Brett Collier was nominated moderator to lead the annual Big Lake Township meeting. The meeting started with the approval of the minutes of last year’s annual meeting.

Norm Leslie Dedicated Bench

Norm Leslie retired last year after serving on the board for almost 20 years. He was a Lions club member who gifted the Lions park to the township and continued to maintain and improve the park during his years on the board. 

He also worked with Eagle Scouts on their scout projects. The most recent was a shelter in the dog park, and a bench dedicated to Leslie’s years of service will be placed inside.

Storm Water Pollution Prevention

Town Clerk Brenda Kimberly-Maas presented the township’s efforts to keep lakes in the area clean, including inspecting storm water equipment and submitting annual reports to the MPCA (though these reports were not required for the past two years.)

Hospital Board

Jim Johnson of the hospital board presented the annual report. The hospital recently opened a new heart and vascular center. There are also NICU services including telehealth services available now. The hospital recently sold the attached nursing home, which is now being run by a specialized group. CentraCare is also working on a project to bring a medical school to St. Cloud which will specialize in training rural doctors.

Tentative Levy

Township Treasurer, Ken Warneke, suggested a tentative levy of $2,479,000, which is down from last year. Usually, the township residents approve a tentative levy on township day, but recess the meeting and approve the actual levy in September, in case it needs to be adjusted.

Usually the levy doesn’t change from what is presented in March, though last year it did to help with the purchase of a truck for the Big Lake Fire Department.

Township Supervisor Mark Hedstrom raised concerns with the levy decreasing, worried that decreases now would mean large increases later to catch up again. He also noted that lots of the E911 signs around the township desperately need to be replaced. Resident Ms. Vrudny and Supervisor Laura Hayes echoed Hedstrom’s desire to replace the signs.

The electorate tentatively set the levy and recessed the meeting for September 11 at 6 p.m.

In Other Business, the Electorate:

• Approved the review of the township over the past year;

• Heard the annual road report;

• Set the next annual meeting for March 10, 2025 6 p.m.