Schroeder town supervisors Catherine Johnson and Ross Willson passed a motion Tuesday, July 14, 2009 to pursue withdrawal from the Tofte-Schroeder Sanitary Sewer District (TSSSD) and voted to consult an attorney to help them through the process. Supervisor Bill McKeever was not at the meeting.
West End resident Tom Spence, an attorney himself, attended the meeting to help the board figure out how to initiate the process. He said he is trying to cut back on legal work but would be happy to help the board find an attorney and would be willing to help that attorney on a volunteer basis. He recommended attorney Frederick Dudderar of Duluth and offered to draft a letter on behalf of the board that it will review at its next meeting Tuesday, August 11.
According to Spence, withdrawing from the TSSSD would require public notice and could require an election if more than 5% of the people who voted at the last election objected.
Spence said Dudderar charges $225 an hour but thought he might be willing to work for a discount since they are a governmental unit. Dudderar represented the town of Tofte when Birch Grove Elementary School pulled out of ISD 166, Spence said, but Tofte’s town supervisors told him that they would not be concerned about a potential conflict of interest if Dudderar represents Schroeder as it pursues withdrawal from the TSSSD.
Spence said he initially supported the idea of a sanitary sewer district but later realized that building a municipal sewer system would “bankrupt the community.” Now TSSSD tax funds are used only for septic inspections, which the Cook County Planning & Zoning Department does anyway.
Sugarloaf Road culvert
Town clerk Carol Tveekrem reported that while the Army Corps of Engineers signed off on plans submitted for repair of 2008 flood damage to the Sugarloaf Road, DNR fisheries personnel are saying the culverts are too small to contain flood conditions.
All but the culvert work has been given the go-ahead, Tveekrem said, but she is concerned about dangers to the road if it is not fixed soon.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds will pay $33,000 of the estimated $40,000 cost of the repairs, but the work must be completed by December 1, Tveekrem said.
DNR hydrologist Cliff Bentley of Two Harbors told Tveekrem that he didn’t think there was much point in calling Sugarloaf Creek a trout stream if it dries up every summer. Schroeder resident Bud Buckman said that all water that flows into Lake Superior receives trout stream designation.
Cemetery property lines
The town board received some free advice from its cemetery neighbor, Chuck Whiteside. Whiteside owns property immediately west of the cemetery and said he had to go to three people to get clear title to his property. Part of his property had belonged to the Cross River Lumber Company. Diane Silver, daughter of the man who had owned the company, still has legal authority to sign for the company, Whiteside said. He thought Silver might be agreeable to signing over a strip of cemetery property facing Cramer Road that is still in Cross River Lumber Company’s name. Doing so would avoid having to go through a court process to clear up the matter.
Bruce Martinson and Ross Willson volunteered to help locate now-obscured metal corner markers in the cemetery. Carol Tveekrem had found someone willing to borrow a metal detector for the job. She said the Cook County Historical Society would like a record of everyone buried in the cemetery.
Propane leak
Phil Bonin said the Schroeder town hall propane tank valve still leaks a little if it is not open all the way. Tveekrem said they are waiting to use up more of the propane before replacing the valve. At Bonin’s suggestion, Tveekrem agreed to order a new valve to keep on hand until the tank is low.
Tveekrem read a letter Como Oil had sent in response to a letter from the township asking why it was charged $789 for two workers to manipulate the valve to stop the leaking that had been reported. The letter explained that two technicians were called out after hours and brought a temporary replacement tank in case it was needed. Como Oil credited Schroeder’s account $100 as a “goodwill gesture,” Tveekrem said, and recommended that the town switch to a Como-owned tank that would be maintained for free. Tveekrem and Deputy Clerk Gail Ring indicated they weren’t sure they would make use of the $100 credit since they weren’t sure they would be ordering propane from Como in the future.
Fire and rescue
Fire Chief Phil Bonin reported that his department received no calls during the month of June. Theyhelped put out a fire in Bluefin Bay’s large stockpile of firewood on July 6.
Discussion with tourism association
After considerable debate among the board, citizens in attendance, and LTTA representatives Sally Nankivell and Scott Harrison, the board gave its approval for the Lutsen-Tofte Tourism Association (LTTA) to pay off a golf course bond four years early in order to avoid having to keep money on reserve in county coffers. The LTTA will obtain a loan to be paid off over seven years. Theboard had declined voting on the matter last month so it would have more time to deliberate.
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