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June 9, 2009 June 9 Regular Monthly Board Meeting
TOWN OF APPLE RIVER REGULAR MONTHLY BOARD MEETING JUNE 8, 2009 Present: Rick Scoglio, Chair; Ansel Johnson, Supervisor; Dave Waterman, Supervisor; Tom Sykes, Clerk; and Linda Peterson, Treasurer. Meeting called to order by Rick Scoglio, Chair at 7:04 p.m. Roll Call. All board members present. Verification of public notice was declared by the Clerk and affirmed by the Chair. Minutes of the May 11, 2009, meeting read by the Clerk. Correction to May 11, 2009 minutes: the construction contractor is to be amended from Monarch to Fahrner. Motion made and seconded to approve the minutes of the May 11, 2009 with stated corrections. All in favor. Motion carried. Public Input: Ken Sample advised there will be an open book on Thursday. The Chair advised forms will be available at the Open Book for the Board of Review. Ken Sample reviewed fund carryover figures from 2008 totaling $76,183. Scoglio suggested the Treasurer, Clerk and Sample meet to review and confirm the amounts. Sample stated that the Board had approved the carryover allocation at its December 2008 meeting. Report by Clerk: Clerk reported six building permits to date with one being for new construction. Open Book meeting this Thursday from 2 pm to 4 pm and Board of Review from 4 pm to 6 pm. Clerk stated he would like to set up a mailbox with the official Town mailing address to be the address of the Town Hall. The Fire Department, Treasurer, and others in the community have been positive about the proposed change. The Clerk will check with the Post Office in what needs to be done. The Chair agreed with the proposed mailing address change. The Clerk reviewed various documents received in the mail: 2010 census will be conducted and they are hiring to assist with the census, WITC has two vacancies for anybody interested in being a board member, and Polk Burnett submitted a notice. The Clerk distributed the budget report for the first six months of 2009. Report by Treasurer: Treasurer reported beginning balance of $162,165.38. Income received for the month is $3,273.14 which included village, cigarette and liquor licenses. The board is to approve vouchers in the amount of $6,200.03 and the end balance is $160,293.49. Motion made and seconded to accept Treasurer’s Report as read. All in favor. Motion carried. County Report: Polk County Board Supervisor Sample reported on the inequality of care between our County parks. In 2010 Kennedy Park is scheduled to be upgraded with a park driveway loop and in 2012 the camp sites will be upgraded with electricity. Sample suggested using grant monies to tie into those activities. Sample would like to see full utilizations of the park with more families. At present the park seems to be attracting a group that might be driving other family groups away. Hopefully the upgrades will attract more family usage. Vouchers: Clerk presented vouchers to Town Board. Chair reviewed individual expenditures. Motion made and seconded to approve vouchers as presented in the amount of $6,200.03. All in favor. Motion carried. Election Committee Report: Nothing to report until Fall. Ambulance Committee: Chair reported that the Ambulance Committee met June 1, 2009. Annual audit resulted in positive balances. There is a possibility of a decrease in per capita from $9/head to $8/head—discussions will take place in the near future. A third ambulance has been started up which will primarily be used for medical transports from the hospital and also area emergencies. The Chair provided update on Clear Lake Service. The possibility of merging Clear Lake with Amery however Amery did not see any benefit to merging at this time due to the bad financial shape of the Clear Lake Service. The Chair reported the Unity Ambulance Service has been sold to Region’s Health Partners. Lastly, the Annual Taco Dinner will be held Saturday, June 13th from 4pm to 7pm. Flyers have been posted in the area announcing the event. Cemetary: Supervisor Waterman reported cemetery has been mowed twice. Fire Department: No members present to report. First Responders: Pretty busy during month of May with a total of 10 runs. 8 of the runs were medical and the other 2 were motor vehicle accidents. There were two 1050 responses: one on 163rd and one just past 135th. Highway: Met with DNR last week. Planning Commission: Reported that Town Board might want to check with Danny Carlson regarding discussions he has been having with landowner’s about drain tile at the pond. The Chair recalled it is a man-made pond considered by the DNR as natural. The next planning commission meeting will be held Wednesday, June 10th at 7 pm. The agenda will include land division and comprehensive plan changes regarding the school district map and sand and gravel deposits for future land use. At the end of the next meeting a resolution will probably be brought forward recommending adoption of the comprehensive plan. Items to Be Reviewed: Bridge on 165th: Chair reported that the bridge on 165th has been approved by the State. The County has stated they need a written request from the Town to get into the Bridge Aid Program with is a four to five year program. Chair stated the letter needs to get in now so that next year from now the State will be looking at the bridge, seeing what needs to be done and forwarding that information to the State engineers. Funding for the bridge will be 80% paid for by the State and 20% locally paid which is split so that the Town will