Chairman Glen Williamson called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Also present: Supervisors Mike McCullen and Alden Shute, Treasurer Patrice Winfield, Clerk Paul Raymond, Stefanie Williamson, Clay Heller, Jr., Steve Menth, Zach Hanson, Lisa Irgens, Daniel Calder, and Cindy Kleinschmidt.

Approved Ground Rules: Citizens must raise their hand to speak; No interruptions; If a speaker asks question of another person, they can answer but speaker holds the floor; Maintain respect and decorum. Patrice asked if anyone charges anything to the township to print their name and sign it clearly so it shows up on the copies Ace sends her.

Clerk’s Record of August Board Meeting: Paul read the Clerk’s record of the August Board meeting. Alden corrected the record, it was 9 loads gravel on Fust Lane, not 4. He doesn’t want to install new culverts on the North Duncan Road but cover the existing ones for the logging project. The next census will be in 2030, not 2020. With these corrections, Glen moved to approve the Clerk’s record; Alden seconded. Passed. The record will be corrected on the website.

Road Report: Alden gave his report for September:

Little Tamarack Lake Road: Alden said he put 4 loads of regular gravel on the hill. Little Tamarack Lake Landing: Hesinius Gravel put down 15 loads of redrock, five on the landing, ten on the road. Alden said when we get the bill from Hesinius to send Greg Beck the bill for five loads and the skid steer. They may pay for everything. Hesinius should send two bills, one for the 5 loads plus skid steer, and one for 10 loads.

South Duncan Road: 11 loads pit run on this road and 9 loads of regular gravel on Fust Lane.

North Duncan Road: Nine loads of 2”-minus gravel. Alden will cover the two culverts for the winter logging project, and will post a notice on a trailer that is in the right-of-way that could damage the grader. Our road and right-of-way is 66′.

Heller Drive: Two loads of 2”-minus. Greg Summerland put four loads pit run and two regular gravel down.

Tamarack Pine Drive: Beaver problem. Alden had asked Jim Bredesen to deal with beavers. Alden got the culvert cleared and water flowing again. Diane Knobel from the settlement on the Ponds said they will also keep the culvert open.

Eagle Head Road: Alden put in 30” culvert. He may go over budget with this, but we have the funds. Dave Fornengo is rigging a system to clean the grate over the culvert. Stefanie said there are beaver cones that are better than traps. https://beavercone.com/ Clay had photos of grate systems he showed the board.

Mink Farm Road: 5 loads 2”-minus.

OLD BUSINESS: MAT District 7 Meeting: Was Tuesday, August 20, 2024 at Anoka Ramsey Community College in Cambridge, MN. Many topics were covered, including ARPA Reporting, Cannibis, township websites, cybercrime. Township Day at the Capitol will be moved up to January and will be only one day, no overnight. (Dinner optional.) Photo album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/zfEcoHmq6skyHsLx9 Clerk Paul submitted a resolution for universal cell-phone access which passed and which MAT Attorney Graham Berg-Moberg will present at the September 13 MAT L&R meeting:

“RESOLUTION TO THE MINNESOTA ASSOCIATION OF TOWNSHIPS TO ADVOCATE FOR AND LOBBY FOR UNIVERSAL CELL-PHONE SERVICE TO UNSERVED AND UNDERSERVED TOWNSHIPS [Adopted by township officers at the MAT District 7 annual meeting (Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Isanti, Kanabec, Pine, Ramsey, Sherburne, Washington, and Wright counties) August 20. 2024, Cambridge, MN.]

Whereas whole areas of rural Pine County (and possibly other counties in Minnesota) have no cell service or very spotty and unreliable service, and

Whereas Wi-Fi calling is of no benefit away from a modem, and

Whereas Centurylink has had frequent outages for landlines, and

Whereas many websites require a cell phone text to verify one’s identity to log on,

Be it resolved that the Minnesota Association of Townships promote and advocate for universal cell phone service as we did for universal broadband.

Submitted by Paul Raymond, Clerk, Wilma Township, Pine County, MN.”

