Schroeder election judges had a chance to visit and enjoy Girl Scout cookies during township elections Tuesday, March 9, 2010. L-R: Judy Gregg, Alicia Kangas, Jan Dillon, and Gale Ring.
The Schroeder Township 2010 annual meeting lasted until well after 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9, but the 25 residents in attendance got a lot done with little dissension. The biggest question was probably who would win the supervisor seat to be vacated by Cathy Johnson, who did not run for re-election.
Forty-four of Schroeder’s 123 registered voters cast ballots for the open supervisor seat and the open town clerk position – all of them write-in votes. Schroeder’s new supervisor will be Tina McKeever, who won with 20 votes. Lloyd Geillinger garnered 14 votes, Dave Erickson, 6, and Cathy Johnson, 1.
Carol Tveekrem couldn’t get out of her job. She was voted in again as town clerk, with 16 votes. Gale Ring, who has said family commitments kept her from running, received 9 votes, and receiving one vote each were Dave Erickson, Jan Dillon, Carla Menssen, Cathy Johnson, Floyd Johnson, Tina McKeever, and Lloyd Geillinger.
Later that evening at Birch Grove Community Center, Tofte Town Clerk Barb Gervais said she realizes now that the only way to get out of being town clerk is to find your own replacement.
Tina McKeever won the Tuesday, March 9, 2010 race for Schroeder Township supervisor. She will fill the position to be vacated by Cathy Johnson and will join her father-inlaw, Roger “Bill” McKeever, on the town board.
Budget and levy
The township ended 2009 with $174,282.73 in its fund balance, $5,591.44 more than it had started with. This year’s annual budget was set at $111,240, some of which will come from the state’s Taconite Credit, expected to be $60,000 this year.
The tax levy was set at $22,240. Reflected in this amount is $10,440 in rescue squad expenses, slightly more than double the amount paid in 2009. Town Clerk Carol Tveekrem explained that Tofte requested the increase in Schroeder’s cost share after taking a closer look at its expenses. TheSchroeder town board had requested that Tofte examine its actual costs, but Schroeder’s reason for doing so might have been different from what the Tofte town board thought it was.
Supervisor Roger “Bill” McKeever said the board thought they might be underpaying Tofte and, in an effort to be more fair, suggested that Tofte look into its costs. He thinks Tofte thought Schroeder was complaining, however. While only 40% of the Tofte Rescue Squad’s calls usually go to Schroeder, McKeever said, Schroeder is willing to pay half the expenses. Schroeder and Tofte are not in agreement over what those expenses are, however.
Tveekrem explained that Tofte based its estimate of building overhead on the cost of renting space from a company that leases commercial buildings in Duluth. Their price would include property taxes and profit, neither of which applies to Tofte’s fire hall.
The citizens of Schroeder passed a motion to pay the $10,440 requested from Tofte for this year with the stipulation that the townships come to a better agreement over actual costs and adjust the three-year contract as necessary for the next two years.
Donations
Four groups requested donations from Schroeder, and one of those donations produced the only nay vote of the evening.
The Schroeder Area Historical Society requested $5,000, the same as last year. Clerk Tveekrem read a letter from Vice-President Linda Lamb stating that more than 8,000 people representing 40 states and 21 countries visited the society’s Heritage Center in 2009. Volunteers donated over 3,500 hours of their time.
The facility is used for community events including bridal and baby showers and memorial services, and it serves as an information center where visitors can learn about area businesses and attractions. In addition, people with local roots access the center’s archives to research family history.
Lamb noted that the flowers in the Heritage Center’s memory garden “are traffic stoppers and generate much interest.” This year, eight of Potlatch’s Arnold Friberg paintings of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police will be on loan from the Tweed Museum.
With all that said, some at the meeting had a suggestion for the Heritage Center: They should charge admission. With last year’s numbers, charging a dollar a person would generate $8,000 in income. Two dollars a head would bring in $16,000. Both Roger McKeever and Jim Tveekrem asserted that a lot of people enter the museum simply to use the bathroom.
A lot of people end up buying something from the gift shop once they’re in the building, Lamb countered, and they sometimes make donations or even become members. She did not have figures on how much the gift shop generates in a year, but Jim Tveekrem estimated the donation jar brought in six or seven hundred dollars last year. Lamb thought admission fees would result in fewer people visiting the museum.
With one nay vote, the township voted to donate $5,000 to the Schroeder Area Historical Society once again.
Receiving $500 will be the Superior Timberwolves snowmobile club, which uses the money to groom trails.
Birch Grove Foundation will receive $3,500. Foundation Director Jess Wallendal had written a letter noting improvements, such as the installation of a wood pellet boiler, that have been made to increase energy efficiency.
The Town of Tofte will receive $800, a $300 increase over last year. Tofte had requested an increase since it will now be required to pay professionals to light the 4th of July fireworks after last year’s explosion.
Concerns
Schroeder will not hold a board of appeal this year because no one who is trained is available. If a township does not hold a board of appeal in one year, it is penalized by not being allowed to hold one the next, Clerk Tveekrem said. She said going out of town for training can be difficult for working citizens.
The township voted to send a resolution to the Minnesota Association of Townships recommending that online training be allowed and that townships would not suffer a penalty for not holding a board of appeal one year.
Department reports
Numerous reports were given either in person or via letter, some as short as Roger McKeever’s report on township roads: “Everything’s in good shape.”
Fire Chief Phil Bonin’s written report stated the department has 16 firefighters, one of whom is retiring after 27 years. He thanked Jon Heinzen for his many years of service.
The department made six calls in 2009. A grant is being written for funding for a new pumper truck. Thecurrent pumper truck is 31 years old and out of compliance with new fire codes and safety standards.
“We could always use more personnel,” Bonin wrote. “Young or old, we could always use more people.”
Skip Lamb commended Bonin. “I’d certainly like to thank Phil Bonin,” he said, “for holding together a great fire department.”
A letter from Tofte Rescue Squad Chief Louise Trachta stated the ninemember team received 51 calls in 2009. “The team continues to work well together in all phases of rescue and medical treatment,” she said. “We tend to have no set-in-stone boundaries and continue to offer service where and when needed. …We continued to have great response times from both North Shore Hospital ambulances in Grand Marais and the ambulance service from Silver Bay.
“I am very proud of our first responders and commend each one for their expertise and professionalism they show and provide on calls within each community,” Trachta wrote.
Fiber optic
County Commissioner Bruce Martinson and Arrowhead Electric Cooperative (AEC) Executive Director Don Stead reported that Arrowhead Electric is working with a company called Pulse Broadband to jointly apply for a stimulus grant to install fiber optic communications infrastructure throughout Cook County. Theproject follows in the wake of Cook County’s stimulus grant request being denied. Lake County’s grant was also denied, Martinson said. (See related story on page A1).
If the grant were awarded, Arrowhead Electric would own and maintain the infrastructure and Pulse would broker TV, phone, and Internet services. Stead estimated the total cost to be $20,000,000, well under the over $50,000,000 the county had estimated in its grant application.
Citizen of the Year
Linda Lamb nominated Jon Heinzen for Schroeder Citizen of the Year for his 27 years of service to the community as a member of the Schroeder Fire Department. The nomination was approved unanimously.
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