The Schroeder board discussed— again—the amount the Township of Tofte has asked it to pay for its share of the Fire & Rescue Squad, this time with Lake County Fire Marshal Pete Walsh at its February 8 meeting.
Tofte raised the annual amount it requested after the Schroeder board questioned whether the usual request accurately reflected the costs to run the department. Tofte tried to more accurately assess the costs, but Schroeder ended up taking issue with the amount Tofte figured it cost to house the Rescue Squad vehicles and equipment.
Supervisor Roger “Bill” McKeever said he had originally questioned the amount because he thought Schroeder was not paying enough, not because he thought Schroeder was paying too much.
Pete Walsh shared with the Schroeder town board how the costs were divided up among fire and rescue squads in Lake County. Supervisor Ross Willson said he has talked the issue over coffee with Tofte Supervisor Jim King in order to come to agreement on an amount satisfactory to both townships. He said the Schroeder board wants to see a line item in Tofte’s budget that would justify the amount being charged to Schroeder. That line item could be in the form of something like a truck replacement fund, he said. Tofte had been charging an amount similar to what it would cost to rent warehouse space in Duluth.
Willson said he would meet with Jim King again. He won’t agree to a “space rental” clause, he said, but would negotiate for a line item that would be designated for replacement of something specific.
Fire Department
Fire Chief Phil Bonin said things had been “pretty slow” in his department over the last month, except for the propane truck rollover in Tofte. They were there “half the night” dealing with the situation, he said.
Bonin said they are still looking for a secondary pumper. It was a good evening for Lake County Fire Chief Pete Walsh to be there, because he responded, “You just come up with what you want and we’ll find it for you!”
Lighting along Highway 61
County Commissioner Bruce Martinson reported that the county board had given its approval of street lights at the intersections of Highway 61 and the Sawbill Trail, the Lutsen Ski Hill Road, and County Road 7, to be installed by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Bill McKeever supported the initiative, saying it would greatly improve safety on the Sawbill and County Road 7.
ARMER program
Martinson told the town board that the county would try to help the townships find funding to implement the state-initiated Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response (ARMER) program that would enable emergency and governmental agencies to communicate with one another and coordinate their responses during public emergencies.
Bill McKeever said it wasn’t right that the system requires the use of Motorola equipment. Pete Walsh said he heard another brand could be used but it wasn’t very good.
“Terrible expensive radios,” Phil Bonin said.
“The radios are basically computers, is what they tell us,” said Walsh. He said a friend of his in the Metro area works in law enforcement and has told him the system works great and he loves it.
Snow and ice assistance from county
Bill McKeever took issue with the county’s request that only township elected officials call in requests for help maintaining Schroeder township’s roads when snow and ice conditions exceed Schroeder’s ability to deal with them. He wondered why their own roadmaintenance contractors or long-time residents couldn’t make that call.
Commissioner Martinson said the county gets calls from people complaining that the county is taking work away from private individuals when the county helps with road maintenance on non-county roads. In addition, he said some homeowner associations have complained about having to pay for services authorized by individuals on the association board without the entire board’s approval.
McKeever said owning the equipment necessary to handle all road maintenance needs would be too expensive, given the little bit of road under Schroeder’s jurisdiction.
Martinson said he would talk to County Engineer David Betts about whether the township board could designate someone who does its road maintenance to make official requests from the county for help when help is needed.
The board discussed the federal government’s new requirement for higher grades of sign reflectivity that will require replacement of signs along public roads. Clerk Carol Tveekrem suggested that they pass a resolution protesting the mandate and that they try to lobby against it with other townships. McKeever suggested that they simply remove a few unnecessary signs. Willson said a stop sign doesn’t do any good if a lack of salt and sand on a hill keeps you from being able to stop at the bottom anyway. That brought laughter.
McKeever figured Schroeder might need to replace five stop signs at a total cost of about $1,200.
Stage floor repair
The board discussed who they could call to solicit bids on repairing the stage floor.
Election judges
The board appointed Jan Dillon, Judy Gregg, and Alicia Kangas as election judges. The annual Schroeder elections and town meeting will be Tuesday, March 8.
Space rental for Fitness North
Clerk Tveekrem reported that Surfside had asked to rent the town hall several hours a day for two weeks for Fitness North exercise classes starting in late February. Surfside offered $500, she said. Supervisor McKeever said that if the town hall were needed for a local event, Surfside should work around the scheduling of that event.
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