Cannabis Webinar: The State of Minnesota’s Office of Cannabis Management held a webinar, “Implementing Chapter 342: Guidance for Local Governments on Adult-Use Cannabis,” on August 9. Topics included:

1. General implementation update and 2024 legislative session changes 
2. Role of local governments in application and licensing framework
3. Role of local governments in compliance and enforcement. Minorities get preference in licenses, and people who have had pot convictions get preference.

ARPA Fund Designation: The unspent money must be designated by the end of 2024, but don’t have to be spent until 2026. Glen moved that Wilma Township spend all remaining ARPA Funds for officer training and for town hall internet service. Alden seconded. Passed. Our internet fund is now in the red.

NEW BUSINESS: Wilma Property Appraisal and Increased Rates: MATIT will change our property values based on the appraisal by Overland Solutions. Fire Hall/Grader Hall was insured for $70,219. They say it is now worth $176,703, and our annual contribution will go from $211 to $530. The Town Hall, now $170,694; new value, $173.859. Annual premium from $512 to $522.

Township Websites: All Towns with websites must eventually change to the .gov address.

Wilmatownship.com Site: We need to find a new provider/host by the end of our current contract with Aspire. Tammy Carlson (District 7 Director) said Leslie Rosendahl did the website for her township and they are very pleased with it. Paul contacted Ms. Rosendahl. She said that she will “Charge $1500 for website services for up to 6 pages. If more pages are requested, the site cost will be $250 per additional page. The transferring of data can either be done by you or me. It does take quite a bit of time of downloading the documents and then uploading it again. I don’t mind making additional pages, but if it’s a lot of documents, we’ll have to talk about that.

“If you just want the new domain to .gov, I can also do that, but there is a cost. You can do that yourself; I can give you instructions. But you’d have to be pretty web savvy to set it up. If you need a new website with a new host and a .gov I can also do that. I will charge additional expenses to the township such as the domain name (website address) and site hosting, which is an estimated and ongoing expense of approximately $250/year.” https://rosedahlpublicaffairs.com/mat

“To be clear – I will create the new site and transfer pictures/data to the new site and create the pages with content and then train you how to update it. That’s $1500. There will be ongoing annual costs of around $250 to Squarespace to host your website and domain address.”

“What’s extraordinary about wilmatownship.com is the extreme amount of minutes that you have on your current website that I will not transfer. You can decide to do those minutes (back to 2005!) by yourself or someone else can do it – and to be honest, I’ve never seen a website with more than a few years because most townships just keep those on a per request basis.”The Pine City Township Website she did: https://pinecitytownship.squarespace.com/home

Mike said we need to give Ervin Klienschmidt an opportunity to do the site and to see if he is able. Glen said we need to check out another web-host, townweb: https://www.townweb.com/. Paul said the board can decide how many years of records we will transfer to the new website. Every meeting record for the last 118 years is in the safe, and anyone has a right to see them. Stefanie asked if there is any way to archive all the internet records so people can still access them. Glen said when he stops hosting the site, everything will disappear. He said we need a guarantee that if Leslie dies the website will continue if we go with her.

November Meeting Change: Glen has an out-of-town meeting the first week of November, so he will miss the election. Alden moved to change the November meeting to the second Wednesday of November, the 13^th. Mike seconded. Passed.

Wilma Town Park: Steve Menth said there are grants available to help us develop the park. He envisions a bandshell and facilities. Glen said Steve will be appointed to a committee to study grants and options.

Wilma Fall Fest: Stefanie said Fallfest is October 19, 6 p.m. They have fliers and hope to get more children’s prizes. It’s our 117^th year as a town.

Coiuri&Ruppe 15^th Annual Township Legal Seminar: Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, Rutledge City Hall, 9 am – 4 pm, Free. Register at kathy@couriruppe.co

Treasurer’s Report and Claims: Total bills for September, $13,052.28, with transfer of $13,000. Mike moved to approve her report and transfer $13,000 from savings to checking. Alden seconded; all aye. Passed.

Alden moved to adjourn; Mike seconded. Adjourned at 8:40.

