Category: Minutes

Present:  Mark Freeman, Scott Mead, Rick Fry, Keith Stoneburner

6 residents present

Next meeting set for October 11, 2011

Old business:

Logging of township land: Contract was signed. Copy was given to clerk for township file.

New tax assessor: Motion made and passed to use St. Louis County as the tax assessor service for this year. Clerk to give notice to Jan Jackson on the township decision.

Broadband/Internet: Letters/questionnaires ready to mail out. Emailed questionnaires out to those they could. Receipts turned in for postage and printing fees.

Leashing/controlling dogs: St. Louis County stated there are no leash laws to Freeman.

New business:

DNR was on Pequaywan Lake taking samples for water, vegetation, zebra mussels, spiny water fleas, Eurasion milfoil. Mead asked for a report copy of the results.

Meeting adjourned.

Present:  Mark Freeman, Scott Mead, Rick Fry, Keith Stoneburner

11 residents present

Next meeting set for September 13, 2011

Old business:

Logging of township land: Johnson Timber Harvesting gave a per cord price proposal to Freeman. The logging would be done next spring. After logging is completed and funds paid to the township, replanting will be discussed. Motion made and passed to approve contract.

New tax assessor: Kerry Walsh from St. Louis County and Jan Jackson were present to each discuss their side to why Pequaywan should choose their service for the new tax assessor. They also discussed cons against the other and it was decided for St. Louis County to send the township and Jan Jackson a list of issues that the county has against the Jan Jackson company on their job performance. Those issues and rebuttal from Jan Jackson will be reviewed and decision made on a choice.

Broadband/Internet: Citizen Helgen and Strom have completed the marketing info and survey to send out to all township residents and cabin owners as best can be done with email/address information they have. A request made from Strom to the township to help cover printing and postage expense around $50. Motion made and passed approving that request.

Jean Duluth Road re-surfacing is to begin in August.

New business:

A resident asked the township about any laws the township has on leashing/controlling dogs. The township cannot enforce any laws such as that. The resident asked if the township could obtain information from St. Louis County on their laws for leashing/controlling dogs. Freeman agreed to contact St. Louis County to see what information he could get.

Meeting adjourned.

Present:  Mark Freeman, Scott Mead, Rick Fry

Absent: Keith Stoneburner

7 residents present

Next meeting set for August 9, 2011

Old business:

Hwy 44 road speed issue: Discussion of having 40 mph warning signs coming from the south.

Logging of township land: Logger Johnson gave a quote, Freeman will get more concrete information on the contract.

New tax assessor: Jan Jackson and son Larry attended the meeting to present themselves as a choice in the new assessor decision. Question asked after they left the meeting on if they are bonded for their job as assessor.

Broadband/Internet: Citizen Helgen is creating a flyer in difference between current and high-speed. An interest survey needs to be completed as part of being included in the Lake county internet upgrade.

New business:

A resident asked if the township would draft a letter to the St. Louis County asking them to resurface Jean Duluth Rd. Mead is to draft the letter.

3 citizens did a view of the two Pequaywan lakes for water iris plants in the lakes. A couple clumps were found in big Pequaywan and many more in little Pequaywan.

Meeting adjourned.

Present:  Mark Freeman, Scott Mead, Rick Fry, Keith Stoneburner

Absent: April Smitke

Next meeting set for July 12, 2011

Minutes from the May 10, 2011 meeting read and approved

Old business:

Follow up discussion on the Highway 44 road speed in the vicinity of the fire hall. The county feels that the current speed limit of 55 mph is correct and there is no need to post a slower speed.

New Business:

Motion was made by Supervisor Fry to sell the timber off the Township owned property with any proceeds going to replanting and capping of the seedlings. Motion approved unanimously.

Discussion of the high speed internet and that issue is still in the infant stage. A survey is needed to try and establish how many users desire the high-speed connection. Cost can be a factor.

Dan Dexter has authored a petition requesting a EAW, Environmental Assessment Worksheet, regarding the public access on Big Pequaywan Lake.

