The meeting was called to order by clerk Lita Wallace at 8:25 p.m. The meeting was held at the Pequaywan Fire Hall.
Attendance: Lita Wallace, Douglas Nelson, Jim Wilson, Douglas Dressen, Carol Nelson, Shane Stolp, Raymond Barnes; Katie Dellenbach, Bonnie Dressen, Mark Freeman, Ellorna Gherna, Debra Maida, Jeffrey Maida, Phyllis Mead, Corbin Ringsred, Don Swanstrom, Lily Mead, Powel Waszczuk, Ted Wallace, Nancy Nilsen, Mike Nilsen, Daryl Waldriff, John Wilson, Sandra Wilson
Wallace read the result of Township Election for one open supervisor position as follows: Donald Swanstrom, 20 votes; write-in John Wilson, 2 votes; write-in Douglas Dressen, 1 vote. Donald Swanstrom won the election.
Election of a moderator by registered voters at Pequaywan Township: Phyllis Mead was the sole nomination. Douglas Nelson motioned for Mead to be the moderator, seconded by Wilson, motion carried. Mead accepted with a unanimous vote.
Moderator announced Agenda for rest of Meeting, subject to modification by vote of electorate, in which there was no change.
The clerk provided copies of the 2024 Annual meeting minutes. Motioned was made to waive reading of the minutes and approve it as is. Motioned was seconded, motion carried unanimously.
Annual road report by Chair Douglas Nelson: As stated in last year’s report, the West Branch township road is over 30 years old and in need of replacement. The township owns the road and has an obligation to maintain it. We now have $195,673 in the Road & Bridge Capital account and that money is invested in CD’s at just over 4%. The expenses for the road this past year are as follows: (1) Snow Plowing by St. Louis County $2,413.85: and (2) Clearing the road shoulders along the right of way as mandated by St. Louis County in order to renew our plowing contract. Bids for the shoulder maintenance were between $20,000 to $35,000, which we rejected as unreasonable. We have better uses for Township funds. This plowing contract is a fraction of what it would cost if we had to use a private contractor. All the right of way clearing was done by supervisors and neighbors living along the road. Cost $2,197.24.
The snowplow supervisor told me there is a portion of the road that is crumbling and would be hazardous for the plow driver. He wants it fixed before the next contract is renewed.
In addition to the funding provided by the Township we are in the process of setting up a Subordinate Service District. All property owners along the Township West Branch Road are being asked to make an annual contribution to the Road & Bridge Fund of $35,000. There are 70 owners so the average cost would be about $500 per year. The District will be established when over 50% of the property owners agree to the new service fee. Each property owners’ portion will be based on their property value the same as their existing taxes.
The replacement cost using last year’s numbers was $651,000. My assumption is that the number will increase with time. Sinnott Blacktop will meet with the supervisors and update their estimates after all the snow has melted. The St. Louis County Road Engineer has told us, the less we spend on a road this old and worn out, the better. He
said save for replacement instead. With the joint contribution it will take 7 to 10 years to have enough money to pay for the road. It will probably be done in 2 or 3 stages paying as we go.
We did apply for a grant last year but were unsuccessful. In conversation with the State Engineer in charge she basically said we did not have high enough volume of traffic as it’s a dead-end road. No grants were available this year as the state did not fund the program again.
Pequaywan Township has the lowest tax rate of any of our neighboring Townships. Our Real Estate Taxable Base is $85,068,400.00. This number has increased every year because of new homes being built, homes remodeled, homes sold at higher prices and regular reassessments of our properties. What that means is the new levy request will have little impact on your existing taxes.
Last year I used my own home as an example and told you there would be little to no change in your Pequaywan Township taxes even with the $5,000 increase in the Levy. My 2025 taxes went from $3,553 to $3,628. An increase of $75 dollars. What went up? St. Louis County taxes were up by $79.25. School District up by $8.21. Pequaywan
Township Tax Down from $375.20 to $354.55. A decrease of $20.65. The township tax is 9.8% of your total tax bill, 90.2% of your money goes to fund St. Louis County.
Your friends and neighbors living along the West Branch Road deserve a decent road to travel home or to their season property. Safe and speedy travel for our Fire Fighters and EMS when every second counts. Not gravel with all the mud, dust, rock chip, cracked windshield, frost boils and flat tires.
Treasurer Carol Nelson read the Board of Audit Report based on the information from the Board of Audit meeting last month.
