Meeting Minutes:

Present

Treasurer Items

Supervisor Items

Road Overseer

Clerk Items

Motion to Adjourn

Chairperson Duane Deutsch, Supervisor Edward Nytes, Treasurer Nathan Hutton, Clerk Heather Taylor DuCharme, Deputy Clerk DeAnn Croatt, and resident Jim Prokes were present for entire meeting. Supervisor John Wermerskirchen was not present.

Treasurer presented the following items.

1.       AMENDMENT TO 8/8/2024 MINUTES: Payment to Clerk for Head Election Judge Claim/Voucher should have been in the amount of $110.95, not $110.59. On motion by Nytes/Deutsch at 9/18/2024 meeting, corrected amount approved for payment and 8/8/2024 minutes approved for amendment; carried by quorum. Payment of additional $0.36 due to Clerk shall be made as expense reimbursement with October 2024 claims so additional payroll tax isn’t calculated.

2.       AMENDMENT PURSUANT TO 9/18/2024 WORKSHOP MEETING: There was a rounding error for the amount to be paid to PERA at the 9/5/2024 meeting. The amount to be paid to PERA was stated as $1,332.03 but should have been $1,332.02, which changes the total checks and ACHs to $18,986.86 (not $18,896.87). On motion by Nytes/Deutsch at 9/18/2024 meeting, corrected amount of $1,332.02 approved for payment, corrected total amount paid approved as $18,896.86, and 9/5/2024 minutes approved for amendment; carried by quorum.

3.       IRS/Treasury Quarterly Payments. IRS/Treasury now requires online quarterly reporting and payments, which is why the Township needed to purchase an Adobe license. The quarterly report/payment was made one day late and a notice was received from the IRS/Treasury. Notice advised no penalty assessed.

Deutsch stated that he disagrees with the levy amount and wants to amend it. No action taken.

Road Overseer presented the following items/report.

1.       Raven Stream. Resident contacted R/O re: weeds to be sprayed in culvert/ditch area. Area has been sprayed. Culvert will need additional dirt because some has washed away but it isn’t a safety concern. R/O to contact Art Johnson Trucking, Inc. to add dirt if R/O unable to do so himself.

2.       270^th Bridge. The bridge on 270^th still has logs but the water is flowing and not restricted. The water is too deep for R/O to remove logs. R/O recommends to wait and see if issue self-corrects.

3.       245^th Bridge. There are a lot of logs that are too big for R/O to remove himself that may cause issues for water flow now and/or in spring. R/O contacted Art Johnson Trucking, Inc. to address issue and remove logs pursuant to previous discussions with Supervisors regarding such action. Prokes attended the meeting to verify the Supervisors and R/O would be clearing out the debris and logs because he doesn’t want a repeat of the most recent spring. There was additional discussion of what needs to happen to clear debris and where/how debris is located.

4.       Thistle. The thistle at the property on Minnesota Highway 19 has been cleared.

5.       245^th Culvert Replacement. If Township purchases the culvert itself, there is no sales tax on the purchase and delivery cost (if any) is up to $85 (vendor may deliver free if other deliveries coincide). If Art Johnson Trucking, Inc. purchases culvert, there will be sales tax paid by Art Johnson Trucking, Inc., which will be passed through to the Township, as well as costs charged to travel to and from to pick up the culvert. R/O advised to order culvert directly and have it delivered to Deutsch’s property to be stored until Art Johnson Trucking, Inc. performs the work.

6.       Road Review. Scheduling of road review to be done at 10/3/2024 regular meeting when all Supervisors and R/O are present.

Clerk presented the following items/report.

1.       The hourly rates for the Township attorney are increasing to $275/hour for general legal work and $300/hour for development related work.

2.       Pursuant to Scott County request, a special meeting needs to be scheduled specifically for 11/15/2024 to certify election results after the general election. On motion by Deutsch/Nytes, special meeting approved to be scheduled/posted for 11/15/2024 to certify general election results; approved by quorum.

3.       Conrad Anderson (CLA Construction) contacted Clerk regarding Township Recommendation Form approved at 9/5/2024 meeting for home construction by Bryn Thomas. Anderson needed a Township Approval Form for Building Permits instead. Anderson completed and submitted appropriate form to Clerk and Clerk executed and return the form.

4.       Township Tuesday discussion included making sure townships are reporting wages for paid leave (not ESST), which can be done using same form as unemployment insurance reporting. Treasurer confirmed Helena Township is submitting the unemployment insurance reporting that also covers paid leave reporting requirements.

5.       SCALE meeting on 9/13/2024 included the school districts in Scott County presenting to the group.

6.       The City of New Prague emailed is proposed update to its 2012 Comprehensive Plan. It includes proposed changes to the Orderly Annexation Area (which would include adding a lot of area to it, including Raven Stream, part of part of Tower Estates, as well as agricultural land), requesting an new Orderly Annexation Agreement, and upgrades to its sewer and waste water infrastructure. The proposed revised comp plan was approximately 237 pages, including maps. There was a form included with the email sent by the City of New Prague to provide comments. Deutsch did not think comments or a response were necessary. Deputy Clerk recommended providing comments, including regarding property owners who don’t favor annexation and have been advised by the Township that the Township will recommend annexation for those property owners as requested by those property owners at previous meetings. There was some discussion by the Supervisors and the rest of the Board, Road Overseer, and Prokes. After discussion, Deputy Clerk instructed to provide the following comments to the City of New Prague:

a.       The Township wants agricultural land kept agricultural.

b.       The Right to Farm Ordinance remain in place for any property added to the Orderly Annexation Area.

c.       The Township does not wish to amend the Orderly Annexation Agreement will keep the current Orderly Annexation Agreement as it is.

d.       Any additions to the Orderly Annexation Area shall not include Raven Stream, Tower Estates, or any other present existing developments.

e.       Any additions to the Orderly Annexation Area shall exclude any Ruehling property.

f.        Annexation shall only be permitted for property/land if the property owner requests or wants such annexation to occur.

g.       The City of New Prague is invited to come to a Township meeting (or meetings) to discuss annexation and related issues.

7.       Clerk attempted to call both property owners with unpaid fire call bills. One property owner called the Clerk back and advised they would mail a check. Clerk was unable to find a good phone number for the other property owner. Clerk questioned why the Township bills for fire calls in the Jordan fire district when it doesn’t bill for fire calls in the New Prague fire district (NP Rural Fire chooses whether or not to bill property owners on their own). Clerk has been in contact with Scott County Taxation and the Township attorney regarding procedure for assessment of unpaid fire call bills on property taxes. The Township attorney mailed out final/assessment notices for the unpaid fire bills (though one will be paid before the 10/3/2024 meeting). The attorney fees to be assessed with a $250 fire call will be $385.50, making the assessment amount $632.50. The Supervisors will need to approve a resolution at the 10/3/2024 meeting to assess any unpaid fire call amounts. Deutsch requested fire call issue be added to 10/3/2024 agenda.

8.       Discussion of court petition by Great River Energy to condemn certain property to build power line. Township attorney called Great River Energy attorney and was advised notice given to Township only because Township has ROW easement. Construction should not impact ROW easement area or roads.

9.       Clerk is still working on setting up a phone for dedicated Clerk/Township use with Verizon utilizing the Cooperative Purchasing Agreement through the State of Minnesota.

At 6:05 p.m. on motion by Deutsch/Nytes, meeting adjourned; carried unanimously.