Friday, March 29th, 2024 Church Directory

Ordinances reviewed at Palmer Board Meeting

The Palmer Township Board met Monday evening and navigated through several agenda items, including a review of several ordinances that come into focus as winter approaches.

Supervisor Steve Demeules reminded those in attendance that as of November 15, and until April 15, a parking ban is in place within the township.

“No vehicles shall be parked in any portion of a street or highway” reads the ordinance.  Demeules noted that the Sheriff’s Office is in charge of enforcing the rules, which are in place to promote safety along roadways.

In addition, Minnesota State Statute also prohibits residents from placing any amount of snow or ice upon any roadway, meaning that homeowners may not plow snow across any road or into the right-of-way. Even when small amounts of the snow or ice are left behind from the plowing, it creates a safety hazard for drivers and sometimes leads to ice formation on the road surface.

Park

Although the busy season for Palmer Park is done for the year, there were several issues that warranted discussion from the board.

Several dead trees are located in the park and will need to be removed. Chairman Mike Ganz noted that the removal will commence once the ground is frozen in order to limit the damage to the turf from felling the trees.

In addition, Mitch Hoefer brought forward the quote he has obtained from Traut Companies for augmentations to the sprinkler system in the park. With the associated electrical work needed, adding the sprinklers to the areas between the ball fields and to the area near the tennis courts came with a price tag just under $10,000. The board discussed the merits of the project and Hoefer reiterated that the quote is good for 30 days and based on the past two years, will likely go up in price each month due to increasing prices.

The board deferred action at this time but plans to have further discussions in the future.

In Other Business, the Board:

• Discussed replacement of the toilets in the Town Hall building;

• Heard from Commander Ben Zawacki about the Sheriff’s Office statistics for October which included 83 calls for service, with 22 traffic stops performed;

• Listened to Fire Chief Ron Koren’s update on his department’s 31 calls for last month, including 10 in Palmer Township;

• Received an update from Supervisor Richard Larson about some work that was completed on one of the valves at Fire Station #2;

• Heard an update on a quote being obtained from Wright-Hennepin for updates on the lock system at the Town Hall;

• Heard an update on the TLID’s efforts at including Elk Lake in the organization.  Because no action has taken place, it appears those residents will be on their own when it comes to securing funding for efforts such as invasive species removal. Current TLID rules would not permit expenditures for Elk Lake mitigation efforts.