During their meeting last week, the Santiago Twp. Board discussed the future of 67th Street, which currently they have an agreement with Becker Twp. to each maintain every other year. This year Becker is responsible for the road through May 2019.

 

Becker Twp. is proposing they split the road, with Santiago Twp. taking the eastern half, which is two miles of gravel, and they take the western half, which includes a cartway and one mile of tar. The cartway isn’t maintained.

 

“If Becker [Twp.] is going to take care of the tar and us the gravel they should have to pay for part of the grading is my theory,” said Supervisor Jeff Pappenfus. “One-third or even one-half. We all have to work together.”

 

There have been discussions on turning the cartway portion of 67th into a minimum maintenance road, which Santiago Twp. has no plans to do at this time. Residents living along the tarred portion would like to be able to use it so they could go straight through rather than having to detour around.

 

The board decided to table the issues at this time, with the possibility of discussing them again in the spring. It was also brought forward that an agreement stating the cartway portion of the road will stay a cartway should be established.

 

 

Supervisor Dave Jehoich informed attendees they had met with Becker Twp. is discuss re-graveling east Co. Rd. 11 with four inches of class 5. A bid for $103,200 was received from Hardrives and a bid for $97,305 was received from Knife River. A third bid is expected.

 

Contractor John Herbst updated the board on road work his company is in the process of completing.

 

 

The board held a discussion on whether township residents should get a break on the cost of renting the township hall; although they want it to be rented, they’re concerned it could cause friction.

 

Supervisor Stuart Nelson stated he would like to get more input, and it was agreed to put the issue on the annual meeting agenda in March and let the citizens decide.

 

 

A discussion was held on whether it would be beneficial to have a township credit card so employees wouldn’t have to wait to be reimbursed for expenditures. The board ultimately vetoed the idea, but it was clarified that employees could turn in claims at any time before the deadline, they don’t need to wait a month to do so.

 

The sheriff reported 73 calls for service for October, consisting primarily of traffic and medical.

 

The fire department reported 65 calls for October, 10 of them for Santiago Twp. They included eight medical, one fire alarm and one personal vehicle injury.

The Lions are holding a pancake breakfast on Sunday; all the proceeds will go to Station 2. 

 

The next Santiago Twp. meeting will be Dec. 12 at 7 p.m.