During the December meeting, the Big Lake Town Board discussed a variance for a local resident and benefits to township employees. 

Request for Variance

Township resident Cherlynne Krueger asked to be allowed a variance to allow horses on her property. Currently, township ordinance does not allow horses on platted parcels, which are usually 2.5 acres large in most instances. Krueger, however, owns two parcels right next to each other which are each five acres, so there would only be three horses on 10 acres of land. Krueger argued her case for the variance, stating neighbors have large animals such as horses and cows, and that her business, a dog kennel, has excellent reviews showing that she is very responsible with her animals.

After discussion, the board agreed to write her a letter of approval to have horses for as long as she owns the property, provided she first discusses it with her neighbors to make sure she has their good will, which Krueger indicated she already had received verbally from one neighbor.

Employee Benefits

Town clerk Brenda Kimberly-Maas noted that the benefits package the board had approved for township employees in a meeting earlier in the year was not going to be available after all. The program, Benefica, which provided some health benefits to employees, stated that they were not able to offer two tiers of services to employees based on whether they are full time or part time (with part time employees receiving half benefits, as the board wished). They also stated that all employees with the township would be considered part time by their standards. After discussion, the board agreed they no longer wished to work with Benefica and decided to pull their funds from the program, specifically earmarking those funds to re-invest in a new employee benefits program sometime in the new year. 

Also on the topic of employee benefits, there was some discussion as to how to handle PTO benefits moving into the new year. The board adopted a new PTO policy in 2024 to replace their old vacation policy. Kimberly-Maas assumed that any unused vacation time would be rolled into PTO hours that would carry over from check to check with a maximum of 80 hours. After discussion, the board decided that they wished to pay out old vacation time instead. 

However, the town treasurer, Ken Warneke, stated that he would refuse a payout if one was offered to him, as it would interfere with his social security benefits. The board agreed that they wanted to wait and work with Warneke to find a method of paying out the vacation time, perhaps over several months, to make sure he could receive the money he was owed without losing any social security. The issue will return at a future meeting. 

Sheriff’s Report

Sgt. Derrick Barett reported two accidents over the past month, one on Co. Rd. 15 and one on 172nd St. He also noted two burglaries, one a theft of tools from a detached garage, and one a theft of copper cable from the TV tower.

He also reported on a theft of street signs. Several 35 mph signs owned by the township were stolen and replaced with 25 mph signs. The roads in question were originally 25 mph roads, but there was a change in state ordinance that recently went into effect which forced the township to increase the speeds. The signs were brand new, and Sgt. Barett asked for any information on the thefts to be sent to the sheriff’s office.

Finally, Barett noted that there have been multiple fraud complaints. Someone has been impersonating an officer of the Sheriff’s Department, claiming the victim has missed their call to jury duty and extorting personal information and money from them. Barett firmly stated that the sheriff’s office will not call anyone demanding money or personal information, and anyone who receives such a call should contact the sheriff’s office directly.

In Other Business, the Board: 

• Set the board of appeal and equalization, where residents may come and address concerns over their taxes for the year, for April 10 at 10 a.m. at town hall;

• Opted to carry over $200 in the budget set aside for donations to next year, instead of donating to the food shelf;

• Heard an update on the county’s efforts in writing a cannabis ordinance, including that information was recently sent to the town attorney for review;

• Approved resealing the fire station floors at a cost of just over $26,000 for the township portion;

• Approved a higher rate for the town hall cleaning services by Options, Inc.;

• Heard from supervisors Mark Hedstrom and Laura Hayes that the two intend to work together on creating a town “policy book” to keep track of town operations;

• Allocated the remainder of their ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding to township roads so the funding is not lost at the end of the year.