The Sherburne County Association of Townships (SCAT) met last week for the first time since January of 2020. Baldwin, Big Lake, Blue Hill, Clear Lake, Orrock, and Palmer Townships all sent representatives to the meeting at the Sherburne County History Center in Becker. The meeting featured several guest speakers who gave presentations about information important to the townships.

MAT Update

Mike Miller of the Minnesota Association of Townships (MAT) gave an update to the SCAT members.

Miller started off by talking about the LRIP (Local Road Improvement Project) grants. Several of the represented townships had applied for the grant, but none had received any money. In fact, only one entity from the district (not in the county) received any funding. Miller stated that the state decided to spread the money around Minnesota, rather than actually reviewing the grant applications to find those with the greatest need. Miller stated that MAT didn’t get any voice in the decision this year, but they are working to make sure that they get a voice in the future.

Finally, Miller warned against annexing township land, especially for those counties that are growing significantly. If a township annexes land in such a way that the township is divided, it is ineligible to become a city. He brought up the example of White Bear Twp., which is the largest township in Minnesota. The population is beyond sufficient for the township to become a city, and they would like to do so, since cities have more resources available to better care for its residents, but since the town is divided into separate parts, it is ineligible. Furthermore, White Bear Twp. cannot annex the land that is physically separated from the rest of their land, since nobody wants it. Part of the land has been shown in recent years to have lead contamination, while other parts of the land contain water towers that need maintenance. 

Miller encouraged the representatives to have an honest conversation about where their townships are headed and plan accordingly.

American Rescue Plan

During his presentation, Miller asked if the attendees knew how they could spend American Rescue Plan Money.

“You can’t spend it on anything,” Miller said, “if you don’t apply!”

He told the representatives not to worry about what to spend the money on at the moment, but to make sure to apply quickly, as some cities and townships have already received their funding. Funds do not need to be committed until 2024, and need to be spent only by 2026. He said the goal of the federal government was to get that money into circulation in local communities.

The American Rescue plan will have a more involved application process than the CARES funding did, but will have fewer limitations on how and when the money should be spent. Some townships are considering using the funds to provide broadband across Sherburne County, while others are considering using it as relief for business, nonprofits, and individuals impacted by the pandemic.

The county, for its part, was planning to use the funding, in part, to help with the immense court backlog. No in-person court hearings were held during the last year, and so the county now needs to hire extra help in order to organize the backlog and get things moving along again. 

Broadband

Melissa Wolf, Government Relations Manager with Midco, spoke about Midco’s commitment to Sherburne County. Midco was a part of a federal auction intended to give underserved areas of the country to broadband companies. Through this, Midco has promised to provide service to those areas they were awarded in the bid. Wolf stated that they would hopefully soon be able to provide 10 gigabit speeds to rural areas in Sherburne County.

Adopt a Storm Drain

Adopt a Storm Drain is a new project coming from the county, similar to the Adopt a Highway program. Volunteer groups and individuals will have the opportunity to adopt storm drains and commit to caring for them, including clearing the area around the drain and reporting any concerns to the county. The county hopes this will lead to fewer pollutants entering the sewer system. The county is asking townships to identify its storm drains so the county can, hopefully, have people adopt them.