On October 16, the Sherburne County Association of Townships (SCAT) said goodbye to Baldwin Twp. Having incorporated into a city, this is the last SCAT meeting in which Baldwin was eligible to participate.
Tom Rush, the chairman for SCAT, was forced to step down since he was a part of the Baldwin Twp. Board, and therefore no longer eligible to serve in that position. Anne Felber of Orrock Twp. was nominated and subsequently elected to fill the position. The previous clerk, Marlene Nelson, also stepped down, but her position has not yet been filled. Bud Stimmler of Clear Lake Twp. was elected to the position of vice-chair, which was previously not filled.
Cannabis
A hot topic among all the cities and townships around the county right now is the cannabis ordinance. The state has mandated that each municipality adopt a cannabis ordinance, but has not released much in the way for how this ordinance should look, and in fact extended the deadline for the state itself to adopt such an ordinance.
Marc Schneider from the county’s planning and zoning office was on hand during the SCAT meeting to explain how the county is addressing the issue and to answer questions from the supervisors.
He noted a public hearing would be held October 17 (the day after this meeting) and the final decision on the ordinance would be made on November 19.
Currently, the state has put no limitations on the number of microbusinesses that may operate in any particular area to grow and sell cannabis products, and this is the type of business Schneider and his team expected to impact townships the most. The team is working on a land use matrix to consider appropriate zoning for this type of business.
Kathleen Heaney, County Attorney, added her two cents to Schneider’s statement, noting it will take work to keep enforcement over the cannabis ordinance consistent across the county. She also noted that the state would not be sending any funding to the townships to assist in developing or enforcing the ordinance, though some is available to cities.
Heaney said that even setting up a registration fee for new businesses won’t be enough to recuperate staffing costs, and the cannabis ordinance is going to be a net loss for the county, not a money-maker by any means.
The ordinance will include buffer areas between other businesses, such as schools or daycares. The county is also not granted the ability to shut down a business violating the ordinance - they have to contact the state to do so on their behalf.
Sheriff’s Report
Sgt. Ben Zawacki of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Department gave his update to the SCAT supervisors.
The department is working on opening a backup dispatch center in Zimmerman, which will be opening within the next month.
The department will be switching to encrypted radios starting in January.
Zawacki is personally working on hiring new officers. He expected to have three candidates added to the department in November, which will bring the department back to being fully-staffed.
Finally, the department will be getting a second K-9 unit in March, which will be assisting officers on patrol in April or May.
County Updates
County Commissioner Gregg Felber gave a brief update on the other topics the county commissioners are discussing currently.
The county is considering opening a household hazardous waste facility where residents may dispose of hazardous household waste that contains chemicals that should not go to the landfill.
The tax levy is increasing about 4% this year. Felber noted that the commissioners never want to increase the levy, but at least it is still lower compared to other counties around the state. County staff worked very hard to keep it as low as possible.
The county is also working to try to find funding to fix up the intersection at Hwys. 25 and 11, and to make repairs at the jail.
County Administrator Bruce Messelt added that staff is working hard on elections. He also noted that there will be a recount of three random races from three random precincts after election day, as well as one random precinct/race from Big Lake City, who requested the service during the last election season. Unfortunately, they are not able to offer the service to any other municipalities for this election cycle, but they hope to be able to do so in the future.
MAT Update
Tammy Carlson of the Minnesota Association of Townships (MAT) District 7 came to give her update.
She noted that MAT’s legislative committee had sent their list of legislative priorities to the state. This will show state legislators which topics are important to townships across Minnesota. The committee will hold their annual meeting December 13 and 14 in St. Cloud.
Carlson reminded the assembled supervisors to obligate their ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding by the end of the year, or else risk losing the money.
Township day at the capital will be January 27, and Carlson encouraged everyone to consider participating, as the more supervisors who showed up, the more likely issues concerning townships would be considered. In a similar vein, there will be a Washington DC fly-in in May.
