November Minutes 2021

ERIE TOWNSHIP

Regular Board Meeting

November 2, 2021

Board Members Present: Chairman Chuck Chadbourne, Supervisor Joann Splonskowski,

Supervisor Gerald Schram

Quorum present.

Township Officers: Clerk Karen Eifealdt, Deputy Clerk Deb Zachariason, Treasurer

Becky Renner

Others Present: Dale Renner, Matt Arola, Grant & Brenda Graham

Chairman Chuck Chadbourne called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. The agenda was reviewed by the

board. A motion was made by Supervisor Splonskowski and seconded by Supervisor Gerry Schram to

approve the agenda as presented with no additions. Motion carried.

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

The minutes from the September 7, 2021 were not approved as Supervisor Schram requested a copy of

the suggested corrections made by Supervisor Splonskowski. The clerk will email him a copy.

The minutes from the October 5, 2021 were read by Clerk Karen Eifealdt. A motion was made by

Supervisor Schram and seconded by Supervisor Splonskowski to approve the minutes as read. Motion

carried.

Treasurer Becky Renner gave the treasurer’s report first noting a correction in the amount recorded

from the check issued for a gopher bounty. The amount recorded was $78.78 and should have been

$78.75 and has been corrected. She then reviewed the letter of credit from Bremer and will be

checking on the municipal rate on the CD. Treasurer Renner then reported the checking account

having a balance of $12,583.21; the money market account having a balance of $199,045.02; and the

CD having a balance of $129,089.64, making total funds as of October 31, 2021 $340,717.87. A

motion was made by Supervisor Schram and seconded by Supervisor Chadbourne to approve the

treasurer’s report as presented. Motion carried. Supervisor Splonskowski requested that the ARPA

funds be listed separately on the report. Treasurer Renner will do that beginning with the next report.

Payment of bills:

Claims were submitted to the board for approval. A motion was made by Supervisor Splonskowski

and seconded by Supervisor Schram to approve payment of bills in the amount of $7937.86. Motion

carried.

Road Report:

Generally, roads are in good condition. Grant Graham did some shouldering work on 305 th Ave, Otto

Zeck, and 170 th St. Covering some rocks with gravel on 170 th St was discussed, but may already be

done. Mr. Graham will check it out.

Someone made a request for the snowplow to plow down to his shed. After a brief discussion, a

motion was made by Supervisor Chadbourne and seconded by Supervisor Splonskowski to deny his

request citing that it is part of his driveway and may create precedence for future similar requests.

Motion carried.

Chairman Chadbourne communicated that he had received a phone call from Attorney Steve Fenske

from MAT regarding a phone call Mr. Fenske had received from an Erie Township resident regarding

the issue of the snowplow storage and who has access to it. After some discussion, it was determined

that the township has no signed lease agreement for the storage of the snowplow so the information that

Mr. Fenske provided did not apply. A motion was made by Supervisor Splonskowski and seconded by

Supervisor Chadbourne to leave the situation as is. Motion carried. Chairman Chadbourne added that

whoever made the call should call Mr. Fenske back to clarify the situation. Different options were

discussed as to where the snowplow might be stored.

An application for snowplow operator was received from Mike Johnson. After discussion of his

qualifications, a motion was made by Supervisor Splonskowski and seconded by Supervisor Schram to

hire him as an alternate on a trial basis. Supervisor Splonskowski asked if he could attend the next

meeting and Supervisor Chadbourne will call him. A motion was then made by Supervisor

Splonskowski and seconded by Supervisor Schram to approve a ride-a-long the first or second time

plowing at the rate of $20/hr. Motion carried.

A request was received from a resident wishing to put some lots on the back of his property off of

Tower Road. After a brief discussion it was noted that it would need to meet county requirements and

no action was taken.

There were two requests for right of way encroachments. The first requested to put in a drain field on

the township right of way. It hasn’t been a road for many years and will never be a road again. After

some discussion, a motion was made by Supervisor Chadbourne and seconded by Supervisor

Splonskowski that he needs to provide a clarification of the property and the request. Motion carried.

The second request was to extend and existing drain field 10 feet into the township right of way. After

some discussion, a motion was made by Supervisor Chadbourne and seconded by Supervisor

Splonskowski to deny the request. Motion carried. Clerk Eifealdt will send letters to both residents

informing them of the decisions.

Weed report:

Some corrections have been made on the letter that will be sent to those residents with weed issues and

copies were made available to board members and officers. It was noted that there are grants available

and it was suggested that maybe Erie Township could apply for one to help pay for chemicals for the

sprayer. It was suggested that we should get quotes for the job of weed spraying.

Old Business:

Clerk Eifealdt noted that the motion to move forward with the appointment of Clerk/Treasurer needed

to be done at this meeting in order to meet the deadline. There was some discussion with Supervisor

Splonskowski saying that she no longer felt this was the way to go. After more discussion, the

following motion was made by Supervisor Schram and seconded by Supervisor Chadbourne. “I move

to submit the question to adopt Appointed Clerk or Treasurer to the electors, which would change the

township government to allow supervisors to appoint either a clerk, treasurer, or both and would

eliminate elections for clerk and/or treasurer in Erie Township, Becker County, Minnesota.” Motion

carried with a vote of 2-1 with Supervisor Splonskowski voting against.

Revising and/or adding to the administrative policy were discussed. It was suggested that everyone

write down ideas and bring to the next meeting.

It was noted that there is a deadline for the first report for the ARPA funding. There was some

confusion whether it was in January or April and that will be clarified.

New Business:

No correspondence.

Supervisor Schram shared that the Zoning office does send out notices to residents affected by variance

requests. He also noted that the issue of how easy it is to get a variance will be addressed at the next

zoning meeting.

Citizen comments:

Matt Arola feels as if he’s being prevented from working in Erie Township and thinks that his

application for snowplow operator should be reconsidered.

Deb Zachariason asked for a clarification from Supervisor Splonskowski regarding a comment made

earlier by Supervisor Splonskowski regarding her opposition to the appointment of clerk/treasurer and

citing the reason for that as what’s taken place the last six months. Supervisor Splonskowski gave her

reasons behind her opposition.

A motion was made by Supervisor Splonskowski and seconded by Supervisor Schram to adjourn the

meeting and the meeting was adjourned at 8:22 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Karen Eifealdt, Clerk

Clerk_________________________________Chair_______________________________