Sand Creek Township

Monthly Meeting at MVEC

January 4, 2018          

 

Officers Present

Chairman Chad Sandey, Supervisor Bill Schneider, Bruce Hunstad, Treasurer Michelle Rutoski, and Clerk Shelley Pauly. 

 

Others Present

Darren Hibbard, Scott County Sheriff Luke Hennen, Curt Hennes, SLPL Watershed District, Emily Nordick, Bill       and Kristy Johnson, Herb Baldwin, Travis Cherro, Roger Nohner, Peggy Jo Dunnette, Todd Dvorak, and Bob Wolf.

 

Called to Order

The regular monthly meeting was called to order at 7:01 pm by Chairman Chad Sandey. The Pledge of Allegiance was said.

 

Minutes

Minutes for the November’s meeting were presented to the Board. Motion to approve the minutes by Bruce, second by Bill. Unanimous.  Motion to erase the November recording of minutes by Bill, second by Bruce. Unanimous.

 

Treasurer’s Report

 Treasurer’s Report was submitted by Michelle.  Motion to accept the report by Chad, second by Bruce. Unanimous. 

 

Monthly Claims

 

            IRS                                                                   $  1,533.64

            Carr’s Tree                                                       $  7,200.00

            Dvorak Excavating                                           $  6,618.50

            Couri & Ruppe                                                 $  1.273.00

            Scott County                                                    $     200.27

            Bond Trust Services                                         $53,487.50

            Dem Con                                                          $       70.20

            Stantec                                                                        $     672.59

            Shelley – Cell Ph                                              $       93.70

            Minnesota Valley                                             $       47.62

            Payroll                                                             $       75.00

            Payroll                                                             $     975.00

            Payroll                                                             $     425.00

            Payroll                                                             $     425.00

            Payroll                                                             $     330.00

            Bill Schneider – Reimbursements/Mileage      $     150.37

            Herb Baldwin – LRP Committee                       $     110.38

                                   

                                                Total                                        $73,687.77

 

   Motion by Bruce to accept the monthly charges as read, second by Bill. Unanimous.

 

Public Comment – Darin Hibbard shared information with the Board regarding Jaguar Communications. He brought in pricing sheets and a petition. Frontier is currently the company serving in the township.  Chad questioned Darin as to how many signatures would be needed for Jaguar to expand their infrastructure into the township.  Darin explained they are not looking at the township as whole, but starting with neighborhoods near their current customers.  Petitions are going around South Sutton Lake Boulevard and Red Wing Ave.  Chad suggested they also contact the Spring Lake Township which is on the border of these neighborhoods, as they were also looking into Jaguar. 

 

Travis questioned the board as to the money that was being paid to the Hentges CUP – Chad explained the township was writing a check to our attorney for legal fees on the matter -  not to Hentges.

 

Amended agenda item -   Shelley added a Gambling permit to the Agenda for Discussion.

 

BUSINESS/DISCUSSION:

 

Sheriff’s Department Sheriff Luke Hennen and Deputy Sheriff Vadim Romanets were in attendance. Deputy Romanets said the month of December the was pretty quiet.  There was a total of 53 calls for the month.  Sheriff Hennen is making his rounds to the township meetings during the first of the year and passing out his cards to the board. He also mentioned that one of the biggest issue a township faces is littering on the roads.  Luke suggested the road supervisor let the department know if there is a certain area that is a trouble area.  The county can then patrol the area more often.  Super Bowl will be a busy time for the County.  They are asking the public to report anything they see that is out of the normal over the weekend. The county will have extra staff on during the Super Bowl weekend.  Scott County purchased a speed trailer that can now be placed in areas that there are speeding issues in the township. Lastly, Citizen Academy 6-week course is being offered to anyone in the county who wants to learn about the sheriff’s department. Sign up on the County Website

 

Prior Lake Spring Lake Watershed District  The district will be treating Spring Lake with an Alm water treatment in late April or early May.  This is the second treatment for this Lake.  They are also watching the carp on Prior Lake and waiting for them to school so they can have another carp seining in the lake this winter. 

They are inviting different agencies to come to their meetings to see what the watershed district does.  The townships will be invited in the near future. 

 

Long Range Planning Committee –  The committee is in the process of putting together their final proposal to the county for the 2040 comp plan.   Bruce thanked Herb and Emily for all the time and work they have put into the proposal.   Bruce thinks we are just a little behind in getting the information to the county for the first round.  There will be plenty of opportunities for us to share our information.  Bruce said the county has 13 chapters listed on the website for the 2040 comp plan and he believes the LRP should use the same format to convey their information to the county.  Herb spoke to the board regarding the LRP proposal. He said that the proposal will probably be a continual work in progress – things are always changing and to keep our items of high value a priority in the township and make sure the county knows those priorities. Bruce also suggested that we put information into the proposal about Broad Band and that good service needs to be available to all residents and not just a few.  Chad thanked the LRP Committee for all the time and hard work that they put into the proposal.   It has been a good thing for Sand Creek township, the committee found out a lot about what the township wants and needs.  Herb asked to be put on the agenda again for next month to finalize or make an addendum to the proposal.

