BY BILL MORGAN STAFF WRITER

 

 

 

Chairman Stuart Nelson recently took a call from a funeral home and helped the business find a plot and mark a grave at the Walker Reed Cemetery. His concern grew as he contemplated how the cemetery is being maintained and whether new plots should be sold to interested parties.

 

“I think we should refrain from selling any lots,” Nelson said. “We need to come up some kind of plan and set up rules for the cemetery.”

 

Nelson suggested Santiago look into what other communities with cemeteries to decided what they are doing. He noted the township’s cemetery is not associated with any local churches, so no one entity is in charge of taking care of the property.

 

“I’d say any families that have plots in the cemetery, please contact us at the township so we can verify roof of purchase and find out who the lots are being bought from,” Nelson said. “Right now, there are an awful lot of graves in there with no headstones and no way to identify where some of the graves are.”

 

Nelson said he is sure the Santiago Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in the county.

 

Nelson concluded the discussion by saying he plans to look more into the situation and possibly draft a plan.

 

 

Shelley Jehoich said 72 cars came through the Centra-Sota lot last weekend for the annual clean-up day. She said they filled the entire cage of tires and had nearly two full garbage trucks utilized.

 

“Appliances were down,” she said. “TV’s were way up, which is good because that means we’ll see less and less in the ditches.”

 

Shelley said her husband, Dave, took home all the aluminum and precious metal items and tore things apart to gain the valuable pieces. He filled two five-gallon drums with iron and aluminum and plans to recycle the items and get payment which he’ll then turn over to the treasurer.

 

“We had 11 volunteers and I am so thankful to all of them for helping out,” Shelley said.

 

 

Holes along 7th Street were recently patched. Jehoich said a damaged culvert on 175th needed looking into and will when the water subsides.

 

Jehoich said he is in the process of contacting a contractor to do sealcoating work along 62nd Street. He said contractors are also waiting for clear weather to do grading along the main gravel roads.

 

 

Deputy Andy Oaches said his department received 51 calls for service in the month of April. Traffic stops accounted for nearly half of the calls.

 

Oaches said he’s been receiving numerous calls of contact for ATV issues in the ditches. Oaches said ATV riders should know the rules but Sherburne County is designating more patrols to curb the problem. Complaints of torn up ditches and wreckless driving have residents concerned.

 

“I’m asking anyone who sees these violators to please go ahead and call us and leave a name and number or just put us in the right direction to catch these guys,” Oaches said. “This kind of thing needs to stop.”

 

 

Matt Weber said the Becker FD received 45 calls for service last month with three being from Santiago Twp. Thirty-two of the calls were for medical, five for fires and four for car accidents.

 

Weber also said the FD assisted Clear Lake recently with a controlled grass fire. Otherwise, he says, “everything is in good shape.”

 

 

Treasurer Patty Simonsmeier said Windstream contacted her about an upgrade at township hall and the fire station and she opened the doors to the utilityman. Simonsmeier did not know if this upgrade was ordered by Matt Weber or Clerk Kathy Woolard.  It was mentioned at the meeting that Kathy Woolard received a call from Windstream for an upgrade which she gave the go ahead to do so. Simonsmeier said she knew there'd be a one time fee to upgrade that day of installation of the new modem.  She said she was concerned why the last two invoices were much larger than previous months.

 

She also said the upgrade didn’t seem to fix any issue or improve any service since many people still have a hard time accessing the internet at and around township hall. Matt Weber, hall manager indicated to the board that the services had not improved after installation and he could not log in with the password set by the utility person.

 

The clerk was told to contact the Twp. Assoc. to get some suggestions and possible consult with a lawyer if a resolution was not handled.

 

“We need to keep an eye on it,” said Nelson.

 

(As of Thursday, Windstream informed the township they will reimburse/credit Santiago Township and will be charged the same price as previous months. Matt Weber told the board he had reset the password for the fire department to log in.

 

 

The next Santiago Twp. Board meeting is June 13 at 7 p.m.