During their recent meeting, the Big Lake Town Board canvassed their election results. Clerk Brenda Kimberly-Maas presented the results of the local elections as follows:
Supervisor Bruce Aubol won re-election to seat three with 3,182 votes.
Supervisor Mark Hedstrom once again won seat four with 2,520 votes, coming out ahead of his opponent, Nathan Gaida, who had 946 votes.
Seat five again went to the incumbent, Supervisor Laura Hayes, with 3,057 votes.
On the morning of Election Day, there were 5,761 registered voters. Another 285 voters registered themselves on Election Day. A total of 5,173 residents voted.
Sheriff’s Report
There was a single-vehicle accident at the intersection of Co. Rd. 15 and old Co. Rd. 79, where a vehicle was suspected to have rolled over after not stopping at the stop sign on 79. The driver was transported to the hospital and the investigation is ongoing.
Medical Expense Limits
The township provides medical benefits to their staff as a benefit. The plan was approved in September, but the board was waiting to see what limits the federal government chooses to set on medical benefits before setting a limit on the amount of money to put into the plan.
The federal limits for full time employees will be raised in 2025 to $6,350 (an increase of $200). The limits for part time employees, who are entitled to receive half the benefits of full time employees, will be raised $100.
The board chose to raise their benefits to match the federal limits. Clerk Kimberly-Maas thanked the board on behalf of the staff.
Hospital Dissolution Letter
The Monticello-Big Lake Hospital Board is being dissolved. The decision to dissolve was made because the board is turning control of the hospital over to Centra Care after Centra Care met all stipulations set by the board.
The board accepted the hospital dissolution letter.
Board Vacancy
The board discussed the possibility of declaring a temporary board vacancy. Supervisor Larry Alfords intends to move south over the winter months, and wished to discuss the possibility of appointing another individual to carry out his duties while he is away.
Supervisor Hedstrom raised concerns over the idea, stating that he believed Alfords should continue to serve in the role as the candidate elected to the board by the public, since Alfords can remotely attend the meeting via video call.
Alfords clarified that he did intend to remotely attend meetings, and he only meant that the board should consider appointing a representative to carry out in-person duties, both to perform duties Alfords would be unable to carry out as well as to offer a training position for anyone who may be interested in running for town board in the future.
This agenda item was for discussion only and no action was taken.
Open Forum
Bret Collier asked whether ARPA funds could be used for garage door openers. Supervisor Aubol replied they could, but those funds were already committed to pay for a fire truck.
He also discussed the sidewalk plan on the east side of Co. Rd. 43. He was against the idea, as he didn’t see any reason why students going to the schools couldn’t use the existing sidewalk on the west side of the road. Supervisor Hedstrom replied that the decision was made a while back, and it is in line with Safe Routes to School and it will connect to the future site of the Youth Wave Center. Collier still asked that the board decide to not build after all.
In Other Business, the Board:
• Discussed purchasing garage door openers to use at Lion’s Park;
• Voted to keep Supervisor Aubol as the representative to the county Planning and Zoning Advisory;
• Approved an encroachment agreement;
• Decided to keep the same representatives to the county zoning board;
• Noted there will be no second meeting for the month, and the next board meeting will be December 11.
