Ross Imholte and family appeared before the Clear Lake Twp. Board Tuesday evening to get answers to what they can do to get a neighbor to mend a property line fence.

 

The Imholtes say the neighbor’s cattle have been able to breech the fence and are wandering into their property and others and destroying things on a frequent basis.

 

According to the Imholtes, the sheriff’s department cannot do much as far as enforcing and it has been learned that the neighbor has no insurance for such a thing and is not willing to pay for the damages to adjoining pastures.

 

The Imholtes’ property is at 5988 77th Street SE in Clear Lake.

 

Chairman Gary Gray said he researched state laws on fence viewing and said the law is complicated and would not help much unless the township enacted their own policy, law or resolution. However, Gray said in order to have a law such as that, the board would need to receive a petition with a minimum of eight people’s signatures to get a fence law adopted.

 

Then, he said, the township would be responsible and able to enforce a fence law.

 

Gray also said he read in the state statute that if a fence is repaired by a neighboring party (such as the Imholtes), they can pay for the work and have it mended and in turn bill the negligent property owner double what it cost to fix.

 

After conferring, Gray said the board would be willing to proceed with putting together a township policy or resolution if they get the required signatures but said he’d like to talk with a couple attorneys first.

 

The fence the Imholtes identified as being a problem is approximately a mile long on two sides of their property.

 

Citizen Glen Goenner appeared before the board with a request to have a culvert installed at his property.

 

Engineer Terrance VanderEyk said he reviewed the request and suggests a 15” pipe be used. He also mentioned there would be a $500 bond fee associated with the project.

 

Gray told Goenner the board was okay with the culvert request but the township would not be paying for it. Goenner said he had no problem with that and it was suggested Goenner and Eyk get together to get the project off the ground.

 

Larry Webb put in a request to have the township grant him access to property he owns that is landlocked by a strip of property between township property and his.

 

The property is at the end of a cul-de-sac on 37th Avenue that has been in existence since 1984.

 

The board said it appears Webb could gain access to the property from the road should he decide to remove some trees on the corner of the property. It was suggested legal counsel would be necessary to move ahead with the project and Gray said he’d talk to Webb about the situation in the meantime.

 

Eyk gave his monthly road report and said all the seal coat projects through the county have been accepted. Eyk said his estimate of $102,000 was underbid by Aztec for a cost of $80,059 ($134,00 was the highest bid).

 

Eyk said the project is to be started in June. He also mentioned the striping project the township wants to do will be under a separate county project.

 

Eyk said the Long Lake sediment control project is proceeding after plans were discussed and reviewed at last month’s board meeting. Funding is being sought. Eyk said the neighboring property owners were notified of the runoff control project.

 

Two bids were received by the board and opened Tuesday night and the project was estimated by the engineer to cost around $8,706.

 

The low bid accepted by the township came from Schiendzelos and Sons in the amount of $9,009, followed by a bid from Jeff Rhodes for $9,637.

 

Eyk reminded the board that the SWCD will pay up to 65% of the project with a commencement in May.

 

Stimmler said the parks and trails committee met before Tuesday’s board meeting and decided they’d rather hold the monthly parks and trails meeting during the regular board meeting rather than before.

 

Stimmler said the trees and plants ordered for the park are in and will be planted in the park by April 30 if he is able to get volunteers from sentence-to-serve or other citizens.

 

“The trails are being used so far this spring including the dog park trails,” Stimmler said. “Things are looking good down there.”

 

Deputy Chris Aleshire said the dog issue from last month was due to a resident calling into dispatch about a stray dog, then proceeding to bring the dog in themselves and getting the shelter to charge the cost to the township. The protocol is for dispatch to receive the call from the resident, then a call goes out to a board member for approval to have the dog brought into the shelter. Somehow this one incident sidestepped the usual protocol.

 

Gray, Joe Goenner and Stimmler all agreed to supply dispatch with their personal phone numbers for such situations.

 

Aleshire said 76 calls for service came into the sheriff’s department in March with 44 being traffic stops, four being accidents, six being medical and one being a burning complaint.

 

• Clerk Mary Mathison officially appointed Gary Anderson as deputy clerk;

 

• Gray said the solar farm comment form was neglected last month but the board will make their comments this month and have the paperwork returned to the county;

 

• Joe Goenner’s request to block off 55 acres of his property was accepted by the board;

 

• The spring road tour is April 28 at 5 p.m.

 

The next Clear Lake Twp. Board meeting is May 19 at 7 p.m.