During the recent Sherburne County Association of Townships (SCAT) meeting, the assembled town supervisors, clerks, and treasurers took a moment of silence for Jody Hammre, the long-time clerk for Livonia Township who passed away last October. 

Brenda Kimberly-Maas, clerk for Big Lake Township, spoke about Hammre’s career and the friendship she had with other clerks in the area. Hammre was unfortunately killed by brain tumors at the age of 65. Hammre was very active and loved running on local trails, and so Kellie Fiedler, the current clerk of Livonia, along with other area clerks, were starting a fund to put a bench dedicated to Hammre on her favorite trail, and Kimberly-Maas encouraged anyone interested to speak with her to donate to the fund. 

New Staff

After Baldwin’s incorporation into a city, the former chairman, Tom Rush, was no longer able to hold his position. The assembly voted in Anne Felber of Orrock Township as the new chairwoman. Francine Larson took up the mantle of clerk/treasurer from Marlene Nelson. 

Township Spotlight

In her new capacity as chairperson, Felber wished to implement a “township spotlight” at each meeting. She asked Bud Stimmler of Clear Lake Township to share the recent happenings of the township. 

Stimmler gave a brief history of the township and said that more information was available in a recently published book, which all the town supervisors were able to sell to anyone interested. He also spoke about the recently completed town hall project, a project the township had been saving up to complete for 20 years.

MAT Update

Tammy Carlson, representative to the Minnesota Association of Townships (MAT) noted that lobby day is coming up on January 27. One big change this year is that MAT is offering the trip for free in the hopes that more township supervisors would be able to participate. As a result, estimated attendance has increased significantly. 

Attorney Update

Micheal Couri of the Couri and Ruppe attorneys office reminded the attendees that it was important to have supervisors, clerks, and treasurers use emails that are owned and controlled by the township. He noted there have been issues of supervisors and town staff in some areas using their personal accounts for township communication. When these individuals are voted out of office, they sometimes refuse to turn over information that rightfully belongs to the township. This is not an issue when the email account is owned and controlled by the township, as they can simply change the password. 

Couri also reminded the audience to make sure their books are in order regarding Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST), the state-mandated sick leave program. ESST serves as a short-term leave for employees, but a medium-term leave program is set to be implemented in 2026, and it will be an easier transition if everyone is familiar with ESST. 

Supervisor Bryan Adams of Orrock Township asked Couri how things are progressing with the county cannabis ordinance. Couri responded that the state cannabis office, which is supposed to issue every cannabis license in the state, will likely not be operational until summer. The department is tied up in litigation at the moment. Meanwhile, even though the state mandated that ordinances be in place by the first of the year, the county is still fine-tuning their ordinance. Couri said this is fine so long as the ordinance is completed by the time the state cannabis office is up and running again. 

The county is still trying to determine how many cannabis shops they must legally allow and how many they wish to allow. Couri stated that if everyone was under the county ordinance, the county would only have to allow nine stores in the whole area. But St. Cloud, Becker, and Elk River have opted not to adopt the county ordinances, but rather to create their own ordinance. Each municipality can therefore determine whatever number of stores they are willing to allow. So the county is unsure if they can count the stores in those cities under the umbrella of nine they are supposed to allow, not to mention no one is sure where stores in St. Cloud will be located, and whether they will be in Sherburne County or not. 

County Administrator Bruce Messelt chimed in to say that any municipality that wished to create their own ordinance would also have to provide their own enforcement, so it is not really a viable option for the townships and cities in the county without their own police forces. Having the majority of the county under one cannabis ordinance will make it much easier for the sheriff’s department to enforce it county-wide. 

In Other Business, the Assembly;

• Voted to keep the association dues the same;

• Heard a presentation about the services offered by Sherburne County Health and Human services;

• Heard about a recent spike in septic systems freezing, and was reminded there are loans available through the county for emergency septic replacement;

• Set the next SCAT meeting for April 16.