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After a long day at the polls the day before, it was nice to have a shorter than usual Fall Lake Township meeting Wednesday night.
Dean Barrett said there has been a slowdown of visitors to the transfer site. The bins have been ordered and the brush pile needs to be pushed up. Spacing the bins will be addressed for winter plowing.
Andy Fellows, an appraiser working with the Lake County assessor’s office said he has been visiting Fall Lake properties. If he appears on property owners’ cameras, don’t be alarmed.
Fellows said he doesn’t enter buildings. He does the valuation of properties and building in Fall Lake and Silver Creek Townships. He is usually wearing an appraiser cap and has a name tag to identify who he is. Valuation notifications will be sent out in March.
Lake County Commissioner Joe Baltich talked about short-term rentals, and said to consider following the county’s recommendation of three percent short-term rental. This would be based on the number of households in the township.
Baltich spoke about capping the number of shortterm rentals, and Supervisor Sheila Gruba agreed. She said they impact township businesses.
Currently there are an unlimited number of short-term rentals in Fall Lake. Clerk Cheri DeBeltz will reach out to County Administrator Matt Huddleston to see how many rentals there are in Fall Lake Township now.
Baltich said he recently has used VRBO listings at his resort and has had positive comments from guests. People have different vacation experiences at the resort than they would renting a big cabin or house.
Baltich talked about the recreation funds the township receives from Lake County. He said the funds are considered maintenance funds. In Fall Lake’s case, the funds are most often uses to aid various school sports. He said he learned Lake County has two arenas that need new roofs.
Lastly, Baltich said he added a Two Harbors Stone Stash along with the Ely Stone Stash during MEA weekend. Two Harbors was very receptive to this event. He is working with Lovin’ Lake County to expand this event. Baltich hopes to rent the Fall Lake Town Hall this winter to have rock painting classes.
Lastly, Baltich mentioned the need for an easement near the ATV and snowmobile bridge over the Kawishiwi River.
The board then discussed a resolution accepting the dedication of land donation for the Sunset Road reroute. On another land issue, the Johnson parcel sale has gone to the title company.
The board certified that the township has 19.9 miles for roads. This determines the amount of money the township will receive from the county.
A gravel road survey was received for the purpose of gathering information on the maintenance practices commonly used on gravel roads. Supervisor Eric Hart will look over the survey. Also, a final road study came through. This will be given to the contractors.
Gruba said Local Road Improvement Program (LRIP) core drilling has been completed. The core samples will be reviewed.
The community center group met and filled out the paperwork to obtain grants from the Community Future Program.
Hart attended an ambulance service meeting where they addressed how the hospital could provide the service for the community. All of the area entities including Town of Morse, Ely, Winton, Babbitt and Tower had representatives in attendance. Hart said it was a good meeting and the discussion will continue.
Correspondence:
• Received a notice from MN Association of Township of their annual conference Dec. 13 and 14 in St. Cloud.
• Received a letter from FEMA analyzing flood risks.
• A letter was received from Lake County Highway Engineer asking if the township was interested in acquiring a stockpile of processed aggregate material in 2025.
• Information was received from MPCA about grants to make your community more climate resilient, and climate smart food.
• Received the Ely Community Resource quarterly report.
• Received information from Minnesota Humanities Center for grants for festivals.
• Received a notice of RAMS annual meeting and dinner on Dec. 19 at Iron Trail Motors Event Center. Gruba will attend the meeting and dinner.
• There was a request for nominations to RAMS Board of Directors.
• Received a request for funds for the Ely Hoop Club. $400 was approved.
• Received a request for funds for Ely’s Winter Festival. $500 was approved. Barrett, who is on the Winter Festival board, thanked the supervisors for the donation.
• The next Morse/Fall Lake fire and first responder joint powers board meeting will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 6 p.m.
• The next regular Fall Lake Township meeting will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m.
