During their July meeting, the Orrock Township Board once again discussed 233rd Ave NW, where, at the June meeting, residents complained about water backing up from all the rain. Supervisor Dalton Keiderling said that the water used to drain into a yard, but the ditch has been filled in. He thought the homeowner might agree to allowing the township to install a catch basin so the water can be properly redirected down the hill again. The board directed their road engineer to look into the matter with the homeowner and come up with quotes to do the work, pending the homeowner’s approval. 

Sheriff’s Report

Sgt. Alex Dehn gave the monthly report for the sheriff’s department, noting 154 calls for service last month. Notable calls included two thefts at the Sand Dunes Food and Fuel.

Following up on a conversation from last month, the board asked about allowing on-duty officers access to the town hall building as a safe place to use the bathroom, eat, or for other miscellaneous purposes. Dehn said he spoke with Sherburne County IT, who suggested keeping a lock box on site that officers can access as needed to get a key to the building. Board Chair Anne Felber asked Dehn to get more information on the type of lock box recommended.

Open Forum

Lisa Miller spoke to say she appreciated the board investigating the greenways (public access to the lake that is not paved). She noted she lived next to one and would like to make some improvements to it, such as removing a dead tree, but didn’t want to do so since it was township owned land. She wanted to know if there would be options to possibly purchase the land.

James Gerard had a similar question for the board. He said a township road served only his property, and was basically his driveway, and he would like to pave it but couldn’t.

Board Member Dalton Keiderling said these questions would be addressed later, after the board has a discussion on how they would like to manage easements.

2024 Audit

Molly Thompson of Schlenner Wenner gave the audit report for 2024. Thompson reported an unmodified (clean) opinion of the township’s day to day finances. They gave a “qualified” opinion on the government-wide financial statements, since the township elected to not make certain reports, which is legal and allowed.

The audit went smoothly even though the auditors worked with a clerk and treasurer who were not with the township last year.

Findings included that the township has not adapted US GAAP (the report they are not legally required to make, mentioned before) and a lack of segregation of duties (very common in small townships).

Easements

A resident approached the board to request they vacate a utilities easement on his property. He said he recently purchased the property and didn’t realize until close to his closing date there was an easement which covered most of his driveway. The board did not wish to vacate the easement, but said they would grant a variance for the homeowner to use the area for his driveway to make it legal. The homeowner was concerned that someone would come onto his property to install utilities without his consent, but the board assured him that was not likely, as any utility company wishing to build there would need to go through a permitting process first, and they remained firm on their decision not to vacate. The homeowner agreed to move forward with the variance. 

In Other Business, the Board:

• Heard that iPads for the supervisors have been purchased and were being set up for use;

• Asked their road engineer to look into some funding programs for road projects;

• Gratefully accepted a photo of town hall as a gift from former clerk, Chris Weber;

• Briefly discussed greenways and decided to bring the topic up again at the August meeting.