 

 

Long Range Planning Committee cont’d -

 It was brought up that Brad Davis would like to take a look at the proposal as soon as possible with the understanding that there will also be an opportunity to change whatever we like.  Bruce believes that this proposal should be the 1st submittal of our ideas.  Motion made by Bruce to submit the initial 2040 comp plan proposal with the additions of Broad Band for residents and a priority list of the chapters as Sand Creek township views them, seconded by Bill.  Unanimous       

Bruce will forward to Brad when the proposal is updated. Bruce suggested that we keep it on our Agenda for the next months to keep up to date on the changes and updates.

 

Stantec – Last month we were notified that we were awarded the grant for the study of the 169 Corridor Construction.   Scott County and MNDot definitely agree with Sand Creek Township that a study needs to be done.  The grant includes $100,000 from the CDA and Scott County matching with $37,500 and the township is paying $12,500 for the total of $150,000 available for the study.  Stantec, our engineers, have proposed to head the design and scope of the study.  Kyle handed out the proposal to the Board for engineering services for the study.  Stantec met with Scott County Transportation, planning and the county engineer and Chad as a township representative to get input from the different parties as to the what, where and how they need to proceed and what information is needed from the study.  The summer is the best time of the year to do the study – it is when the most traffic is on the 169.  The study will be conducted from 173rd Street North to the Sand Creek -  Louisville Township line.   Fiscal administration of the 100,000 will be done by the county.  The proposal was discussed at length and is attached to these minutes.  After the study is done, there will be an opportunity to apply for construction grants.  The county will be a big help in applying for these grants also. A major item that both Bruce and Chad want to see added to the study is the “next steps” item – meaning what will be the steps that follow the study.  All supervisors need to be in attendance at the meetings and so the meetings will have to be posted as well.  The clerk will need to have a list of them to get them posted.   Motion by Bruce to accept the 169 Corridor study plan as presented by Stantec with one exception in the report that we add a section about the next steps of construction, grants, ideas or item of that nature as part of the outcome of the report, seconded by Chad, Unanimous.   In addition to entering into an agreement with Stantec, the township will also be entering into an agreement with Scott County for this study.  Chad had Bob Ruppe look over the initial agreement and with a few minor changes, Bob was good with the agreement.  Chad believes the township will be getting this agreement soon.           

 

Solar Garden Scholarships:   The gardens are up and running.  One of the conditions within the solar gardens contract was an agreement with Next Era Energy and Al Menke and Next Era Energy and Gene Hauer to provide scholarships to the township high schools.  Next Era would like to cut a check to the township and the land owners would also give a check to the township and the township would then cut the check to the designated high school for the scholarships. The Jordan Schools has a committee called Dollars for Scholars that scholarship dollars are held.  The students then apply for the scholarships, the committee would follow the township’s criteria for the applicant to be awarded the scholarship. There would be 4 - $1,000 scholarships.  There was a lot of discussion regarding the criteria during the meeting.  Bob Wolf asked if Dollars for Scholars would review the criteria and pick the recipient.  Bruce said the Dollars for Scholars Board would handle it all.  Bob volunteered his time to work with Bruce on the criteria. He has had experience in helping other committees with setting up their scholarships. The township will review the draft next month. 

 

Annual Township Noxious Weed Report:

 

Bill has filled out the report and had the committee sign it.  Shelley will scan to the county the next day.

 

 

The following dates were set for the upcoming meetings.

 

Reorganizational Meeting is set for February 1st, at 6 pm before the monthly Township meeting at MVEC.

Board of Audit is set for Wednesday, February 21st, 6 pm at Minnesota Valley Electric

Annual Meeting is set for Tuesday, March 13th, 7 pm at Minnesota Valley Electric

     With a snow date of Tuesday, March 20th, 7 pm at Minnesota Valley Electric

Board of Appeal and Equalization is set for Wednesday, April 25th, 6 pm at Minnesota Valley Electric

 

Gambling Permit for Minnesota Deerhunter’s Association

 

Motion Chad to approve the Minnesota Deerhunter’s Association for a Gambling Permit at Ridges of Sand Creek on Saturday, March 24, 2018, seconded by Bruce, Unanimous.

 

Reports and Discussions:

Bruce Hunstad:  Bruce’s main efforts this month were on the LRP Committee Comp Report.

 

Bill Schneider:  Attended two of the LRP Meetings for the 2040 Comp Report.

        

Road Report:  The roads are in pretty good condition.  Todd was able to get some grading done once it warmed up a little bit. 

 

Motion by Chad, second Bruce to approve the road report from Bill. 

         

Chad Sandey: Meetings Chad attended were:

Scale – Chad said that a Sargent talked about the police department concerns and the Super Bowl and the Sargent’s response was that with the Renaissance, Valley fair, Canterbury and the Rider Cup, Scott County is way above preparedness for the super Bowl.   

 

Regarding the Amendment to the mining ordinance which prohibited mining in a floodway.   A workshop has been set up in February to discuss this amendment to protect the water.  The existing ordinance does protect the floodway.   The court upheld the decision of the Jordan mining to not allow mining in this area.  This is something that needs to be study on a case by case basis.   The county does have the authority to deny the mining in any situation. 

 

The Board has been fortunate to get a lot done in the last year, engaging the residents, new projects have opened up for the board and Chad thanked everyone for their part including the residents.

 

Herb – thanked the board in their part in helping out the township.

 

Motion to adjourn meeting at 9:55 pm by Bruce, second by Bill. Unanimous.       

 

 

Submitted By: _____________________________________________________

Shelley Pauly, Clerk

 

 

 Approved by ______________________________________________________

Chairman, Chad Sandey