St. Lawrence Township
Scott County
Minnesota

MINUTES OF ANNUAL MEETING

MARCH 13, 2007

Pledge was recited by all present.

Meeting was called to order by Ramona Bischof, Clerk, at 8:00 p.m.

Motion by Jim Emmerich and seconded by Les Quatmann to elect Ted Kornder as a Moderator, no discussion, motion carried by all.

Motion by Mona Bischof and seconded by Mike Ryan to approve agenda with the addition of adding discussion about moving the election to the fall and large animal ordinance, no further discussion, motion carried by all.

Motion by Jim Emmerich and seconded by Mike Ryan to waive reading of all minutes, read just synopsis, motion carried.

Ramona Bischof, Clerk, handed out the minutes of the last annual meeting and continuation of annual meeting for residents to read.  Changes were as follows:  Treasurer Ramona Bischof was changed to Treasurer Rae Ann Bohlman.  Motion by Les Quatmann and seconded by Hubie Jeurissen to approve, motion carried by all.

Motion by Hubie Jeurissen and seconded by Jim Emmerich to read waiving of all checks written and received, read just synopsis, motion carried.

Clerk Ramona Bischof read treasurer’s report.

Year-end December 2006, balances were as follows:

Checkbook Balance                    $       524.73

Money Market Balance               $229,133.58

State Bank of BP CD                  $  20,000.00

Community Bank Jordan CD        $  20,000.00

KleinBank Shakopee CD            $  20,000.00

Mike Ryan asked about the reduction in balances.  Most of it was due to the fact that we did a lot of tree trimming/road ditch cleaning and the double duty on Township Road #57.  Motion by Hubie Jeurissen and seconded by Loren Kerkow to approve, no further discussion.  Motion carried.

Highlights from the year 2006:

Gardens were done again at the Township Hall.

Township Road #57 was paved just past the ranger station to almost the railroad tracks.

Ongoing meetings with the railroad.

Joint project the St. Lawrence Township, Belle Plaine Township, MN Dot and Scott County did together resurfacing Old Hwy. 169. 

Tree trimming was continued.

Dust coating was done again in 2006.

Hubie has been the weed inspector.

Township is in pretty good condition.  Policies in place for gravel roads, etc.  Board is continually active in county/state activities.

Business to be conducted:

Road Report:  Les Quatmann is doing the grading now.  Board is looking at policy to get more dustcoating.  Pressure that Township #57 has taken off of us may be put towards more dustcoating – two times a year.  Dustcoating is a two-fold thing.  It keeps the road together when summer comes and keeps the dust down.  Worth the money spent on the existing gravel roads.  Some roads that have not been looked at in the past will be looked at this year.  Jim Emmerich asked how many miles of gravel roads we will have left once Township #57 is done.  Ted stated that it will be about 8 miles.  Marianne asked about the park entrance and whether the park will look at additional entrances.  Ted stated that they probably will not.  Ted stated he just came from a Jordan Comp Plan and that the board needs to take another look at 195^th to Delaware to the west and that this should be blacktopped eventually.  The real need is probably 195^th going to the east.  The board will probably take a look at that this summer.  Everything is backed up at this point with the City of Jordan and MN Dot.  Loren asked how far Jordan is looking to come out west.  Ted stated that after tonight it looks like pretty far but it will take a lot of acreage to develop.  The deal tonight is pretty much that they will come out as far a the apple orchard and then there is a gap of property that Jordan and Belle Plaine do not want. 

Ted went into some of the developers that were at the City of Jordan meeting tonight and what they are looking at wanting to develop.  Marianne Kerkow asked if all the developing is south of 169 at this time.  Ted stated that yes it is at this time.   Les Quatmann asked if Ted Kornder knew where this new developer was from.  Ted did not know.  Loren asked if Jordan sewer is capable of handling all of this waste.  Ted stated that it is at this time but this will dictate how much is annexed and how far out they go.  Hubie stated that on the 6:00 news, it stated that 50% of the houses are going to be busted.  The developments won’t be moving fast. 

Loren Kerkow asked if the stumps would be cleaned out of the ditches.  Hopefully that will start this spring.

Jim Emmerich asked if we want to contract out our grading work and also asked if we want to work something out from 195^th at the Fairgrounds to the City of Jordan and Beaumont Way to see if we can do something with them to build them to city standards and ask them for help knowing that we will be building them for the city to take over in the future.  Ted stated that contracting the grading work out is not an option as we already own the machine and have an in-house operator.  If anything major would happen to the machine, then we would look at different options.  Marianne Kerkow stated that when we had someone else blade, it wasn’t done as good.  Loren Kerkow asked what is going on on the Ruehling property.  There is a log home there that has been purchased.  Ted told Jim Emmerich that it would be cost prohibitive to get into city standards with any roads as it comes with curb, gutter, etc. and that would not be cost effective to the township. 

