On July 19, Charlie Muggley presented the Schroeder town board with a copy of proposed changes to the bylaws of the Schroeder Fire Department, changes Muggley and the Schroeder Fire Relief Association had been working on for some time.
Under the current agreement firefighters receive $800 per year in a retirement account for the years they have served as long as they have put in at least 10 years. They aren’t eligible to collect until they are 50 years old and have maintained membership in the association for at least 10 years.
Under the new proposal firefighters would receive $1,300 per year for their service and would be eligible to receive retirement benefits after five years of service. If a firefighter retires before the age of 50, but has been a member of the association for at least five years, he may retire and be placed on an early vested pension payroll and be paid at a certain percentage based on years of service when he reaches the age of 50 as long as he has maintained paying his dues.
Changes in the length of retirement needed to be made to encourage volunteer firefighters to stick with the department, Muggley said, adding that the board could take their time with the document.
“I think I have seen enough here,” said Supervisor Roger “Bill” McKeever, making a motion to approve the change.
Board Chair Tina McKeever and Supervisor Bruce Martinson agreed, and the motion to accept the recommendations to increase firefighter retirement benefits passed.
Muggley said he is working to get the firefighter pension money turned over to the Minnesota Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA), which would manage it for the township and do most of the reporting, which Muggley said now takes a lot of time. There is currently a little more than $200,000 in the pension account, said Muggley, who added that when PERA takes over, “The PERA system will eliminate the township from financial obligation,” he said.
Volunteer firefighters receive lots of valuable training but little hourly compensation for their dedication and work. Currently Schroeder only has four firefighters with 10 or more years of service, and no one has close to 20 years.
Town Hall maintenance issues
Fire Chief Phil Bonin said last month a professional cleaning crew from Duluth cleaned up a sewage spill that entered the fire hall from the community center. The spill occurred after a large group had used the community center.
G&G Septic came and jetted the town hall sewer lines and found the filter between the two holding tanks had been plugged and it was cleaned.
Scott Robinson had also been asked for his opinion and he suggested the pump could have been out of time. Rick Anderson said he had slightly adjusted the speed of his septic pump at the cabins he rents and it solved his issues with backed-up plumbing.
“When was the last time the tanks were pumped?” Martinson asked. Assistant Town Clerk Gale Ring said she had checked records back to 2010 and couldn’t find any that showed the tanks at the community center had been pumped since that time.
The board voted to have G&G come back and pump out the tanks and the board will continue to investigate further ways to fix the community center septic problems that occur when there are large groups at the center.
Ring and Tina McKeever will stain the ballfield stands when they have time and it isn’t raining, said Ring. A new bench purchased with the Great Place Race grant award was installed on the town hall deck and white railings have been put in at the steps that lead down to the parking lot.
The parking lot will not be fixed until mid-August do to the contractor’s busy schedule. In the meantime, there is plenty of space for parking, said Tina McKeever.
Ring reported seven people attended the Welcome Wall cleanup on June 23. A lot of flowers were planted and weeds pulled at the Welcome Wall, she said.
Schroeder wants out of sewer district—again
The Tofte township sent a letter in response to Schroeder’s request to withdraw from the Tofte Schroeder Sanitary Sewer District (TSSSD). In its letter, Tofte said it wanted to maintain the TSSSD, citing possible future housing projects TSSSD could be used for. Muggley and Martinson have been working on discovering what procedures it will take to get Schroeder out of the agreement.
Martinson said that the $60,000 left in the joint TSSSD account might be split so Schroeder could use that money to hire an attorney to extradite the township out of the agreement. The TSSSD was formed in 1999 and has been inactive for years. The township of Schroeder requested that it be released from the district in 2002.
The board agreed to keep working to find a way out of TSSSD.
In other business
. Fire Chief Phil Bonin reported that his crew had responded to three calls, two of them false alarms.
. Supervisors postponed voting on a policy allowing the expenditure of funds without a full vote by the board. This could be needed in the event of something unexpected happening like a road washing out that needed to be fixed immediately.
Tina McKeever has been researching this and found most townships don’t have a written policy but some townships will authorize expenditures up to $2,500 without a vote. She will bring back more information at the next meeting.
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