Insurance premiums and deductibles, county roads and a comprehensive plan were a few of the items discussed during Wednesday’s Santiago Twp. Board meeting.

 

With the recent damages to the hall, fire station and park, the board decided to have an insurance agent come to the township and evaluate the township’s assets and give recommendations.

 

Matt Weber met the agent and guided them in their appraisal and answered questions for them.

 

At Wednesday’s meeting, Clerk Kathy Woolard asked the board to review the estimation of new premium costs and a higher deductible due to additional coverage.

Currently the township has a $1,000 deductible and the insurance company gave them an option to go to a $2,500 deductible to lower their premium.

 

The board spent quite a lot of time reviewing the documents, trying to make a decision before the May 12 deadline for returning forms, then decided to table the issue to further review and decide. Woolard said she would check with the agency to get the May 12 deadline extended.

 

Sherburne County Public Works Assistant Dan Knapek and Commissioner Felix Schmeising attended Wednesday’s meeting to go over future county road projects in Santiago Twp.

 

Last month, Chairman Stuart Nelson asked Woolard to contact someone at the county to come to a meeting — stating his frustration with the county not making Santiago Twp. roads a priority.

 

Knapek gave a rundown of roads the county plans to address over the next several years. Co. Rd. 23 to Co. Rd. 5 is approved for this year, Knapek said, with construction to commence in May or early June.

 

Co. Rd. 11 from south of Santiago to the northern county line is scheduled to be addressed by 2020; same with Co. Rd. 22, Knapek said.

 

Co. Rd. 16 from Co. Rd. 11 to Co. Rd. 93 is scheduled for reconstruction in 2019. Co. Rd. 70 by the Refuge (low volume road), which was paved in 2002 will be coming up in talks, said Knapek.

 

Knapek said the county is actively improving roads throughout the county via a rating curve and that his department is always “playing catch-up."

 

“By 2020, we will be coming full circle with our county projects,” he said. “And by 2022 we will have hit every county road with some sort of fix.”

 

Knapek also said he and PW Director Andrew Witter are working on a new transportation plan and he will let the township know of any planned turnbacks of roads — though he doesn’t expect any.

 

The board finished their discussion with the county by addressing the speed issues they are experiencing along Co. Rd. 11 into town.

 

Knapek said the county just recently installed new 30MPH warning signs along the road and they’d like to wait to address this situation at a later time after traffic studies are reviewed as well as law enforcement activity.

 

Craig Wensmann of Bogart, Pederson spoke to the board about possibly adopting their own zoning regulations pertaining to subdivisions.

 

Wensmann said subdivision of properties keeps his company busy and he said several times he has had to deny a subdivision request because of the county’s strict regulations — especially for areas zoned AG, like Santiago.

 

Wensmann said many owners of farms and properties with large acreage request to subdivide and sell some land, yet are denied. Wensmann asked the board to at least consider the proposal and if interested, he will do the work to provide specifics for the township to adopt it and pass a resolution.

 

Wensmann said Big Lake Twp. adopted this plan in 2005 and the costs to the township has been minimal, if anything.

 

Nelson said, “yes” he is interested in pursuing the matter further and asked Wensmann to continue to investigate and come back to a future meeting with his findings.

 

A road tour was conducted Monday and the participators said everything generally looked good, although 20th Street does appear to need some work. The brush issue on 7th Street was dealt with.

 

Weber said the fire department had to deal with a couple grass fires, but everything went okay. The department saw 4-5 medical calls since last month. Weber said equipment looks good and is operating well, including the pressure washer recently tested.

 

The next Santiago Twp. Board meeting is May 10 at 7 p.m.