Paul Raymond, Clerk

Chairman Glen Williamson called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Also present: Supervisors Mike McCullen and Alden Shute, Treasurer Patrice Winfield, Clerk Paul Raymond, Stefanie Williamson, Clay Heller, Jr., new residents of the community on the Vink Ponds on Tamarack Pine Drive, Diana Knobel, Lane and Ellen Cales, Daniel Calder, Sarah Calaler, Sarah Bergren, and Micah Murray, and Cindy Kleinschmidt and Jim Bredesen. Meeting Ground Rules: Ground rules for the meeting: Citizens must raise their hand to speak; No interruptions; If a speaker asks question of another person, they can answer but the speaker holds the floor; Maintain respect and decorum.

Clerk’s Record of July Board Meeting: Paul read the Clerk’s record of the July Board meeting. Glen said he never read the ground rules. Clay said he thought that he did. Glen said only he talked with Steve Fenske, Alden did not. Paul said the record does not say that Alden spoke with him, but he will make that more clear. Glen said his resolution stated: “Being that the clerk has promised to do the duties of the clerk and not act as a dictator, and do the will of the board, and write the minutes as accurate as possible, and to wear your hearing aid, all rights of the clerk taking minutes and the resolution of April 3 be rescinded, and Paul be authorized to take minutes all over again, and Stefanie is hereby fired.” With these corrections, Alden moved to approve the Clerk’s record; Mike seconded. Passed.

Road Report: Alden gave his report for August:

Little Tamarack Lake Road: Alden said he will put 10 loads of redrock gravel on the road and go as far as he can within the budget. He has a total budget of $16,000 for all roads this year, and has spent $5,200 so far.

Little Tamarack Lake Landing: Mike talked with Greg Beck about the poor condition of the landing, and proposed a cooperative venture with the county providing the gravel and Wilma grading it. The County Board approved this in July. Greg said the county found out that Wilma Township owns the landing and the county will pay for 4-5 loads of gravel (he agreed to red-rock gravel) and will work with Alden to spread it, three loads at the landing and one load on each side of the entrance. Alden will talk with Greg Beck and have the bill for the redrock gravel sent to the county.

Fust Lane: Alden ditched the road and put gravel down, nine loads.

South Duncan Road: 11 loads pit run on this road.

North Duncan Road: Alden wants to cover the two culverts with gravel for the winter logging project.

Tamarack Pine Drive: Beaver problem. Alden asked Jim to deal with beavers. Alden got the culvert cleared and water flowing again. Alden cleared it with Amy Hand of the DNR to take the beavers out. Diane Knobel from the settlement on the Ponds said they will also keep the culvert open.

Eagle Head Road: Same chronic beaver problem. Don’t have a solution yet. Mike said we need a grate. Alden said there is nothing to put a cage around due to the swamp. Clay said the culvert is too small.

Heller Drive: Clay said there is a berm where gravel has been graded to the edge of the road, which blocks any drainage. Alden will reblade it and will apply more pit run to the road.

Escrow Increase/Amend Ordinance: Notice and original ordinance provided to Supervisors to make any adjustments. The clerk amended both, changing the escrow amount to $1,000. Glen moved to approve the amendment. Mike seconded; all aye.

Roadside Mowing: Jerry’s Roadside Mowing completed the work on all roads, but Alden told him the Danforth rangeline roads were done by Rootke for Danforth so he deducted $100, total $900. He gave the totals for Heller Drive, Langstrom Lane, and Pete Anderson road to bill Arna and New Dosey.

OLD BUSINESS: PNP Reimbursement for Presidential Primary: Wilma got our money, more than clerk applied for:   Clerk requested $1,233.10 with receipts.  They gave us $1.318.17.  Don’t know why the discrepancy.

NEW BUSINESS: Election Judge Training: So far, Patrice Winfield, Ervin Kleinschmidt, and Paul Raymond are certified. For online Election Judge training, email elections@co.pine.mn.us to signup. Takes two hours, per Kelly. Cindy said she will take the training.

