At the Tuesday, January 20, 2015 meeting, the Lutsen Town Board continued discussion of how the leader of the Lutsen EMS squad should be selected.
EMS Chief Fred Schmidt reported that at the most recent emergency services meeting, an election had been held. Schmidt was elected Lutsen’s EMS chief for the next two years. Matt Cartes was elected assistant EMS chief.
Schmidt is paid $150 per month. Cartes will be paid $100 per month and $85 per meeting if he has to fill in for Schmidt.
In other EMS business, Schmidt said his crew had gone on five calls this quarter.
Schmidt said there are now 13 volunteer EMS responders in his crew, with one taking a leave of absence. Two are now taking a refresher course, two are taking First Responder classes and two or three are participating in other training as part of their EMS certification, said Schmidt.
In his report, Lutsen Fire Chief Paul Goettl reported his crew made 35 calls last year, about twice what they usually make.
“We usually average 17 calls per year. I think this year some of the calls were caused by accidents that happened because of all of the roadwork we saw on Highway 61 this summer,” Fire Chief Goettl said.
Town hall improvements approved
Local contractor Paul Nordlund of Loon State Construction took the supervisors on a tour of the old town hall meeting room he had re-done. Nordlund put in carpeting, entryway tile, and wainscoting and installed a drop tile ceiling as well as painted the walls. Supervisors agreed the room looked totally transformed.
Nordlund only had a small bit of work to complete the next day for the room to be finished.
Noting the improvements in the old town hall and noting some of the nicks and scrapes appearing in the new meeting room, supervisors asked Nordlund what he thought it would take to put wainscoting in the new space. Nordlund said there were a lot more windows in the new town hall to deal with but it could be done nicely to tie in with the color scheme in place. The supervisors took his observations under advisement and may put the project up for bid.
Smart board and rescue equipment considered
Lutsen Treasurer John Groth reported a budget surplus in the neighborhood of $50,000 and he urged supervisors to look at spending some of that on projects that they had either delayed or on items they needed.
After some discussion it was decided to purchase a smart board for the fire hall. Beavers thought it could be purchased for well under $1,000. Clerk Goettl said the township needed to purchase a new paper shredder and laminator. She will look for good prices on these items and bring that information back to the board next meeting.
Citing the recent drownings in Tofte, Groth brought forward a request to purchase a ResQmax Swift Water/ Messenger Line Thrower at a cost of $3,200. The ResQmax kit can throw a line 400 feet and when the line hits the water a ring inflates upon contact. Groth showed a clip of how the kit worked on the television in the town hall. The kit could also be used for winter rescues or spring ice break-up rescues if fishermen get caught in the water.
Supervisors were fully behind the purchase of the kit, and will also look into purchasing life jackets for EMS personnel and firefighters who go on water rescues.
Open Meeting Law concerns
Supervisor Tim Goettl said he had some concerns with the Open Meeting Law. Because the township board is comprised of three members, it means that when two township supervisors bump into each other they form a quorum and potentially violate the open meeting law.
An example Goettl gave was that because he and Supervisor Larry McNealy are both firefighters and are on the EMS force (McNealy is in the process of getting EMS certification) they were often at meetings together. “We also bump into each other at the post office and Larry is a tile cutter and I’m a plumber and we meet on jobs. What are we supposed to do?” he asked Clerk Amity Goettl.
Clerk Goettl said she would post all of the meetings for EMS and Fire at the post office for the year and that should take care of the three-day notice required for supervisors to meet. But she also said she thought that if the supervisors didn’t discuss township business when they had interactions, they wouldn’t be in violation of the open meeting law.
Commissioner Storlie reports
Newly elected West End County Commissioner Ginny Storlie said it felt bit odd to be sitting across from her fellow Lutsen supervisors, a position she relinquished following her election to a commissioner’s seat. Storlie said she requested and was placed on many of the same boards and committees that former West End Commissioner Bruce Martinson had served on, plus she was attending Birch Grove Community School and Birch Grove Foundation meetings on her own because of their importance to the West End.
“You can ask me any questions you can think of. I may not have the answers right away, but I will find them and get back to you as soon as I can,” Storlie said.
Because of her heavy meeting schedule Storlie said she might not be able to make all of the township meetings, but if questions arose, she asked citizens to please email her and she would reply as quickly as she could.
In other Lutsen Towship business
. Supervisor Goettl said he still hadn’t gotten barricades up for snowplowing around the town hall, adding every time he thinks about it he prays it won’t snow. “Which seems to be working so far,” he said, adding he fully intended to get the barriers up soon.
. The board set Thursday, February 5 as its 2016 budget meeting and 2014 audit meeting. The audit meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and the budget meeting will follow no earlier than 6:30 p.m.
The board also set April 21 to hold the local board of appeal and equalization meeting at 6 p.m., which will also be at the town hall.
. Board Chair Andrew Beavers was appointed liaison for the Fire and EMS departments.
. With 10 years of food and beverage purchasing work behind him, Beavers said he would look at the kitchen and see what might be needed to make things more efficient.
. Beavers also said he was searching for someone to help design a website for the township, noting how nice the new website pages for Schroeder and Tofte townships are. After some discussion Beavers was directed to contact a Lutsen website designer to see if they would be interested on taking on the project.
. Beavers said he had looked briefly into whether or not citizens living in the Deer Yard Lake areas could be included in the township and thereby vote in elections. “I didn’t find out much but I will keep looking into it,” he said.
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