BL Twp. welcomed back Supervisor Larry Alfords for the meeting April 12. His return brought a tease of warmth, which in turn gave the lingering snow a chance to melt right in time for the board and road committee to start up their spring road tour.

Twp. Roads

There was quite a bit of discussion about plans for the roads during the meeting. It really showed how much the board was considering and what priorities needed to be placed on top. Dean Brenteson mentioned that the potholes have been on hold due to the hot mix plants not being opened yet. Weather willing, there is hope for those plants to open in the foreseeable future. Because the heat spell started to melt away the remnants of winter, the board decided to schedule their road tour to start Tuesday, April 18.

Sheriff’s Annual Report

Chief deputy Steve Doran led the report for Sheriff Joel Brott. A K-9 Officer retired, which brought in a new K-9 to work alongside Derrick Sorensen. K-9 Bronco will be a multipurpose officer with searches and apprehension prioritized. The Sherburne County officers have also started up the youth fire arms and ATV safety classes. Sgt. Austin Turner received the DWI Hat trick award for pulling over three impaired drivers in one night. Nabil Gubash represented Minnesota in the Special Olympics as a torch runner in Orlando, FL. The jail received a new clinic with 24/7 nurse care. They decided to partner with Wellpath, a healthcare provider and national company. The jail clinic will be the first to use Wellpath in the state of Minnesota. There has been an influx of fentanyl usage on the streets as of late. During the past year, the department has had more fentanyl related incidents than the previous years.

Business from the Board

Supervisors Mark Hedstrom, Alfords, and Brenteson had nothing to add to the meeting. However, Norm Leslie and Bruce Aubol had some things to touch base on.   

Leslie started with the changes at the Township/Lions Park. Work on the ball fields will be starting up, there will be replacement of fencing around the area, sidewalk areas that dip will be redone, more chips will be added to the playground, and upgrades to the trails will add more rocks. A bigger project will be the pickle ball court the board has been talking about putting in. With pickle ball becoming more popular, a court in the park would give people more access to practicing or playing out some games. 

Aubol attended a parks committee meeting, where they talked about changes in how to look at parks and the maintenance that comes with it. The board discussed going forward with a two-year contract with Legacy Landscaping, a company who has had a good working relationship with the township and is very responsive when communicating. Working with LL will be beneficial to the board members, especially Supervisor Leslie, taking over the groundskeeping that was being done by the board.

Treasurer’s Report

Ken Warneke’s report was good. There will be some moving numbers around still due to the snow plowing budget, however the township is working hard to have the budgets righted before the recessed meeting in September. 

Other Business

• Pet Vaccinations will be held at the BL Lion’s Park on September 9, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

• There will be some trail improvement; the river crossing Co. Rd. 5  will soon gain a pedestrian bridge.

• The Orrock Twp. board approved building a new town hall for 2024. There is a possibility that the construction will start as soon as July 2023, with the hopes of being finished by December 2023. The Orrock Twp. requested authorization for allowing access to the BL Twp. town hall in order to store some important files. The insurance policy for Orrock would cover any potential mishaps should one arise, so the board agreed to make some space.

• Boy Scouts Troop 93 requested permission to camp out overnight in Lion’s Park at the old cabin location. There would be an influx of vehicles, so they were given permission to park in the lower parking lot.

• Appeal and Equalization meeting happened April 13.

• Next BL Twp. meeting will be held April 26, at 6 p.m.