Thursday, July 10th, 2025 Church Directory

BL Twp debates putting meeting videos online

Last week, the Big Lake Town Board met for their regular meeting, and for their annual board of audit meeting. BLFD Chief Hansen gave a department update, and the supervisors and clerks discussed putting meeting videos online.

Zoom Meetings

The board discussed the possibility of uploading meeting videos online, now that the meeting room is set up with cameras and microphones (courtesy of CARES funding.) Supervisor Mark Hedstrom was in favor of uploading the videos, saying that meeting minutes were useful, but they could not show an audience how the board interacted with each other or the back and forth nature of board discussions.

Supervisor Larry Alfords, who was present at this most recent meeting, but who had been attending remotely the meeting before, said that there were some issues that needed to be worked through with the technology before it should be made available to the public. He said it was difficult to hear conversations among board members, there is a good amount of background noise, and the screen in Zoom is too small to see anyone properly. Unfortunately, the town clerk and deputy clerk, not being IT professionals, can only do so much to deal with these issues.

Supervisor Bruce Aubol said it would be a good idea to continue moving in the direction of making videos available, but it is a project that will take some time and money to implement. And, with no town residents specifically requesting the service, the board members saw no need to rush the issue, although Fire Chief Hansen did request the ability to give his monthly presentations from his pontoon this summer.

BLFD Update

Chief Hansen gave the board a report on the BLFD for the month of January. There were a total of 30 calls for service during the month, including three fires, three hazardous conditions, and four medical assists.

The department plans to hold a live burn soon, where firefighters intentionally set fire to a building in order to train for a fire rescue situation. They have also been training in search and rescue and with the department snowmobiles.

The department recently received some new tech in the form of new cameras and new gear extractors.

Finally, Chief Hansen once again encouraged residents to “adopt a hydrant.” This means that residents volunteer to shovel out a nearby fire hydrant after snowfall. This makes it much easier and faster for firefighters to reach it in an emergency, and time not spent shoveling out snow could save lives.

In Other Business, the Board:

• Is expecting a surge in housing development;

• Is working with the city on Framework 2030, which should be done very soon;

• Held their annual board of audit meeting, reviewing their spending for the year of 2020.