Resident Philip Moran appeared before the Becker Township Board to discuss the road he and his family live on. This topic, along with talk about culverts, internet service, building permit fees and upcoming events was all part of the township board’s regular meeting agenda Monday evening.

 

Moran, whose family lives on 190th Avenue SE in Becker Twp., are new to the area since they purchased their home in the township last August. Moran says that every time a rainfall occurs, the road becomes un-travelable. He suggested the board possibly do something to improve the minimum maintenance road — such as put down Class V gravel.

 

Moran said even the school bus company refuses to go down their road due to the condition of the road.

 

“When it rains, that road sucks,” he said. “We get big ruts in it and whatever you can do to improve it would help.”

 

Chairman Gary Hammer said the road could be upgraded to the township standards for a road but the costs would have to be assessed to the homeowners along the road.

 

Moran said he’d prefer it not to cost anyone anything if possible.

 

Hammer asked Todd Schiendzelos if the road gets “bladed” there and Schiendzelos said “yes, at least two times a year.”

 

Hammer suggested Schiendzelos blade the road more frequently while the township gets a sign erected along the road saying it is a low-maintenance road.

 

Mark Wimmer sent Clerk Cindy Messman an email earlier in the week asking about the costs associated with a culvert being put in on 187th Street on his property.

 

Wimmer said the culvert cost came in at nearly $36,000 and wondered why since he saw prices for culverts in the $20 a foot range.

 

The board mentioned the culvert was originally estimated to be around $280 a foot for a 60” pipe from CreTex of Elk River — but found out at the last minute CreTex was out of inventory when the pipe was needed. Fortunately, Schiendzelos said he had a salvaged pipe available and would charge just $97 a foot — a cost savings of about a third of the original estimate.

 

Schiendzelos said the “$20 a foot” cost Wimmer identified was for product not feasible for the township project.

 

Township Resident Kay Metze sent in photos she took of heavy vehicles parked along the side of her property that disturbed the grass along the road. The trucks were there for a road project to shoulder and blade parts of the road.

 

Township Engineer Terrance VanderEyk said he would look into the situation but reminded the board the trucks were parked legally on the right-of-way and not on anyone’s property.

 

Kelli Bourgeois brought up the township’s building permit fees and how the costs affect the township’s building official, Loren Konen of Metro West Inspection Services of Buffalo.

 

Discussion ensued by board members about the fees based on valuations and fees charged for subsequent visits by the building inspector. Bourgeois suggested she “pick apart” the county’s valuation chart and come up with a closer valuation chart for the township.

 

The board also discussed the possibility of doing RFPs for building services if they had to and then re-evaluate the process at the end of the season.

 

Bourgeois presented a draft to the board of the township’s ROW ordinances dealing with obstructions and ROW usage by utility companies. Bourgeois suggested the board combine the two ordinances into one to cover all issues.

 

The board was advised to look over the combined ordinance draft and come back with questions or suggestions or comments at the next board meeting in July.

 

Eyk said an emergency meeting was recently held (June 1) to discuss with MnDOT, BNSF and the board the realignment and funding for the placement of railroad silver bungalow and other structures and their placement for public crossings.

 

The realignment of that intersection is a safety benefit, said MnDOT representative Kelvin Howitson and MnDOT said they would share in 50% of the construction cost of the project. On June 1, the Becker Twp. Board resolved to move ahead with the project and allow Eyk to forward easement legal(s) and exhibits to BNSF, distribute plans and make final revisions.

 

In other road projects, Eyk said the upcoming shouldering work was scheduled to begin Wednesday and the sealcoating projects by Aztec will come to the county later this month with work done in the township in early July. Striping will be done subsequently.

 

Envirotech Services gave Eyk a quote for a dust control project and Eyk told the board he had a few issues with it and will try and resolve the issues with the contractor as soon as possible.

 

A pothole issue on 185th Avenue was patched last week by Schiendzelos.

 

Sergeant Dan Franks gave an update on police activity in the township, saying his office got 170 calls for service in May in which 97 were traffic related and three were fraud complaints.

 

• Residents have been asking Clerk Messman about the availability of MidContinent internet service in the area and Messman hopes to have more information made available by next month’s meeting;

 

• Jeff Lambert was appointed to a position on the planning commission board;

 

• SAFE Discount Liquors and the Holiday Gas Station were approved for tobacco license renewals;

 

• Contacts for Joe’s Bobcat Services, Connie May and J&L Services were approved by the board;

 

• Population for the township was released with the number of residents totalling 5,171;

 

• A partial pay request in the amount of $2,968.75 was approved for a culvert replacement on 87th Ave.;

 

• Another pothole issue transpired as Jamie Johnson mentioned he heard from a concerned citizen a huge pothole (or sinkhole) has developed off of 102nd Street Schiendzelos said he would swing by and investigate.

 

The next Becker Township Board meeting is July 20 at 7 p.m.