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Fall Lake Township clerk Cheri DeBeltz called the Fall Lake Township reorganization meeting to order and the Pledge of Allegiance was said. She welcomed Sheila Gruba as the newly elected supervisor, taking her husband Rod Gruba’s position.
The first order of business was to designate a chairman. Supervisor Eric Hart was nominated and accepted the position.
The Ely Echo was declared the legal publication of the township. Designated posting locations for meeting and elections will be the Ely Echo, the townhall bulletin board, the township website www.fallaketownship.com and the transfer site.
Frandsen Bank will remain the township’s depository. Gruba asked treasurer Don Stocks if Frandsen charges any service fees. Stocks said no, Frandsen does not charge fees. She approved of that.
Several township wages and services were addressed. Labor wages, office cleaning and transfer site attendant wages will remain at $20 an hour. Lawn mowing will continue being done by Lakeside Services, and snow plowing will continue with Phil Hegfors & Sons. Garbage collection and disposal will be done by Section 30 Disposal Services.
There will be an increase from $20 an hour to $50 an hour for the annual meeting’s moderator. Election judges will have an increase from $15 an hour to $20 an hour.
Supervisors pay will remain at $300 per meeting, but the clerk, who has taken on more duties such as addressing emails, updating the website and organizing the office, will be an increase from $650 per meeting to $800 per meeting. The deputy clerk will receive $20 an hour, but in the case of a long-term absence of the clerk, the deputy clerk will receive $800 per meeting.
The treasurer will see an increase from $525 per meeting to $650 per meeting.
Receipts are required for reimbursement for Town officers, including clerk and treasurer, for township related expenses, and mileage is regulated by the IRS at $.67 per mile.
The following positions of supervisors will help residents to know who to contact if they have a concern.
Morse/Fall Lake Fire Department – all three supervisors may attend.
Ely Area Ambulance Board – Hart Ely Area Lodging Tax Board – Cindy Smyka as lead, additional Gruba as township liaison Ely Joint Powers Board – Gruba with Craig Seliskar as backup.
RAMS – Gruba, other supervisors may attend if their schedule allows.
Township road maintenance – Seliskar will take the lead and any supervisor notified of issue can address them.
Township transfer site, building maintenance and township grounds maintenance will be led by Seliskar with Hart as secondary.
A community center citizen committee will be led by Seliskar with clerk DeBeltz to take notes. Hart will be backup.
Gruba said she was looking forward to going to meetings to see where they all were in addressing issues.
Contact information for all township officers was confirmed to Minnesota Association of Townships.
A resolution was approved for the review of their insurance policies to fully insure the property for replacement cost coverage.
That ended the reorganizational meeting and the regular meeting began.
The transfer site will begin the summer schedule in May, being open three days a week - Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Gunnar Hart is available to work on April 20.
Once again Fall Lake Township’s Lake County Commissioner Joe Baltich attended the meeting. He congratulated Gruba as the new board supervisor.
Baltich reported that Lake County’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) has a new director, Matt Johnson who is moving forward with a Two Harbors project for a 27-unit building.
“There is a revolving housing fund and there could be time down the road for Fall Lake area housing,” said Baltich. He said the county is looking address housing in Silver Bay and Finland too.
Baltich got together with the Lake County Ambulance Service. He attended a meeting and invited Dusty Moravitz.
“The new billing company is doing a better job,” said Baltich. “I am confident in Dusty and I would like to see an office manager eventually for the Ely Area Ambulance Service.”
Baltich said Scott Kellerman has been working with politicians and even the governor’s office.
“We need to get ambulances out of the transportation business,” said Baltich, “and into emergency medical services (EMS).”
Gruba asked Baltich if he had mentioned that the Ely Area Ambulance services the Boundary Waters. He said he had mentioned it.
Baltich said the Local Road Improvement Program (LRIP) approved over $400,000 for the Sunset Road access project. The township received a letter from State aid state programs engineer Rashmi Brewer that identified up to $426,995 in LRIP funds for the project.
Gruba said the area is flagged for the new entrance to Sunset Road, and that property owners have donated the land for the road change.
“Rod (Gruba) worked on this for three years,” said Gruba.
Baltich said as an artist he has a unique way in making an impression to politicians.
He said in his many meeting with legislators in D.C. for copper nickel, instead of giving a business card, he gives them a painted rock. He gave a rock painted with a Monarch butterfly on a sunflower to Senator Amy Klobuchar. When he asked one of her staff if he had seen the rock, 20 minutes later he received a text saying she found it.
Warren Johnson said he has talked with Seliskar about the township’s interest in widening Locust Road. Johnson owns three lots that border Locust. He asked if the township would be interested in buying the three lots at the assessed Lake County value of $14,700. The township would be responsible for surveying and all transfer paperwork.
Gruba said the township would need to have their attorney look at how the township would move forward with a purchase.
Johnson said he would give the township six months to have their attorney look into the matter and come to a decision on purchasing or not.
George Pond and Adam Bisbee were present as an ad hoc committee for the city of Ely’s Parks and Recreation board. They attended the meeting to discuss a plan for a large, 80-100,000 square foot dome. The dome would be able to host conventions, festivals, concerts, etc. Bisbee said Ely moved forward with having a feasibility study done.
Seliskar noted how the new convention center in Virginia was having financial problems already.
Gruba said the township’s recreation funds could not be used to build the facility. She said the township would have to research if they can be involved financially.
The township received one correspondence from the Ely Chamber of Commerce with a request for funding for a visitor and information center. This is another project the township could not fund.
Upcoming meetings include: • Morse/Fall Lake Fire on April 17 at 6 p.m.
• The next regular Fall Lake Township meeting will be held on May 8 at 6 p.m.
• The Local Board of Appeal will be held on Thursday, May 9 at 1 p.m.
• Lake County Board at Fall Lake Town Hall on Tuesday, June 18 at 6 p.m.
