With a relatively light agenda, Wednesday’s Santiago Twp. Board meeting featured a presentation from a new business venture and discussions on the township’s budget and levy.

 

Derek Kent, owner of CMP Attachments in Becker, told the board he was looking to potentially bring his business model to Santiago township in the near future.

 

CMP Attachments is a company that manufactures commercial-grade attachments for industrial equipment. Kent has been manufacturing the products in Becker and is looking for a location to build a pole barn and office for the company’s rapid expansion.

 

Kent told the board he has outgrown his current location and has been looking in communities to accommodate the building of a pole shed with office to further his manufacturing business. Other locations he has looked have restrictions on the type of building he would have to put up, but Kent said he located a piece of property (40+ acres) at the corner of Co. Rd. 3 and Co. Rd. 11 in Santiago Twp. that would suit his needs.

 

“In most of the industrial Park places I looked into, they told me they didn’t allow for pole sheds — just steel and concrete building,” said Kent. “At some point I plan to build a nicer building with offices, but that probably won’t happen for another five to 10 years.”

 

Kent says his business has been doubling revenue annually for the last four years and he sees it growing from three employees to around 40 in a relatively quick timeframe.

 

“I want to be part of a community that wants me to be her,” Kent said. “I don’t want to bring my company to Santiago knowing the people and the government aren’t interested in having me here.”

 

Kent said he’s talked already with Dan Weber and Nancy Riddle of Sherburne County about his business ideas and location and they are in support of his plans. Kent plans to meet again with the Sherburne County zoning officials and was looking to possibly get a letter of endorsement from the township, should they be in favor of him moving there.

 

The board discussed the issue briefly and admitted to Kent they were definitely in favor of him moving his business to Santiago. Clerk Kathy Woolard said she would draft a letter for the board to review and sign and have it sent on to the county.

 

Following the regular board meeting, the members reviewed the township expenditure report submitted by Treasurer Patty Simonsmeier and made a few minor modifications and adjustments to the general fund, road & bridge fund, fire protection, park fund and building fund.

 

A fire board member reported there were no calls for Santiago for the month of January. The board was asked if the fire board should issue an invoice to pay for the new grass rig the township acquired.

 

Chairman Stuart Nelson said, “yes.”

 

The board recommended to have Board Member Jeff Pappenfus be in charge of signing it and having the title transferred to the township and have all paperwork submitted to the Becker Fire Chief.

 

Several people including Board Member Dave Jehoich mentioned they have seen at least five lights in the building parking lot out while just two remain on during nighttime hours.

 

Woolard seemed puzzled since she just issued a check to Select Electric in the amount of $1,246.47 for recent work. When the board members reviewed the invoice, the invoice did not detail the type of work performed for the charge (though it indicated parts, labor and a lift expense) and featured dates of service for the months of January and March of 2015.

 

Nelson said they would pull the check and invoice and contact Select Electric to find out what those charges were for and what they can do to fix the bad lighting in the parking lot.

 

Further discussion brought upo the idea of replacing the parking lot lights with LED lights that could save the township money over the long haul.

 

“First thing we do is contact them to fix our problem now, then get prices on possibly converting to LED,” said Nelson.

 

Nelson updated the audience with the Santiago Twp. ditch policy and said all paperwork has been submitted to the county and the Army Corps of Engineers. 

 

“It’s still all in limbo right now but we are making some headway,” he said.

 

A March 10 meeting is on the calendar in which the county will discuss further.

 

• Forty-seven calls for service came into the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Dept. for the month of January with 17 calls being for traffic, two for alarms, two for public assists and one for medical;

 

• May 7 is the date scheduled for the annual Clean-Up Day in Santiago Twp.;

 

• Sheriff Joel Brott of Sherburne County was on the agenda to make a presentation of the sheriff’s annual report, but the sheriff was unable to attend.

 

The next Santiago Twp. Board meeting is March 9 at 7 p.m.