public hearing was closed at 7:25 and the board meeting was reconvened.
Dahlheimer, seconded by Alstead, made a motion to table a decision regarding the proposed Queens Road/Maple Drive project until the regular board meeting on April 7, 2008. Motion carried unanimously.
Chairman Thalman opened the public hearing regarding proposed amendments to the Alexandria Township Animal Ordinance No. 101. Clerk Raisanen provided a summary of the proposed amendments. No one spoke in favor or against the proposed changes to the ordinance.
The public hearing was closed at 7:40 pm
Ross, seconded by Alstead, made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 7:43PM.
Respectfully Submitted….. Approved this ______day of _________, 2008
________________________ __________________________
Gregg Raisanen, Clerk Roger Thalman, Chairman