Jim Emmerich asked what the cost of road is to be maintained when it is gravel.  Ted stated that paving is not free to maintain by any means and that it is probably a wash when it comes to maintaining gravel and pavement. 

Proposed levy as follows:

            214^th Street Lights                                            $     348

            B P Ambulance                                                $  6,000

            BP Fire                                                            $  8,702

            BP Fire Improvement                                       $  2,500

            Jordan Fire                                                       $21,000

            Jordan Fire Improvement                                  $  3,000

            General Fund                                                    $50,000

            Professional Services                                        $  5,000

            Del/195^th/Fairview                                            $  7,500

            Township #57 Improvement                             $15,000

            Road & Bridge                                                 $65,000

            Road Grader Fund                                           $  2,500

            WMO                                                              $     100

 ___________________________________________________

            Total                                                              $186,650

Motion by Hubie Jeurissen and seconded by Mike Ryan to approve levy with the exception of the fire departments, no further discussion.  Motion carried by all.

Motion made by Hubie to approve $8,702 to BP Fire, seconded by Marianne Kerkow to approve.  Motion carried.

Motion made by Les to approve $21,000 to Jordan Fire, seconded by Mike Ryan to approve.  Motion carried.

Depository:  Motion by Mona Bischof seconded by Jim Schwingler to have Valley Bank in Jordan as our main bank of account.  Mike Ryan asked if we have had any problems with them.  Mona stated no. no further discussion, motions carried by all.

Publishing:  Motion by Jim Schwingler and seconded by Jim Emmerich to keep postings of notices at the township hall, Hot Spot and Scott County Extension Office and the publishing of legal notices in the Belle Plaine Herald and Jordan Independent.  Discussion ensued about the Hot Spot and whether we want to continue posting there.  It was decided that we will try one more time.  Motion carried.

Report of annual election:

Supervisor – three year term:

                                                Hubert Jeurissen -         19

                                                No votes cast   -             0

                                                Total                -           19

Treasurer – two-year term:

                                                Rae Ann Bohlman -      19

                                                No votes cast   -              0

                                                Total                -           19

Annual meeting – Motion by Jim Schwingler and seconded by Ramona Bischof to hold the township elections and annual meeting following elections on the second Tuesday in March, 2008.   No further discussion.  Motion carried. 

Motion by Hubie Jeurissen and seconded by Mike Ryan to hold the continuation of annual meeting to review levy only at the second Thursday in September, no discussion, motion carried.

Discussion of moving election to November – Motion by Mike Ryan and seconded by Les Quatmann to put a ballot in place next March to ask the question of moving the township elections to November.  Les stated that with the lack of township voters, it would be better for elections to consolidate.  He did represent that he realizes that holding township elections in March is a township tradition.  Ted stated that people also need to take notice of township government and that there may be some periods that two township supervisors may be up for election at the same time.  Ted also stated that the larger townships have looked at it because of the increased costs.  Motion carried by all.

Large animal ordinance – With the increased amount of large animals running free, it was recommended by township attorneys that an ordinance be put into place so that the sheriff’s office has more clout to come into the township and do something about the lose animals.  Jim Emmerich asked a short term/long term status about the CUP status on the Sponsel apple orchard.  This is not just about Sponsel’s but about the whole township.  Marianne Kerkow asked about the consequences of what happens if they do get out and what would happen.  Les stated that this is for the ones that don’t maintain their fences and their animals get out all of the time.  Marianne stated that maybe we should be looking at an animal control person and they didn’t have a trailer or a place to put them.  She also asked how by putting this ordinance in place it would make the sheriff’s office do anything different.  There was no real answer to this question.  No further discussion.  Jim Schwingler made a motion that the board check into this, get more information, notify the residents by notice of publication and letter to residents and continue this discussion at the continued annual meeting in September, motion seconded by Marianne Kerkow, no further discussion, motion carried.

Other Business/Notices/Public Comments:

Ted stated that we lost John Blair back in December – he was a good neighbor and friend and wanted all to know.

Motion by Hubie Jeurissen and seconded by Loren Kerkow to recess meeting to September 13, 2007 at 8 p.m. to review levy and large animal ordinance only.

Meeting recessed at 9:40 p.m.