During their regular March meeting, the Palmer Twp. board started the meeting with a moment of silence for a long-time Palmer resident who recently passed, Paul Fors. Fors was a Korean vet who stayed involved in the community well into his 90s. He spent many years taking care of his wife before she passed away. Residents in attendance at the meeting noted that Fors will be very much missed. 

Sheriff’s Annual Report

Commander Ben Zawacki of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office gave his annual report for 2024. Zawacki has been making the rounds at each of the townships and cities around the county that are policed by the sheriff’s department, and he noted Palmer Township had the best attendance at the regular meeting as well as the lowest crime statistics over the year.

Zawacki noted 1,161 calls for service in 2024, which was pretty consistent with the last couple of years.

Zawacki shared the exciting news that the back-up dispatch center was up and running. Due to a technical problem, the dispatch center went down for a very short time once. The Sheriff’s Department wanted to make sure that would never be an issue again, so they created a back-up dispatch center. It is not yet being staffed 24 hours per day, but the department is working towards that goal. 

Several lone time employees left the department last year. Zawacki said Sherburne County is where many people spend their whole career, which is obvious from the list of employees who retired last year. Nine in total, all of the retirees had 17 or more years with the department. 

Jax, the Sheriff’s Office K-9, also had to retire last year. Jax was beginning to develop some hip issues, and he also was trained to trigger for marijuana, which Minnesota recently legalized. Jax will live with his handler’s family where he will receive all the love he deserves. A new K-9 named Bane will join the force in early April.

Cleanup Day

Palmer Cleanup Day is coming up in May. The township has had to raise the prices on a few items: For example, a car load will now be $10, a pickup truck load will be $20, and a trailer load will be $50. The date was moved up to May 3 in order to save money for the township, since the Elk River Landfill will be open that day and the township will not have to pay for extra hauling and storage. They are able to recycle mattresses this year, so mattresses brought will not simply go to the landfill. The township also receives grant money for recyclable items. 

Park Report

Two Inlets park will have signs with QR codes explaining aspects of the park to visitors. A book with this information is available at town hall for those interested. 

The county still needs to go through the old dairy barn at the park to see if anything in there is salvageable or in condition to be put up for sale. The board members intend to see if there is anything that would be of relevance to Palmer’s history and save it if they can.

The town board purchased a new mower. They like to buy a new one every two years to keep it under warranty. They were offered a trade-in deal for the old mower, but the board decided to put it up on Facebook Marketplace to see if they could get a better deal. 

Lake Reports

The Lakes Association is still waiting to hear on their grant for carp management. They intend to apply for an alum treatment grant this summer. 

There will be a presentation on the carp management project at town hall on April 12 at 10 a.m.

The association will be putting up new “No Wake” signs at the entrances to residential areas around the lakes. These signs will have more information about the town ordinance than the previous ones. The board was presented with a photo of how the signs might look, and the board suggested that the town hall number be removed from the sign, since those lines are not actively manned all the time. They also recommended that the words be cut down so it would be easier to read while driving. 

Roads

Bids for culvert repair were returned to the township and the board decided to go with the low bidder, Kirchoff Construction. They bid $105,000 for the work. The township’s engineer originally estimated the work would cost around $121,000.