Decisions were made and resolutions were passed at Wednesday’s meeting of the Fall Lake town board.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited promptly at 6 p.m. with 14 citizens present.
Transfer site attendant Dean Barrett said the 4th of July weekend was extremely busy, with about 200 vehicles stopping to deposit their garbage.
“Saturday, there were more people than I’ve ever seen there. All the garbage bins were filled,” said Barrett. “I had to put 18 bags in the storage building.”
Barrett suggested that if a holiday falls on a weekend again, another person be on site to man the selling of bags.
The brush pile is full and needs pushing up, and Barrett said the mowing along the road has been a great improvement.
Supervisor Adam Masloski spoke on the Community Center resolution to make an application to accept the funds from the IRRRB. Masloski said he, Lake County Commissioner Joe Baltich and the Community Center group have been working on obtaining money for a feasibility study for a new community center. He said the resolution would allow the group to receive $25,000 from IRRRB with a match from HRA – Housing Regional Authority.
“This money would be use to come up with a plan, looking at what it would cost,” said Masloski.
The resolution was approved to move forward.
Another resolution addressed utilizing Boiling Engineering Firm out of Two Harbors to come up with engineering and the cost of designing a new community center. Masloski said he liked what the firm had to offer, which also includes additional grant writing and looking for other funding sources.
Baltich said he had met the architect the community center group would be working with, and said the group is on the right path. He said Silver Creek is looking to work with the Boiling Firm to build a new community center.
A citizen asked what the purpose of a community center would be. Supervisor Eric Hart said the town hall wasn’t big enough to have events and there isn’t adequate water available. He said everything was all in the planning stage for a multipurpose building, and that is why a feasibility study is needed.
Once the feasibility study is completed, the plans to move forward for a community center would be put to a vote by residents. This second resolution was approved.
A third resolution was on the Sunset Road project. The project has been authorized in advance for an estimated $424,995, but Hart said there may be additional costs.
“So far, the local funds the township has put into this project is at $81,536.25,” said Hart. “I did get an email today from MSA – Minnesota State Aid. I got an estimate for the bid. It could cost more. It could cost less, but the estimate is $508,550. In that case, the township would be responsible for overruns.”
Clerk Cheri DeBeltz said she had reached out to MSA engineer Jeff Goetzman to look for additional funding.
Hart said the board needed to pass the resolution to agree to the final plans for MSA to continue on the Sunset Road, then the final bidding document package will be assembled and sent to Lake County for review. The bids will open on Aug. 20 and be reviewed by the board by Sept. 3. Work will start in September 2025 and finish by July 2026.
There was discussion about the nearly $100,000 the township has put into the project by supervisor Craig Seliskar. With the possibility of additional costs, the board hesitantly approved the resolution.
In his supervisor’s report, Seliskar said beaver mitigation issues have been addressed on Snowbank Road and Shady Lane. He said the dam had been lowered on Shady Lane. Mowing and brushing on township roads have been completed. A hole on Winton Point Road needs patching, and a hole on Pine Road needs to be looked at. Sunset Road will have chloride applied next week. Lastly, Seliskar said Jason Chopp of SEH was going to come up with an overall township road plan.
A resident on Voyageur Road said she would rather not have chloride applied on the road for environmental reasons.
Another resident said the Sunset Road will take numerous years and millions of dollars to fix. She said in St. Louis County, there are townships that are giving back the private roads they had maintained as township roads because it had gotten too expensive for the township to continue maintaining.
She said the project going on now on Sunset is very necessary, but in the long term, she didn’t think the township could afford to continue maintaining it.
Seliskar said the board has never considered that.
Baltich ended the meeting saying the county is reviewing the federal and state laws changes to SNAP. He said there will be a three-year rollout of social services that won’t be covered by the federal government. The unfunded mandates may fall on the county. He said the county is watching and the Association of Townships is fighting back.
Correspondence:
• A thank you was received from the Class of 2025 for the donation sent for their All-Night Grad Party.
• A thank you was received from the sixth grade class for the donation they received for the Wolf Ridge trip.
• A letter was received from a bored Nebraska college student. Alejandro Garcia sent letters to remote places he found on Google Maps. He also sent a Nebraska sticker.
• A thank you was received from the Northeast Range Golf team for support given to them.
• Received information from Range LP for pre-buying propane. The board approved a prebuy of 500 gallons, based on the amount the town hall used last year and the amount remaining in the tank.
• The board approved a bid for work to be done on Snowbank Road from Phil Hegfors that was tabled.
• The next Morse/Fall Lake Fire meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 16, at the fire hall at 6 p.m.
• The next regular Fall Lake Township meeting will be held on Aug. 6 at 6 p.m.