pick up 10% of the cost. Motion made and seconded to submit letter to the County to initiate the Bridge Aide Program process on the 165th bridge. All in favor. Motion carried. Road Signs: The Chair reported two bids have come back this time out of the original three with comparable bids. Rent-A-Flash submitted a $6,014.25 bid and Lange Enterprises submitted a $4,661.05 bid. Motion made and seconded to accept the bid from Lange Enterprises for 78 double faced road signs, 41 caps, 39 cross slots and 41 boats for a total of $4,661.05. All in favor. Motion carried. Road Sand: Chair reported receiving lots of calls about lots of sand on the Town roads from winter sand that hasn’t washed away in the Spring. This week that may have changed. With the rain past couple of days and potential for sand to have washed away it was determined this topic will be reviewed again. It was decided to hold off and see if the rain will clean the roads. Town Hall Parking Lot: Chair advised telling Greg’s Excavating to go ahead and get rid of the mound of dirt in back of the Town Hall. The dirt in the back will be pushed out and prepared as gravel and then relaid in the front parking lot as a gravel base before paving. Motion was made and seconded to direct Greg’s Excavating to prepare the Town Hall for blacktopping and remove the mound in the back. All in favor. Motion carried. Supervisor Waterman raised the issue of a flag pole. Government buildings are required to have a flag pole. The Chair suggested the Fire Department discuss this and bring it to next month’s regular Town meeting as an agenda item and present their ideas for a flag pole. Road Projects: Chair reported that he received recommendations to chip seal 110th and 145th and then crack seal all of 70th, all of 168th and all of 102nd. Together these roads are three miles of work and the chip seal is estimated to cost $6,500 and the crack seal is estimated to cost $10,000 for a total of $16,500. The Chair stated a public bid should be advertised for the chip seal and crack seal work. Motion was made and seconded to advertise for bid three miles of road projects to include chip seal work on 110th and 145th and crack seal work on 70th, 168th and 102nd. All in favor. Motion carried. The Chair stated Monarch dropped off some pulverizing and patching figures that were not clearly defined with project start and end points right before the meeting. The Chair advised holding any decisions on paving work until the Town receives a more visual listing of Monarch’s proposed actions that they can review. The Chair reported the trucker engine breaking sign to be posted in the 45 mph zone through Range has been approved and should be going up any day now because the Chair was informed of the approval three weeks ago. It will be posted on the Town of Apple River side of USH 8. Liquor Licenses: The Clerk reported that the four establishments licensed in the past have all submitted their applications and their fees. Motion made and seconded to approve all four liquor licenses. All in favor. Motion carried. Propane Purchase: The Clerk reported that it was suggested at last month’s meeting to purchase propane for the Town Hall. Motion made and seconded to authorize Supervisor Waterman to purchase propane and secure at b est price at this time. All in favor. Motion carried. Public Landing North End of White Ash Lake: The Board discussed concern as to who was responsible for the public landing on the north end of white ash lake--whether it was the Town’s responsibility or that of the private owner who owns title to the landing. The Chair and Supervisor Johnson are going to look into the matter and determine what action needs to be taken. Lakeland Communications Request: The Chair reported that the request came out last year as well. Discussion involved authority of Lakeland Communications as limited to where their wiring lies and they have a small portion of the Town of Apple River. Motion made and seconded to accept agreement from Lakeland Communications. All in favor. Motion carried. Supervisor Waterman Report: Supervisor Waterman questioned all of the cars in the parking lot the past couple of Sundays. The Clerk reported the Fire Dept held their meeting on one of those Sundays and the Clerk himself was there on the other Sunday. Supervisor Waterman requested what Town policy is should the public want to rent the Town Hall for a private gathering. Sample suggested charging minimal amount for private meetings and creating a non-lapsing account for the funds and put them into escrow. The Chair agreed to the Clerk’s suggestion of no charge for nonprofit use of the Town Hall and stated there should be some sort of policy for private gatherings. Discussion involved the liability of opening up the Town Hall for private gatherings. The Chair requested the Town Hall Policy be placed on the next month’s meeting agenda so that they can begin working on the policy. Supervisor Johnson Report: Discussion involved public interest items for the regular monthly meetings. Chair Scoglio Report: Next month’s meeting items will include Town Hall Policy regarding usage/rental, the propane purchase, White Ash Boat Landing, Monarch 2009 Road Projects, and Road Sand which will hopefully be washed away. Public Comments: Member of public requested understanding of the timing of completion of forms and how the Board of Review process works. Next meeting will be held July 13, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. Motion made and approved to adjourn meeting at 8:35 p.m.