A nearly two-hour Becker Township Board meeting was held March 16 and the board discussed citizen concerns, a CUP issue, roads, special interest money and the retiring of their township attorney.

 

Mark Wimmer voiced a concern to the supervisors concerning the insurance of the contractors. The board said no contracts are awarded without verification of insurance coverage as part of the contract documents, with the township and engineer being named as additional insured.  

 

Chairman Gary Hammer said he had been contacted concerning the costs of the building permits. Sherburne County uses a flat rate for a finish basement permit.

 

Hammer said the township would like to be consistent with Sherburne County. Kelli Bourgeois said she will get the fee schedule from the county and Hammer will forward his correspondence regarding this matter to Bourgeois with adjustments to the fee schedule made at the next meeting.

 

Jeff Peterson reported appliances are being picked up from the ditch and will go to Milaca while mattresses will go to Becker Furniture World. Peterson also said there was a substantial cost for a hide-a-bed in the dumpster. 

 

Bourgeois said a CUP for Vonco II was issued by Sherburne County in 2009 and was not recorded and Vonco II has requested the town’s assistance in recording the document. 

 

Bourgeois said the resolution is still valid and all conditions of the CUP have been addressed by Veit.

 

A motion was made by Brad Wilkening and seconded by Jamie Johnson to authorize staff to record the CUP issued by the county in 2009 to Vonco II.

 

Engineer Terrance VanderEyk said road work bids were opened March 17 to include railroad intersection alignments.

 

Eyk said BNSF has to relocate the signal at 137th  and if the township realigns the 137th intersection, they may have to pay associated costs.

 

Eyk talked about revised standard operating procedures are in place between the town engineer, clerk and the city and Eyk will process all utility and driveway permits.

 

Eyk said all paved roads are 10-ton roads by statute and gravel surfaced roads are five ton.  However, hard surfaced roads accessed by roads posted to a lower weight restriction — such as a county road — is posted at seven tons and they become seven tons by default.   

 

Eyk said most older town roads were built to a seven-ton design whereas the newer roads were built to a nine-ton standard. He said should the board decide to post a given road to a weight restriction lower than an intersecting state or county road, it must do so by resolution and posting.  

 

Eyk commented on the speed zone ordinance regulating speeds and speed zone signs in the rural residential district within the town. MnDOT implemented 35 m.p.h. in rural subdivision and 30 m.p.h. on city streets based on driveway separation distances.  

 

Todd  Schendzielos reviewed a request for dust suppression on 122nd and 153rd and he said he will wait until the township knows what roads need more gravel.

 

Eyk said multiple chloride applications on roads hold up  longer for dust suppression and weather permitting, would like to start grading next week.

 

The spring road tour was  set for April 11 at 7 a.m.

 

The fire board accepted donation from Joann Johnson of Monsanto. The donation was presented to the BFD Mar. 26.

 

Special interest contributions in the amount of $14,317 are to be distributed as follows: Snake River Cemetery in the amount of $750; Becker Cemetery in the amount of $800; Danish Cemetery in the amount of $700; Becker Parks & Rec in the amount of $10,000; Becker Area Senior Center in the amount of $317; Safety Camp in the amount of $750 and Becker all night grad party in the amount of $1,000.

 

The board discussed attorney services since being advised current attorney Richard Schieffer will be retiring. Bourgeois said she has worked with current attorney and would be willing to contract for legal services at an hourly rate of $115 (not charging for travel time). 

 

The consensus of the board was to move forward with a contract with Bourgeois and continue to contract with Dove Fretland VanValkenberg for backup, litigation and conflict of interest legal services.

 

One hundred and forty two calls for service came in for the month of February including 76 traffic stops and nine medical.

 

Sheriff Joel Brott reviewed statistics from 2014, stating there were 2,065 contacts. He noted there were 47 thefts, seven DUI’s and five burglaries. He said the DUI’s were down and thefts were up from the previous year. 

 

A question was asked about calls to a residence where a kennel permit is being requested. Sheriff Brott said there had been 10 calls to that location.  

 

The clerk and treasurer books were compared and lists of disbursements and checks from both were distributed for comparison. Bank statements matched with cash control.

 

Clerk Lucinda Messman said she has not heard anything on the audit yet.

 

Discussion occurred regarding the release of funds in relation to the Johnson bankruptcy.

 

A motion was made to pay warrants in the amount of $264,546.42.

 

The next Becker Township Board meeting is April 20 at 7 p.m.