On the heels of the March 8, 2016 annual town meeting Tofte supervisors held a short meeting on March 10, cruising through a short agenda in just 30 minutes.
Schroeder Fire Chief Phil Bonin, who co-leads the Tofte/Schroeder rescue squad, gave a fire and rescue squad report.
“Other than some false alarms, it’s been quiet for the fire department,” Bonin said. “One problem is that two or three false alarms have come from Bluefin. The way it works is when the alarm goes off it goes to the front desk and they call dispatch, who notifies us. It’s not a good thing when we have to get up and go to a false alarm. If it happens too many times, some guys will quit coming.”
Bonin also reported that it had been quiet for the rescue squad.
A third invoice will be sent to the Birch Grove Community School by the township which is seeking money to repair the ground where the school’s former outdoor classroom building sat. Supervisor Paul James said the township hadn’t received any response from the first two invoices.
The building was sold last fall to raise funds for the Birch Grove Community School and the ground was somewhat damaged during the move.
James asked Clerk Barb Gervais to “research and see what the agreement was” between the buyer and seller of the building, which she agreed to do.
“There’s nothing we can do right now,” said James, but Supervisor Jim King said, “I think we should withhold some of the $23,000 payment until we get a positive response.”
The township had agreed to contribute $23,000 toward school operations.
The board also discussed the township’s facility contract with W.E. Connect (formerly called the Birch Grove Foundation) and decided that because of some recent change in the operation they needed to write a short memorandum of understanding to clarify what type of maintenance the township would be responsible for at the Birch Grove Community Center building (paying for electricity, snowplowing, landscaping etc.). This will be done before the next town board meeting.
In other business
. The board authorized hiring Peter Borson to do some repairs at the town hall, which had been slightly damaged by a plow truck. The operator hit the corner of the soffit with the wing on his plow when he was moving snow. Borson submitted a bid for $743 to make the needed repairs.
. There were no park or cemetery updates, and West End County Commissioner Ginny Storlie was in St. Paul on county business, so she couldn’t attend to give a county board update.
. No further action was taken and the board ended the meeting by setting the Local Board of Appeals and Equalization meeting for Thursday, April 21 at 5 p.m. at the town hall.
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