Road issues were the top subject at the Fall Lake Township meeting Wednesday.
Supervisor Craig Seliskar said he received an estimate from Jason Chopp for a fiveyear road improvement plan for four Fall Lake Township roads.
The plan would be for Sunset Road, Garden Lake Road, the Cloquet Line and Shady Lane. Seliskar wasn’t sure the township could afford to do the five-year plan now.
The proposed scope and fee for SEH to evaluate the roads would require a review of the Braun Report of soil borings, a site drive-through, and developing an engineers’ preliminary construction cost estimate. The estimated fee would be in the range of $7,000 to $10,000.
Supervisor Eric Hart suggested waiting to move forward until the board knows more about the Sunset Road project.
The previously tabled bid received from Phil Hegfors for digging out the old pipe, replacing it with dual wall plastic pipe and class five on Snowbank Road was explained by clerk Cheri De-Beltz. She said the township would pay for the class five.
“The culvert needs replacing,” said Seliskar. “It didn’t handle the water of the recent rain.” He made a motion for Hegfors to do the project, and the board approved.
George Spaulding informed the board he had been in contact with the Lake County Sheriff’s office regarding the Sunset Road project and the naming of the new road that will be built off the new Sunset Road.
The sheriff’s office suggested leaving all of Sunset Road as it is with all 911 addresses and fire numbers unchanged.
The new road name will be Fortier Trail. Seeing that this will be a new road, not a renaming of an existing road, makes the process for naming easier. The board approved the naming of the road.
Regarding the road easement purchase from the Fortier group for the Sunset Road, Hart said there was some communication going on with the township lawyers.
“There hasn’t been a recommendation,” said Hart, “so I’m going to move to table it until the next meeting.”
Seliskar said there had been water issues during the recent rain events on Sunset Road and two places on Garden Lake Road.
He spoke to one of the property owners who will put a pitch across the road for the water to drain into a ditch. The other property owners will be contacted to address the water issues crossing the township road from their property. Ditching or a culvert would be at their expense, not the township’s.
DeBeltz received a call from Bollig Engineering about needing a signed project proposal.
“This would be for the possibility of looking at a new community center, a multi-use space that we could make better use of our space,” said DeBeltz.
She said the township has received grants and matching funds from Lake County to proceed with a feasibility study. The proposal needs to be signed, and DeBeltz asked that anything that needs to be documented or retained be copied to her.
Supervisor Adam Masloski will set up a meeting with Bollig Engineering to look at sites with Lake County commissioner Joe Baltich. Seliskar said the only possible sites for a new community center are the present town hall site and the transfer station site.
Several residents who haven’t attended township meetings asked about the need for a community center, and about the land purchase behind the town hall.
Hart explained the reasons, as have been discussed at past meetings and reported previously. The added land purchase would enable the township to have land for a new septic and well, as well as for the community center.
In old business, Hart addressed the Sunset Road LRIP update (local road improvement program). He said there wasn’t a whole lot to report.
“I did reach out to Jason DiPiazza to get an update on where we are with the project,” said Hart. “It sounds like the bid information just finally got over to Lake County in the last day or two. They are reviewing it.”
Hart said their notice will be in the county paper and on the county website, and it also needs to be put in the Ely Echo. Once the bid package is posted, local contractors will be able to bid on the project. They will need to contact Hart.
A citizen questioned the need for the Sunset Road project, and Hart explained it was for a safety issue.
The township received the bill from Lake County for the transfer of the parking lot to the township. The title went through on the tax forfeit land.
“The parking lot, which is paved, has been used for 50 years but it wasn’t ours,” said Hart. “The county basically gave us the property. We just have to pay the transfer fees.”
In the supervisors’ report, Seliskar said the permanent burn site application has been approved, and ash can be stored on site.
Culverts were replaced on North Pine Road and on Circle Drive. He reached out to Starkman about pavement patching on Ironwood, North Pine and Winton Point roads.
A hole on Voyageur Road will be looked at, but it may be on the county side of the road. Chloride had been applied on Sunset Road.
Lastly, the beaver issues are done on Sunset, Shady Road and Snowbank Road. Work continues in removing beaver dams on the Cloquet Line. A culvert for White Iron Beach Road was tabled until next month.
A citizen asked about a new road going through the gravel pit. This is a private road because the property is landlocked. The township isn’t doing the road.
In an email, Ronelle Radle the interim auditor/ treasurer for Lake County, informed the board that 2024 Minnesota statutes require all townships that administer absentee voting to use a .gov domain for the website address for the township by June 1, 2026.
The absentee voting requirement will apply to March township elections and any special elections. DeBeltz will start the process of obtaining a .gov website and .gov email address for the township.
Spaulding said the website and the township’s Facebook page could be linked to each other.
Before the paying of the bills, Hart added that Lake County gave the Morse-Fall Lake Fire Department a boat. They asked that the township store the boat and allow the county to use it if needed.
In correspondence:
• RAMS invited members to the ribbon cutting of the Nashwauk/Keewatin new school.
• Information received for the Minnesota Association of Townships District 10 meeting on Aug. 28.
• Received information for a grant writing workshop sponsored by IRRRB and the Northland Foundation to be held in Chisholm on Aug. 26. The board approved members to attend.
• An invitation to the second annual State of the Range hosted by IRRRB will be held on Sept. 17 at the Iron Trail Motors Event Center.
• Requests for recreational funds were received from Ely Community Resource and the Ely Baseball Association. Each will receive $400.
• The next Morse/Fall Lake Fire Department meeting will be held on Aug. 20 at the Morse town hall at 6 p.m.
• The next regular Fall Lake meeting will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 3 at 6 p.m.
