The Clear Lake Twp. board of supervisors discussed the recent purchase agreement they’d received for the township hall during their meeting Tuesday night. The building was put on the market last summer in preparation for the new township hall the board is planning to build at the Clear Lake Township Park sometime in the next two years.

 

The building was originally listed at $129,000 and then dropped to $99,000. The purchase agreement offer received was for $89,000.

 

“If we net $77,000 after closing costs and realtors’ fees, that’s around the minimum we talked about accepting for the building,” said Chairman Gary Gray.

 

The township currently has around $425,000 put away for the new town hall, their goal is to have the resources to pay for it outright. 

 

The offer is contingent upon a few items, including a closing date of Jan. 5. The board would need to find another place for their office and meetings until the new township hall could be built.

 

Gray informed the board he would be attending the Clear Lake City Council meeting in December to discuss annexation and the fire contract, and would talk to council members about the possibility of renting an office and conference room from them for potentially the next two years.

 

A brief discussion was held regarding items they wanted to keep for the new building and where those items could be stored until it was built.

 

As the board was unanimous in its agreement, a motion carried accepting the purchase agreement of $89,000 as well as permission for Gray to sign any needed documents.

 

Gray said sometime in February the township would most likely hold an open house to inform the public of their plans; they will request voter approval for the new town hall at their annual meeting in March.

 

Charles Teigen approached the board requesting a 30’ variance in setback from the right-of-way along 70th Ave. for a building expansion planned for his business, Guardian Fleet Safety.

 

He explained due to the location of the existing building and permanent utilities there was no other direction they could go with the expansion; the only other option would be to build an entirely new building.

 

The board had no problem with the request and indicated they would send a positive comment form to the county.

 

Gray informed the board a draft for a new fire contract formula had been agreed upon at the recent fire department meeting. The township had requested the contract be renegotiated to be more equitable. Currently Clear Lake Twp. pays 39%, Palmer Twp. pays 52% and the City of Clear Lake pays 8%.

 

The new formula draft is based off of addresses, not tax capacity; Gray will present it at the Clear Lake City Council meeting in December.

 

“It’s not perfect, but it’s an improvement,” he said.

 

Supervisor Bud Stimmler presented the board with a printed example of chapter one of the township history book received from North Star Press. 

 

Printing estimates were also received; the board tentatively decided on 2,000 soft cover copies with an additional limited number of hard cover books. Currently total costs of the project are under what was originally budgeted.

 

Stimmler said he expected the book to be completed by the annual meeting in March.

 

A discussion was held on the pros and cons of selling the book and collecting sales tax versus asking for a donation. Treasurer Paul Goenner indicated he would talk to the Dept. of Revenue for more information.

 

Stimmler informed the board he was working with a boy scout on the possibility of completing an Eagle Scout project at the township park, which would consist of creating a new trail.

 

The sheriff reported 107 calls for service for October, 52 of which were traffic violations. There was one accident, one domestic, two property damage and one theft of a motor vehicle, which was recovered.

 

Because of recent thefts from vehicles in Haven Twp., residents were reminded to lock their vehicles even when parked in driveways.

 

The next Clear Lake Twp. meeting will be Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.