Appoint Judges, August 13, 2024 Federal Primary: Tuesday, August 13, 10 a.m. To 8 p.m. The candidates for the following offices to be voted for at the General Election: FEDERAL OFFICES: One United States Senator; One Representative in the United States House of Representatives, District 8. Paul and Patrice will judge; Mike moved to appoint Cindy Kleinschmidt for the third judge, Alden seconded. Passed.

Omnimark Test: Paul will post a notice of the test of our Omnimark. Paul and Patrice scheduled the test for Sunday, August 11, at 4 p.m. Public meeting.

New Township Residents:
Since the census won’t be conducted until 2030, Wilma Township will update our population with the State Demographic office.  Some town aid is based on population. Five families have recently moved into Wilma Township on Tamarack Pine Drive, in five households and 13 total people.  They have established a small community and said that these are their only and permanent homes. Paul urged them to register to vote August 13 in the Primary. You can register at the same time.

Conservation and Memorial Forests: Pine Co. Commissioners have designated some sections of county tax-forfeited land in Wilma as Conservation/Memorial Forest in honor of military veterans. They will post signage at the forests honoring veterans. One section east of Duxbury just past Two Creeks on the south side of Duxbury Road. Two more 160 acres are landlocked, between North Duncan Road and Pete Anderson Road. Also all the land around Crooked Lake on the east side of Crooked Lake Road, except the part owned by the Bothmans. Mike said they did this years ago.

MAT District 7 Meeting: Tues, August 20, 2024. Registration 6 p.m. Meeting 6:30 p.m. Anoka Ramsey Community College, 300 Spirit River Dr. S., Cambridge, MN. Glen said all officers urged to attend.

Cannabis Hearings and Seminars:   On August 6, the Pine Co. Commissioners held a public hearing on the proposed cannabis ordinance which regulates cannabis businesses in the county. They adopted the ordinance.  Copy can be found at https://cms7files.revize.com/pinecountymn/document_center/agendas%20&%20Minutes/2024/2024-38%20Ordinance%20of%20the%20County%20of%20Pine%20to%20Regulate%20Cannabis%20Businesses%20(080624)%20APPROVED.pdf

Several townships spoke, and all the commissioners, Attorney Reese Frederickson and Dave Minke spoke.  Townships can opt into the county ordinance, or make their own ordinance of reasonable restrictions on the time, place and manner of operation of cannabis businesses, as long as they don’t prohibit the establishment or operation of cannabis businesses.  If Wilma opps into the county’s ordinance, the county will control all registration for cannabis businesses. The first license is going to be January 1, 2025. The board said if we do nothing, the county’s ordinance will apply to us and they decided to do nothing.

Cannabis Webinar: The State of Minnesota’s Office of Cannabis Management will hold a webinar, “Implementing Chapter 342: Guidance for Local Governments on Adult-Use Cannabis,” this Friday, August 9, at 10 a.m. Topics include:

1. General implementation update and 2024 legislative session changes 
2. Role of local governments in application and licensing framework
3. Role of local governments in compliance and enforcement
4. Discussion with local representatives on examples of ongoing planning work 

 Event registration is required. Click here to register: https://events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com/event/f88a2cc4-25b9-48ba-9b8d-123152476c65@eb14b046-24c4-4519-8f26-b89c2159828c Local Government Webinar Registration

Township Picnic Tables Stained and Preserved: Compliments of Duxbury VFD.

Coiuri&Ruppe 15^th Annual Township Legal Seminar: Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, Rutledge City Hall, 9 am – 4 pm, Free. Register at kathy@couriruppe.com

East Central Regional Development Commission: Glen gave a report on the ECRDC, which serves five counties. They will give loans up to $60,000 to LLC’s and to small businesses/sole proprietors at 6 – 8.5%.

Two Creeks Finlayson Parade: Glen said they won first place and won $100. They will be in the Quarry Days Parade. The Duxbury Volunteer Fire Department will have Big Red in the parade also.

Treasurer’s Report and Claims: Total bills for August, $6,984,88. Mike moved to approve her report and transfer $$7,000 from savings to checking. Alden seconded; all aye. Passed.

Chairman adjourned the meeting at 8:40.

Paul Raymond, Clerk