Township of Sand Creek

Regular Monthly Meeting - MVEC

7:00 pm –  5, 2017

 

Present:    Chairman Chad Sandey                                             Also Present:  Curt Hennes - PLSLWD, Spencer Autenrieth – Scott Cty

                Supervisor Bruce Hunstad                                                             Sheriff’s office, Kevin and Shiela VonBank, Emily Nordich,

                Supervisor Bill Schneider                                                                     Todd Becker – Auto Nation, Emily Sandey, Mitchell Sandey,                                                           

                Treasurer Michelle Rutoski                                                                    Nolan Sandey, Calvin Sandey, Bre Rockers, Herb Baldwin.

                Clerk Rita Tauer/Shelley Pauly        

 

Called to Order:            The regular monthly meeting was called to order at 7:00 by Chairman

                                    Chad Sandey.  The Pledge of Allegiance was said.

 

Oath of Office:             Oath of office was given to all newly elected officers by Rita Tauer.  Chad Sandey, Chairman, Bill Schneider, Supervisor, Bruce Hunstad, Supervisor, Michelle Rutoski, Treasurer and Shelley Pauly, Clerk.

 

Chairman Comment:    Chairman Chad Sandey gave a wonderful tribute to Rita and all that she has done for the township over the past 16 years.  The township thanks her for all of her time, hours of service and many duties she has done for the township.

 

Minutes:                       Minutes for December were presented to the Board.  Chairman Sandey made a motion to remove a part of a paragraph that was in the public comment section as it was a duplicate from the November minutes.  A motion to accept the minutes with the correction was made by Bruce seconded by Bill.  Unanimous.  A motion to erase the December recording was made by Bruce, seconded by Bill. Unanimous.

 

Treasurer’s Report:      The Treasurer’s Report was reviewed by the board.  Chad noted the second half payment from Scott County was received.  A motion was made to approve the Treasurer’s Report by Bruce, seconded by Bill.  Unanimous.

 

Monthly Charges:         Dvorak Excavating                                $32,703.00

                                    Bond Trust Services                               $54.443.75

                                    Stantec                                                  $  7,089.88

                                    Couri & Ruppe                                     $  1,567.50

                                    Rita questioned the charge from Couri and Ruppe for $146.25 for Jordan Gravel whether it should be paid us or SM Hentges.  Chad said that it was for a review we did regarding the appeal by SM Hentges so it should be paid by us.

                                    MATIT                                                  $     401.00

                                    Scott Cty Treasurer                               $     179.58

                                    US Hwy 169 Corridor Coalition              $     250.00

                                    MAT  Clerk Training                              $       30.00

                                    Dept of Treas.  4th Qtr payroll tax           $   1,431.32

                                    Collaborative Planning                           $   1,641.50

                                    Bill Schneider                                        $      107.46

                                    Payroll                                                 $      392.49

                                    Payroll                                                 $      992.76

                                    Payroll                                                 $      323.22

                                    Payroll                                                 $        69.26

                                    Payroll                                                 $      138.52

                                    Payroll                                                  $      272.43

                                     

                                    Motion by Bruce to accept the claims as read, seconded by Bill, Unanimous.

 

 Public Comment:           Herb Baldwin inquired about the Treasurer’s Report and having the information as to what the balances and what is being spent available for the Township residents.  Rita suggested that we have a copy of the monthly report available for any one in attendance to see.  It was agreed that we will be placing a copy of this report on the table with the Agenda and the Minutes.  Rita mentioned that all financial information is available at the Annual Meeting with the whole year of expenses and balances of accounts.

 

BUSINESS:

 

Sheriff’s Office:          Sheriff’s Deputy Spencer Autenrieth as present.  There were 65 calls in December.  Some of the calls were 6 traffic, 14 crashes (1 fatal on hwy 8 and 21), 7 medical, 1 alarm, 0 burglaries, and 2 domestic. A more detail list will be filed with the minutes. Still working with the new system.

 

Prior Lake/Spring Lake:  Curt will be turning over the role as presidency. The next junior person will take over.  He was chairman for two years. Normally it is only a year term.  Raymond Avenue will have about 160 feet of shoreline restoration with plants and shrubs that will hopefully stop the pollutants from entering the lakes. This is where the city of prior lake built a picnic shelter.  Working also on the outlet channel from the flooding of two years ago.  Sediment removal is also being done.  After some testing it has come back that it is not restricted so it will be less expensive to remove.           

 

Spring Clean-Up:          Deadline is January 13th to sign up for this day to work with the city for Clean-up for both the City and Township.  Not sure if the city is going to do it and where.   The City would get our portion of the Grant money to offset their costs for the Clean-up.  The city includes us in all the advertising and work.  Bruce made a motion to sign up for spring clean-up together with the City of Jordan.  Bill seconded the motion. Unanimous.     

