In a bit of fun town business, Supervisor Tina McKeever and her husband Don McKeever were named Schroeder Citizens of the Year for all of their work for the township at the town meeting on Tuesday, August 11.
The Schroeder Township met August 11 to reconvene the March 2014 annual meeting at which citizens had tentatively set a 2015 budget of $105,940. The main topic this time was the 2015 levy.
Supervisor Tina McKeever suggested a levy from $27,000 to $30,000, lower than the 2014 levy of $34,000. But West End County Commissioner Bruce Martinson and several members of the audience made a case for raising the levy to as high as $40,000 to offset township road maintenance costs, park upgrades or other township responsibilities for which the town might need levy dollars. It was noted that due to the extreme snow last winter that snow plowing costs were $2,000 higher than budgeted.
After some discussion the board set the 2015 levy at $39,000, the same as 2013.
Regarding the county budget, Commissioner Martinson told the board that the county board had received preliminary budget requests from county department heads that were 27 percent higher than last year’s. “That really disappointed me,” said Martinson, noting that there was no way the county board would approve anything higher than a 2-3 percent total increase, if they approved any increase at all, he said.
Roads and recreation discussed
Supervisor Bill McKeever was questioned about some of the maintenance on town roads, especially where there were washouts, and he said he was working to find someone who could perform the work.
He also said he was trying get someone to replace the town’s grader brakes, but added, “If the grader can’t be fixed it doesn’t owe us anything. It was paid for years ago and given us many times back what it cost us.”
McKeever said he would contact LaBoda Grading about getting a grading estimate, and try to to have a back-up option if the town’s grader cost too much to repair.
The board talked about putting in a garbage can at the park because people have been putting garbage into the portable toilets, but Bill McKeever said, “We used to have one there and you couldn’t keep up to it. I would go and empty it and it would just fill right back up again. People would bring their garbage and dispose of it there. That’s why we removed it.”
The board decided against installing a garbage can, but will post signs letting the public know that they can’t dump garbage into the porta-lets.
Supervisor Doug Schwecke said he put stakes in the ground to hold the park’s new picnic table and matching bench in place. The two items were purchased for $1,000, funds the township received from the Moving Matters program.
In other business
. Fire Chief Phil Bonin said his crew was called out eight times the previous month on rescue calls, but only twice for fire calls which turned out to be false alarms. He said his crew was getting ready to host a pancake breakfast and they had participated in the July 4th parade held in Tofte.
. The town board sent a letter to the town of Tofte in support of the Tofte senior housing project. The town received a letter of thanks from Tofte for its $1,000 contribution for the July 4th fireworks.
. Clerk Schwecke said his son, who was visiting from Denver, had helped him start a website for the township. “He’s a computer programmer. He showed me the website and it cost $3 per month. I’m working on it now, but I don’t know how it will turn out,” said Schwecke.
. Both the fire department and the clerk’s office have received new computers, said McKeever.
. In light of Cleveland Cliffs hiring a new chairman, CEO Lourenco Goncalves, Skip Lamb suggested that the board send him a letter inviting him to tour the now idled loading dock and railroad in Schroeder to see if both can’t be brought back into use. The board thought Lamb’s idea was a good one and said they would consider it at a future meeting.
.In a final bit of fun business, Supervisor Tina McKeever and her husband Don McKeever were named Schroeder Citizens of the Year for all of their work for the township. Tina McKeever represents Schroeder on the Cook County Land Use Guide Plan Committee and the couple often volunteers to assist with the many activities occurring in the Schroeder Township.
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