Meeting Minutes February 2023
Evergreen Township Minutes February 13th, 2023
The Evergreen Township Board met February 13th for their regular meeting at Betty Janke’s home. Present were: Betty Janke, Rana & Todd Holmer, Scott Ulschmid, Brett Jepson and Dwight Drewes.
Todd called the meeting to order. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved as read.
Betty read her treasurer’s report of money paid out, money received, money on hand in savings and checking. Balance on hand is $200,392.26. Todd made a motion to approve the treasurer’s report. Second by Scott. All present in favor.
Todd made a motion to pay bills. Second by Scott. All present in favor. Bills presented for payment are as follows: Lake Region Electric $35.76 for electric at town hall, Dennis Drewes Inc $2,450 for 16 hours of snow plowing and 3 hours for pickup plow, Minnesota Benefit Association $805.00 for board life insurance & Becker County Assn of Townships $468.64 for annual dues and Brody Holmer $30 to update website. No need to transfer funds there is enough in checking from Becker County deposits. All present in favor.
Annual Review of the books. One claim for check 5238 is missing. Rana will see if CTAS system will allow her to enter the missing claim a year after the fact, otherwise a manual claim will be made. Rana had noted prior to the audit that she was missing the claim for that check number. The check was sent to the IRS for quarterly 944.
Rana suggested we do both our Annual Meeting and March Regular meeting on March 14th . Scott motioned to have both meetings on the same night, second by Todd. It will be added to our Annual Meeting notice in the Frazee Forum & posted at the Townhall and the Clerk’s house.
Rana also mentioned that the Annual Boundary Survey and the MATIT work comp audit were both completed The Annual State Auditor CTAS review has also been submitted electronically on 2/12/23. MATIT sent a letter informing they had been hacked and federal & local authorities are working to recover the funds lost. Fortunately due to the good financial standing they are in they were still able to cover the premium amount of $834,197. Rana has requested electronic access to our PERA so forms can be completed online in the future. They emailed forms that require Betty to sign them and then be mailed back prior to giving her access. Rana also received a text from Craig Bishop, who is working on the IRS issue, saying a check will be mailed with a refund the week of 2/20. Rana also spoke to United Community Bank about getting board members added on to our accounts. It seems it would be easier to just start from scratch with each member needing to sign paperwork to be on the accounts. A motion needs to be made and then a copy of the minutes brought to the bank. They will then send out the applicable paperwork for signatures. Scott Ulschmid motioned for Todd Holmer, Rana Holmer, Betty Janke, Brett Jepson and himself to all have signing authority on the checking account and for only Betty and Rana to have signature authority on the Money Market(savings) & safety deposit box. Motion second by Todd. All present in favor. Brett also completed paperwork to be added on the life insurance policy the township provides. Todd questioned what is actually in the safety deposit box. Nobody knew for sure, so Rana will try to stop and get an inventory of what is in it.
Todd mentioned that after the FIre Department meeting on January 30th that he called Andrew Ingvalson regarding the electricity usage that occurs at the irrigation pump when the Fire Department uses it. Todd wanted to make sure that Andrew was ok with it or if he needed compensation for it. At this time Andrew is good with it, but will let us know if it becomes an issue in the future. Todd also brought up that him and Rana will continue to be the weed inspectors, but he would like Scott to maintain the Collette Creek culvert and Brett to maintain the Red Eye River culvert. Keep in mind that as board members you are covered under our work comp, but other people are not. This mainly entails watching for beaver dams and cleaning them out or if big enough dams to get a contractor to open. All board members thought this was a good plan. Todd also brought up Cedar Ave information that Scott had asked about in January. After researching it the road was vacated at the end of Chuck Lepisto’s driveway in 1969. If they need more information the Recorder’s Office at the Courthouse should have more information.
Dwight Drewes asked if we have any gradiation paperwork on the gravel we have been purchasing from Midwest Specialties. At this point we do not. Dwight suggested we ask for it to make sure we don’t have too much sand in the gravel, which could be causing more washboards on the roads. We will check with Merle for this information. He also mentioned that some areas have too much crown in the road. Todd agreed that there are some areas and most of them are from where gravel was applied and then driven on and packed before it was bladed out. In the future we may have to get the roads bladed more frequently when gravel is being applied. Todd mentioned that finding gravel and getting someone to haul it can be difficult. Dwight mentioned a Kurt Osterfelt that has hauled for him.
Having no further business, Todd made a motion to adjourn, second by Brett, all present in favor.
Respectfully submitted, Rana Holmer, Clerk