 

Long Range Planning:  Chad reviewed some of the earlier discussions regarding the 2040 comp plan and Herb Baldwin’s suggestion of putting together a committee of township residents to participate in discussing the future plans of the township.  After much discussion, it was decided to run an ad inviting township residents to come to the February township meeting to discuss putting together a committee.  Bruce volunteered to write up the ad and put it in the newspaper.  The ad will run for two weeks prior to the February meeting.  Chad wanted this notice to be posted also.  Bruce volunteered to put together an agenda of some kind for the meeting to make sure that the discussion has a purpose and direction. Hopefully, the committee would be able to attend the next 2040 comp plan next month at Scott County.

 

Tree Trimming:            Bill mentioned that trimming the trees in the winter time is probably not as expensive as in the summer. Bill would go through and mark the trees that need to be trimmed.  Bruce said it would be beneficial to have another board member go through and verify the trees. Chad stated that we need to give the homeowners plenty of notice of the trimming.  Bill said he would speak to the residents and let them know what is going on. Chad suggested newsletter go out with a paragraph in it about the marking of the trees and trimming of trees in the right of way before we start marking any trees.  Heavily wood areas in the township would be the prime target now   Carrs is one of the company’s that we are looking at using.  Herb mentioned we need to be careful about the different types of tress and when is the best to trim them.  Chad is proposing that we take sections of the township each year and have a tree trimming budget to keep the trees under control.  Carr’s come very highly recommended by MVEC.  Chad asked Bill if he woul would like to present a tree trimming plan to the Board for discussion next month. Bill agreed and said he would work on it

 

 

 

AutoNation:                 Todd Becker Auto Nation was present at the meeting. During an annual review of the conditional use permits, it was noted that Auto Nation is not compliant with a few items. Chad met with Todd about getting into compliance.  Since then they have contacted the county to see what they could with those conditions.  DRT meeting was held at the county. This property is currently zoned UER (Urban Expansion Reserve.)  It had previously been commercial.   After a lot of discussion, applicants decided to work on being compliant the items noted by the county and then they would try to get the amendment process to rezone their property.  Scott County will send a letter summarizing the meeting and what items need to come into compliance.  They would also send them the information for comp plan amendment.  It is a lengthy process.  Todd agreed with Chad’s summarization of the meeting. 

 

Herman

Supplies:                    Wes Herman called Chad regarding layout of the two sides of Hwy 169 that he has his business located.  Landscape supplies for public to be kept on the east side of the high.  The west side of the highway would be for making steps, boulder carving – fabrication facilities.  ON the west side of the road he would like to take down two older buildings and put up a new large one the size of the two he takes down.  The city has said that it was OK.  He was going to come to the meeting today and we were going to give him the permit to take back to the county, but he was called out of town.  He will be appearing before the board in Feb or March to inform the township so we are in the know of his plan.

 

Pass Fencing:            Jim Pass has a fencing business in industrial park – a cross from Jordan Avenue.  He has a home plus garages and sheds and would like to construct another building.  The county states that he has a conditional use permit for his business on the land.  The county informed members of the board that should he have damage to his house over 50% he could not sell or rebuild a residence. The county suggested he get the property amended to have his residence there.  He may not be able to pass on the property to anyone else as residential. There is really no concern regarding the new shed just the residence.  He is going ahead with the initial steps.

 

 

Land Donation:         Kathy Stemig is doing some estate planning and one of the estate representative spoke to Chad regarding a parcel of land that is located on Sand Creek drive that she owns and is interested in getting rid of it. This parcel is located between Vern Hartman’s house and Sand Creek Drive.  It was discussed about what could be done with this parcel, if anything, should Kathy wanted to donate it to the township. Chad made a call to Couri & Ruppe, our attorneys, and their response is to have the board review it and see if it is a parcel of land we could use. The attorney said this does happen quite a bit and they township can respectfully decline if the board is not interested.    At this time no decision has been made. 

 

Transition

Process for

Township:

 

Road Tech

Position:

 

 

REPORTS AND DISCUSSION:

 

Bruce Hunstad:

Bill Schneider:

Chad Sandey:

 

 

FYI:     *Township Organizational Meeting  Feb. 2nd, 2017, 6:15pm at MVEC (prior to reg mtg)

            *Next Monthly Meeting, Feb 2nd, 2017, at MVEC at 7pm.

            *Annual Township/Residents Meeting, March 14th, 7 pm at MVEC.

            *Spring Township Seminar in Mankato on March 22nd, 2017, all day at Verizon Ctr

           

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