Meeting Minutes- May 2023
Evergreen Township Minutes May 8, 2023
The Evergreen Township Board met May 8th for their regular meeting at Todd & Rana Holmer’s. Present were: Betty Janke, Rana & Todd Holmer, Scott Ulschmid, Dwight Drewes, Kelly & Karen Schwarzrock. Brett was absent.
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 $191,198.41. 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 $31.85 for electric at town hall, MN Assn Of Townships $300 for short course fees, Frazee Forum $53.20 for annual meeting notice, Dennis Drewes Inc $4,340.00 for April snow plowing 31 hours, Jeff Holmer $300.00 for 4 beavers trapped in Collette Creek culvert, Midwest Specialties $5,544.00 for 396 yds of gravel and board wage of $561.30 Todd motion to transfer $11,000 to checking second by Scott, all present in favor.
Scott brought up that Evergreen Lutheran Church voters approved our use of the church fellowship hall for meetings. Todd motion that all future meeting be held at the church starting in June. Second by Scott. All present in favor. Todd also motion to donate $100 per month for the use of the church and to pay it annually. Scott second. All present in favor. Rana will get our meeting location updated on our website, Becker County website and put a notice at the Town Hall. We did receive an email back from the MN Assn of Townships attorney regarding the church possibly requesting a prayer be said at our meetings at the church. He did not recommend it as it would open us up to claims from residents. Scott & Rana said that the majority of church members at the voters meeting also felt it was a violation of separation of church and state and decided against it.
Todd said Dan Oelfke called him and he will be gone from May 15-28, but he will blade where gravel has been hauled before he leaves. Todd talked to Merle Hough and he wants $14/ yd for gravel. Todd checked around and everyone else was between $15-$18/yd. Todd motion to pay Merle $14/yd for gravel. Second by Scott. All present in favor. Todd received a call from Justin Scallon, who bought land on corner of 440th North and Hwy 87. He is concerned about water in the ditch of 440th. He mentioned putting a center line culvert in our road to move the water to the other side of road. He was willing to pay for the installation and culvert. After Todd looked at the area he felt it would potentially be detrimental to put a center line culvert in as there is already a water issue on the east side of 440th and more water over there just puts more water pressure on the culverts farther north and there is potential that water would go over to Scallon’s side of road and make his issue worse. Justin also requested to add an approach to the property off of 440th. Todd approved it with an 18” culvert. Justin did get approval from Alvin Schwarzrock to clean out Alvin’s ditch. Todd made sure to confirm that he was not cleaning the township ditch and if he has more water concerns he will need to talk to SWCD to see if they have a solution. The land in that area is primarily a marshland and has historically been wet. Todd had a call regarding snow left on edge of road. After explaining that due to the soft roads already we wanted to leave our gravel on the edge, so it can be bladed back in instead of having it in the ditch. Resident understood then and stated they weren’t plowing their yard for that same reason. Ross Hetherington called and said his road is in great shape and is interested in paying to have chloride put on the road for dust management. We may put gravel on it again this year, so he will wait until we decide that. Todd also marked all approaches on 430th Ave for either removal and new locations and has talked to Rory Paurus & Jeff Molander. Brett has talked to Blake and he is on board with it also. If we approve the road reshaping project the residents will pay for the culverts, except Jeff as we are moving his approach to benefit our road. L & M Road Services has started brushing and estimates it will take about a week and a half. Brett received a call from a resident upset about the brushing in their ditch. Todd talked to the resident and everything is ok now. Talked to Jeremy Hensel and he will mow are ditches again this year. Also called Craig Bruns regarding his land renter using the old approach on 120th st instead of the new one. They even removed the post we had in it. Craig will contact them.
Dwight brought estimates for the 460th Ave project and 430th Ave project. The 460th Ave project will reshape and pack the road for $3500 and 430th Ave will reshape the shoulders and add 3 approaches and remove the large cottonwood tree and seed the ditches for $7500. Dwight missed the culvert for Jeff’s approach on the estimate and said it would need a 40’ culvert and he would charge $6/ft. We added the $240 to the estimate. Todd motion to approve both road projects and Scott second. All present in favor. Todd asked when the projects would be completed and Dwight said they would start 460th on Tuesday or Wednesday and 430th would be in a couple weeks. Rana mentioned that it would be nice to use up the ARPA funds on all the road maintenance, graveling and repairs we are doing this summer, so the funds will be used up and we can then stop keeping track of the ARPA funds. Todd motion to use ARPA funds for all road gravel, projects, brushing, etc until funds are exhausted. Scott second. All present in favor.
Supervisors discussed next roads to gravel. Todd motion to put 2000 yds on 460th and 750 yds on 430th after Drewes done with the road projects. Scott second. All present in favor. Todd also brought up the signs that need to be replaced on 100th st as they were stolen last fall. We will need 2 top posts, a 5 Ton wt sign and a stop ahead sign. The signs can be ordered through M & H signs in Fergus Falls and can get the posts through the County Highway Dept. Todd motion to order everything needed to replace the missing signs. Scott second. All present in favor.
Karen & Kelly Schwarzrock expressed their concerns regarding a concert that is held near them every Memorial Day weekend. They think that they are charging admission. Todd will check with zoning and see if there is anything the township can do or see if they need any permits for the event.
Todd also mentioned that SWCD County Ag Inspector, Brandon Gill, is doing a project regarding all the Tansy in the Spruce Grove area. We were able to get our eastern edge added to the project. Todd gave him a list of all the residents in that area that we want notices sent to. We have seen an increase in Tansy in that area and really need the residents to realize how invasive it is.
Rana mentioned that when she was noting the increase in Clerk & Treasurer pay that we didn’t discuss the Chairman pay. Currently the Chairman gets $75 per quarter or $300 per year. This has also not been increased in many years. Todd would like to wait and discuss next month when Brett is back. Also asked if anyone would like an official agenda for every meeting. Board not interested at this time.
Having no further business, Todd made a motion to adjourn. Scott second. All present in favor.
Respectfully submitted, Rana Holmer, Clerk