Petition representative:  Tim Spangenberg  218-525-2444 Res
5833 Morning Star Dr. 218-848-2023 Lake
Duluth, MN 55804 218-341-5348 Cell

Contact Tim for further information

Meeting adjourned.

 

Present:  Mark Freeman, Scott Mead, Rick Fry

Absent: Keith Stoneburner

8 residents present

Next meeting set for June 14, 2011

Old business:

New business:

Resident Wilson brought up the discussion of logging the township land of the Rossini Rd. This is to be brought up at the Peq. Assc meeting to get feedback.

Residents of Pinewood and E. Shore Rd brought up the discussion of the land going up for auction sale by the County and if the township could step in to purchase the land before going to auction. It was said the township was not allowed by MN statutes to do this and recommended they discuss this with a surveyor and/or legal representation for exact property lines and other questions they may have.

The supervisor of N. Star township called Scott Mead about these areas excluded from the fiber optic progress from the Two Harbors direction. It was discussed of proposing a petition to notify those that people in the area are interested in being included. Resident Henry Helgen to follow-up on the information.

Meeting adjourned.

Present:  Mark Freeman, Scott Mead, Rick Fry, Keith Stoneburner

3 residents present

Next meeting set for May 10, 2011

*Discussion of officers for the 2011-2012 year; Freeman will remain Chairman, Fry will remain road supervisor. After meeting clean-up will be done by Clerk. Rate of pay for election judges and outside meetings of supervisors is $15/hr; meeting pay will remain at $25.

Old business:

Update by Mead about the “bacteria” that kills Zebra Mussels and Quagga Mussels needs to work in a concentrated area. It would be very expensive to work in a lake.

Regarding the mining in northern MN: April 28^th, 2011 there will be a sale of land in N. MN for the mining use.

Revisit the older issue on the speed limit in the area past the Pequaywan Inn: The County is to do a traffic survey in May and get back to Mark Freeman.

New business:

Notice of domain name renewal received from GoDaddy. No objections to renew the domain name and continue the website.

Mr. Kerry Welsh, Assistant St. Louis County assessor visited the meeting to discuss options the township has in hiring a replacement assessor for the area in Al Ringer’s retirement from the job.

Items discussed by Mr. Welsh included: appointing a certified assessor, schooling and training that is needed, a new software technology the county is using much like GoogleEarth. If an assessor is not chosen by Oct 1, 2011, the county will appoint one.

Local individual interested in taking over the assessor position, Tom Thompson, attended the meeting also to discuss his interest. He would be required to go through the schooling and training. In hearing some of the updated rules from the county asst assessor, he would like to speak with Al Ringer and let the township know of his final decision.

The township is to have a weed inspector.

Meeting adjourned.

Meeting convened at 8:15 pm.

Attendance: 17 Residents present

Clerk Smitke called the meeting to order.  A motion made/seconded/carried to elect Henry Helgen as Citizen Monitor for the meeting.  Motion made/seconded/carried to waive the reading of the 2010 annual meeting minutes.  Treasurer report made available for viewing and questions.

Road report: Road patching was done on West Branch road. More patching can be done.

The levy for taxes was motioned/seconded/carried to remain at $23,000.  It was approved in the levy $13,500 for payment to the PVFD for the 2012 year.

The annual elections were reported on that Rick Fry was re-elected for a 3 year term as supervisor and Keith Stoneburner was re-elected for a 2 year term as treasurer.

The voting hours motioned/seconded/carried for Primary, General and Special Statewide election hours to be 7:00 am to 8:00 pm.  The Annual township election hours are to be 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

The monthly meeting time and day shall be 7:30 pm on the second Tuesday of each month and the annual meeting shall be the second Tuesday of March after the annual township election.

Local notice postings can be made at the Pequaywan town bulletin board, PVFD bulletin board, pequaywan.com website and pequaywantownship.org website.

