Fall Lake Township has a new clerk

by Nancy McReady

Ely Echo

The first regular Fall Lake Township meeting of the new year also began with a new township clerk.

Cheri DeBeltz was appointed to the position by the board of supervisors.

Deputy clerk Sheila Gruba had been sitting in for longtime township clerk Marlene Skube for the past year and a half due to her surgery. Skube formally resigned in December.

Supervisor Eric Hart said the township will cover the costs of DeBeltz to attend a Minnesota Association of Township training session. This will include mileage, lodging and the fee for training.

“This will be a learning curve,” said DeBeltz. “Bear with me while I learn.”

Dean Barrett reported the transfer station was rather slow over the holidays. He said there is snow around the bins that needs to be cleaned up. The bad thermostat in the building was fixed.

Hart said the Lake County Sheriff department is still interested in renting a garage stall. Lake County will do any needed work to prepare the stall for their use. The charge for rent will be determined when they start renting.

Supervisor Rod Gruba said Ely Area Ambulance Service and First Responders will receive a portion of a $1.3 million grant going to the city of Ely. The discussions have been to reimburse Fall Lake, Morse, Ely and Winton for the purchase of the building.

In correspondence:

• Received a request for funds to help the Ely Igloo Snowmobile Club in providing matching funds for grants to pay for their new groomer that is now being leased. $3,000 was approved.

• Received a request for funds for the Ely Music Boosters to attend a performance of Frozen in Milwaukee, WI. This was tabled until the March meeting.

• Received a thank you letter from Jessica Dunn for the great plowing of the township that allowed her to go to work.

• Received a thank you for the donation to the class that will be attending Wolf Ridge ELC this spring.

• Received an email from the Lake County Highway Engineer, asking if the township wanted in on the county’s pricing of sodium chloride. Supervisor Craig Seliskar said the price was about the same as St. Louis County’s. He suggested the township go with St. Louis County to get the township’s portion of the Cloquet Line done at the same time as the St. Louis County portion.

• Received notice that Fall Lake will receive $10,400 in their Rec Board allocation for 2023.

• Received notice of a Zoom meeting to be held by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on water quality standards on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m.

• The board set the township budget meeting for Thursday, Feb. 9 at 6 p.m. and the Board of Audit meeting for Thursday, Feb. 23 at 6 p.m.

• The next Morse/Fall Lake Fire Department meeting will be held Jan. 18 at 6 p.m.

• The next regular township meeting will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m.