St. Lawrence Township
Scott County
Minnesota

 

MINUTES OF ANNUAL MEETING

MARCH 14, 2006

 

Pledge was recited by all present.

 

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

 

Motion by Rae Ann Bohlman and seconded by Dave Dezelske to elect Ted Kornder as a Moderator, no discussion, motion carried by all.

 

Motion by Rae Ann Bohlman and seconded by Jim Stang to approve agenda with the addition of an update on the Jordan Annexation, no further discussion, motion carried by all.

 

Motion by Rae Ann Bohlman and seconded by Jim Emmerich 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:  None.

Motion by Diane Lynch and seconded by Marianne Kerkow to approve, motion carried by all.

 

Motion by Jim Stang and seconded by Diane Lynch to read waiving of all checks written and received, read just synopsis, motion carried.

 

Treasurer Ramona Bischof read treasurer’s report.

 

Year-end December 2005, balances were as follows:

 

Checkbook Balance                 $       570.94

Money Market Balance            $259,878.88

State Bank of BP CD               $  20,703.36

Community Bank Jordan CD $  20,000.00

KleinBank Shakopee CD         $  20,000.00

 

Motion by Rae Ann Bohlman and seconded by Hubie Jeurissen to approve, no further discussion.  Motion carried.

 

Highlights from the year 2005:

 

Gardens were done again at township hall.

 

Continued work on Township Road #57 from Ranger Station to the tracks.  Road has been widened and intent will be to pave this year.  Have also met with MN Dot and Union Pacific Railroad with regards to the crossing.  It is considered a hazardous crossing, which requires  lights and barricades.  Because the road is not at a full 90, the meeting that was on-site the possibility of a bridge came in play.  The railroad and state did some numbers – about $60,000 difference between lights and bridge.  Township is pursuing this and the county is helping.  Diane asked if this is something that would be cost shared with county.  Ted stated that the way to make it work would be if all entities would cost share in this project including county, railroad, state, DNR, etc.  Marianne asked how the bridge would come down and around.  Ted stated the bridge would be at an angle and turn the bridge to blend into the road.  Jim Emmerich asked what the out of pocket  numbers look like to the township.  Ted stated that these numbers have not been set yet nor looked at yet. 

 

Talking with Jordan about road improvement projects.

 

Ongoing issue with MN Dot with construction issues towards Belle Plaine and consideration for turn lanes, access issues, etc.

 

Scenic Byways has been tabled but will get back into that as soon as we can.

 

Jim Emmerich asked how many acres were annexed last year.  Ted stated that none were.

 

Mr. Kerkow asked if there was any talk about putting lights at the Delaware railroad crossing.  Ted stated that they say that crossing is safe and as of right now, there is no talk about it.

 

Business to be conducted:

 

Road Report:  Did some dust coating last spring.  Did spring shoulder disc, etc.  Did not do much aggregate last year but will need to do some this year.  Did some work on 218th in January when we had the big thaw and it is holding up pretty good.  Annual maintenance and dust coating was all done.  This last fall, we hired Dahlke Tree Service to come in and do some ditch cleaning on pretty much all the roads and this will probably not have to be done now for 3-4 years.  Marianne Kerkow asked about what were going to be doing with all the stumps.  Frontier has been called and Dvorak will come in with a backhoe and get the stumps out.  It will be cleaned up.  Intent is to make ditch mowable so that we don’t have to cut trees and brush again.    Jim Emmerich asked where things sit with the grader.  Ted stated that Les is running the grader with a couple of backups.

 

Proposed levy as follows:

 

 

            214th 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/195th/Fairview                                            $  5,000

            Township #57 Improvement                             $15,000

            Road & Bridge                                     $60,000

            Road Grader Fund                                           $  5,000

            WMO                                                              $     100

 

            Total                                                              $181,650

 

Discussion ensued with regards to Sioux Vista and whether or not property of Sioux Vista can be annexed in or if the covenants state that this cannot happen.   Ted talked about an analysis that was done for the annexation, etc.  Hubie Jeurissen also stated that the City of Jordan would have to come out with the services (Truck Sewer Line) in order to expand.  Motion by Diane Lynch and seconded by Marianne Kerkow to approve levy, no further discussion.  Motion carried by all.

 

Depository:  Motion by Ramona Bischof seconded by Hubert Jeurissen to have Valley Bank in Jordan as our main bank of account, no discussion, motions carried by all.

 

Publishing:  Motion by Ramona Bischof and seconded by Jim Stang 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, no discussion, motion carried.

 

Report of annual election:

 

Supervisor – three year term:

 

                                                Les Quatmann -            24

                                                No votes cast   -             0

 

                                                Total                -           24

 

Clerk – two-year term:

 

                                                Ramona Bischof -         24

                                                No votes cast   -             0

 

                                                Total                -           24

 

Annual meeting – Motion by Jim Stang and seconded by Hubert Jeurissen to hold the township elections and annual meeting following elections on the second Tuesday in March, 2007.   The issue of whether we should change our voting to November rather than March was brought up.  Ted had some strong reasons why he would not want it changed.  Jim Emmerich also had some comments.  Marianne Kerkow stated that maybe we could have more election judges so those judges do not have to be here as long.  She also stated that she would assist with election judging.   No further discussion.  Motion carried. 

 

Motion by Diane Lynch and seconded by Hubie Jeurissen to hold the continuation of annual meeting to review levy and further discussion of election date change to November at the September 14, 2006 meeting at 8:00 p.m., no discussion, motion carried.

 

Other Business/Notices/Public Comments:

 

Diane Lynch stated that she knows things have been kind of quiet on the Jordan annexation but she thought that the supervisors should show their vision of what they think should happen.  She would like an opportunity to have a general meeting on this to specifically talk about growth issues in the township so people will come and learn more about the township’s vision.  Ted stated that she is following the agenda that we are working on.   Stated that the board is trying to get as much leverage as they can but if they go into an agreement with the City, we can be players with the City.  Getting very close to bringing the public in and then the City of Jordan dropped the ball and stopped everything.  Diane stated that she feels enough has been done that this should be shared with residents.  Ted stated that the City has been given 90 days to make a decision on this.  New City Administrator wants to look at this.  Ted stated that we are about 2 meetings away from having a public meeting on this.  Have a meeting on Thursday to regroup and work with the council.  Then if we get to the second meeting, we should be able to come back to the township with something more concrete.  Diane stated that she would like to have a meeting just to get updated to here and now so that the residents know what is going on.  Ted stated that this could be done.

 

Marianne Kerkow asked how do you stop developers.  The answer is “you don’t if you have a willing seller.  This is why the board wants to have an “Orderly Annexation Agreement”. 

 

Jim Emmerich asked what the basic concepts are that would fit into this.  The big things are road issues, cost reimbursements, order of land to be annexed, etc. 

 

Motion by Hubert Jeurissen and seconded by Jim Stang to recess meeting to September 14, 2006 at 8 p.m. to review levy only.

 

Meeting recessed at 9:18 p.m.

 

Dated:  March 14, 2006