New business:

The idea of building a town hall/community center was introduced. Decision made to allow a group to gather information on the idea and bring to a future township meeting.

Develop north end of Pequaywan Lake. Citizen Wilson requests the township to pay their attorney fees in reviewing and negotiating documents to the easement over state land. Decision made by residents to vote on whether the township should pay attorney fees for this purpose. Vote results; 4-Yes, 7-Nay

New property tax assessor for the area.

Meeting adjourned.

Present:  Mark Freeman, Scott Mead, Rick Fry

Absent: April Smitke, Keith Stoneburner

4 residents present

Next meeting set for March 8, 2011 Annual Meeting

Meeting called to order at 7:30 PM by Chairman Freeman

Minutes for the previous meeting were read and approved

Old business:

Logging has been completed for now on the West Branch Road. A second cut is tentatively scheduled for late fall or winter of 2011.

New business:

It was reported that the DNR lake access lot was officially posted. No confirmation was given.

The new DNR plan for controlling invasive species is a basic rehash of the previous plan. No real improvement. Contact your representatives to express your personal preferences. Representative David Dill, and Senator Tom Bakk represent this area.

There is a possible “bacteria”, which kills both Zebra Mussels and Quagga Mussels. To this point there is a 100% kill rate in limited area tests with no known effects on native populations. It does not kill any other invasive species.

Supervisor Mead attended The Lake Superior Bi-national Forum’s Public Input Session on February 4, 2011. It was held at the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet. It was very informative and stressed some of the major failures concerning mining in Minnesota, including regulations not being followed, permits not renewed or applied for. The Native American community feels that any mining should not cause environmental issues. That is currently not the case. The PH levels in most Northern Minnesota Lakes are at the high critical level, and any new mining will push these levels over the edge.

Supervisor Fry discussed whether or not mobile homes should be allowed on the lakes within the township. Currently, there is no ordinance that prohibits their use. St. Louis County, who manages building and land use within the township, does not ban the use of mobile homes on lake property. There are discrimination issues regarding banning their use. Any further discussion should be addressed at the annual meeting.

There was a discussion on the firehall and use of the 40 acres that the Township owns.

Discussed snow plowing or the lack of it on the West Branch Road. This occurred during mid-January when it snowed off and on for a week. The county portion of the road would get plowed but not the township portion. The township does contract with the county for plowing but that does not always mean that the whole road will be done. Extra payments have been offered by the township to plow every time but no payments have been made or requested. The township portion is evidently considered a non-primary road.

Any person needing a sign concerning snowmobiles should contact Ron Sluka or Ray Barnes.

Knapweed will be considered a primary noxious weed effective 3/1/2011. At that point the County will need to take action before they spread to private land. If the weed is currently on private land it will need to be taken care of.

Meeting adjourned at 8:00 PM

Present:  Mark Freeman, Scott Mead, Rick Fry

Absent: Keith Stoneburner

7 residents present

Next meeting set for February 8, 2011

Old business:

None

New business:

PVFD attended to submit their annual budget report for review of the township board members.

Public access: Letter from DNR  Joe Russell on all the reasons to concerns on the public access.  Information shared by Mead on aquatic invasive species.

Brief discussion had on the logging of the townships’ 40 acres and the concern of spruce worm, decision stands on not logging.

March election to be held for Treasurer and Supervisor position currently held by Rick Fry.

Meeting adjourned.

Present:  Mark Freeman, Scott Mead, Rick Fry, Keith Stoneburner

5 residents present

Next meeting set for January 11, 2011

Old business:

Petition letter on speed limit: Freeman received a second letter back stating they would look into doing a survey on the matter.

Logging down the W. Branch Rd is continuing, should be about another month of work.

Road sign #256: State received funding for the signs for a purpose, 911 systems are updated for the road sign notation.

New business:

PVFD attended to request funds on the $4500 budgeted from the township to the FD. Request to give the funds motioned and passed.

Fry has a link set-up on the Pequaywan.org site to information on aquatic invasive species.

Meeting adjourned.