Pequaywan Fire & EMS Assistant Fire Chief Katie Delenbach reported that the Fire Department is requesting a levy of $30,000.00 for 2026. Delenbach also reported that the Fire Department has 15 members with 10 firefighters and 6 EMS personnel. As a 100% volunteer-based organization they have been serving Pequaywan Lake Community since 1975. In 2024, there was a total of 24 calls including 17 EMS, 9 fire calls including 2 structure fires (some were both). The volunteers are good about taking care of their trucks rather than having to hire out repairs. For example, they converted a DNR tanker truck at a 50% cost savings compared to a neighboring township. There is a significant need for replacing and obtaining radios which are critical during a call. Grants are being applied for this to cover some costs.
| 2025 and 2026 LEVY | ||
| Name of Fund | 2025 Levy | 2026 Levy |
| General Fund | $ 5,000.00 | $ 5,000.00 |
| Road and Bridges (On-going Maintenance | 5,000.00 | 5,000.00 |
| Fire and EMS | 15,000.00 | 27,000.00 |
| Building/Property Maintenance Fund | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Roads and Bridges (Capital Reserve) | 35,000.00 | 33,000.00 |
| Total | $60,000.00 | $70,000.00 |
Treasurer Carol Nelson presented the total levy for 2026 in the amount of $70,000.00 which is an increase of $10,000.00 from 2025’s $60,000.00. Levy to be paid to the Fire Department is $30,000.00 with $3,000.00 coming from the 2024 Fire & EMS balance 2024 levy. After discussion, it was motioned and seconded to set a levy of $70,000 as presented, motion carried. 14 in favor and 3 opposed. The board of supervisors will render the final decision during the March Board Meeting.
| Name of Fund | 1/1/2024 Balance | 2024
Receipts |
2024 Disbursements | 12/31/2024 Balance |
| General Fund | $40,942.63 | $35,566.20 | $27,724.92 | $48,783.91 |
| Road and Bridges (On-going Maintenance | 6,759.65 | 11,503.17 | 4,611.09 | 13,651.73 |
| Fire and EMS | 21,898.59 | 19,859.63 | 25,000.00 | 16,758.22 |
| Building/Property Maintenance Fund | 5,494.12 | 2,404.84 | 200 | 7,698.96 |
| Roads and Bridges (Capital Reserve) | 179,400.88 | 16,273.05 | 0.00 | 195,673.93 |
| Total | $254,495.87 | $85,606.89 | $57,536.01 | 282,566.75 |
Annual Town Meeting: the state of Minnesota set the Annual Town Meeting on the second Tuesday of March following the Town Election. The Annual Town Meeting will be held at Pequaywan Fire Hall.
Motions to approve
- Motioned and seconded to set monthly Town Board Meeting on the second Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. with the exception of March Meeting to be scheduled after the Annual Town Meeting. Location is Pequaywan Fire Hall.
- Motioned and seconded to set Pequaywan Firehall as the location for the next annual meeting:
- Motioned seconded that 8:30 p.m. is the set time to convene and call to order next annual meeting.
- Motioned and seconded that the primary voting place is Pequaywan Fire Hall; garage in case Pequaywan Fire Hall is not available due to unforeseen circumstances, secondary voting place is Pequaywan Trail Blazer Snowmobile Club (contact person is Ray Barnes).
- Motion and seconded that the starting time for elections are as follows:
7:00 am – 8:00 pm, Presidential Nomination Primary Election, Primary Election and General Election (there was a discussion that the election can start at 10:00 a.m. but since there were more than 50% who voted before 10:00 a.m., it was motioned and seconded to keep start time at 7:00 a.m.)
7:00 am – 8:00 pm, State Election
10:00 am – 8:00 pm, Special Primary Election and Special General Election
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Township Election - Motioned and seconded that posting areas of Public Notice are as follows:
– pequaywantownship.org website
– West Branch Road marquee (event dates)
– Pequaywan Fire & EMS bulletin board
– Pequaywan Inn bulletin board
– Pequaywan Clerk Facebook page (facebook.com/Pequaywanclerk/)
– Pequaywan Lake Community facebook page (facebook.com/groups/799936047162051/) - In finality, it was motioned and seconded that all of the above be approved. Motion carried unanimously.
The meeting was motioned and seconded to adjourn at 9:45 p.m., motion carried.
Respectfully submitted by,
Lita Wallace, Clerk
Shane Stolp, Deputy Clerk