CORINNA TOWNSHIP MEETING MINUTES

Monday, March 6, 2006

7 p.m., Town Hall                                                                                             Unapproved

 

Present:  Tom Doyle, Nancy Young, Andy and Andrea Juetten, BobAhonen, Pat Krause,

Mark Miller. Town Board:  Chairman John Dearing, Supervisor Bill Lieb, and Clerk/Treasurer Vi Novotne.  Supervisor Ken Jude, absent.

 

Meeting opened with the Pledge of the Allegiance to the Flag.

Chairman John Dearing stated that this board meeting date was changed to Monday instead of the regularly scheduled meeting date of Tuesday.  Precinct Caucuses are scheduled for Tuesday, March 7, 2006 and township boards cannot conduct a meeting after 6 p.m. on caucus night. 

Minutes were approved as presented.  Motion by Bill Lieb, second by John Dearing.

Agenda was approved with the addition of Tom Doyle of Diamond Mowers and Pat Krause, Township Auditor and CPA of LarsonAllen.  Bill Lieb presented motion which was seconded by John Dearing.

 

Request to be on Agenda:

1.         Tom Doyle, Diamond Mowers, Inc.  Tom Doyle presented State Bid Price Proposal for a Diamond DSR060-C Mower.  Bill Lieb presented motion that township purchase the DSR060-2 Mower at the State Bid price of $11,600 plus $352 shopping for a total price of $11,952 without a trade in or $10,852 with a trade in under State Contract No. 435559.  John Dearing, second.  Motion approved. 

2.         Andrew and Andrea Juetten and Nancy Young, Imhoff Avenue residents.  Andrew Juetten stated that he and neighbors object to the Pitra Gravel Mining operation,  105th and Ireland, as legal requirements state that the site parcel must be at least twenty acres and at Planning Commission hearing the Pitras stated the operation would be for two years not one year that was presented at the town board meeting.  Also the operation plan is to sell 10,000 truck loads of gravel which will mean heavy road traffic on a curvy road.  Nancy Young added that of the 16 neighborhood people contacted, 14 were concerned.  Nancy continued that the area property owners do not want the heavy traffic using a dangerous curvey road and weight of trucks hauling the gravel will ruin the paved road.  Andrea Juetten added that trucks will use 105th Street , which is also a road with curves and a road that does not have room for a dump truck and a car to pass.   Other comments made were that the operation is close to Sandy and Sugar Lake which may mean environmental issues; noise and dust will be a problem; eagles nest in surrounding trees and want the eagles to continue to nest there; and runoff from a culvert will go directly into Sugar Lake.  The property owners asked the town board to rescind the previous approval for the operation.  John Dearing added that the Pitras have not come before the town board to combine the two parcels and at the township meeting for the Conditional Use request, the town board was told that 100,000 yards of gravel were for their own use and this would be a one year operation.

With motion by Bill Lieb, second by John Dearing, the board revoked the previous township action of January 19, 2006 for the Pitra Gravel Pit.

Bill Lieb presented motion to revoke the Pitra Gravel Pit Mining request as the Pitras had stated that the mining would be a one year operation and now will be two years.  The gravel operation is on a single parcel that does not meet the twenty acre requirement.  The two parcels are not legally combined into one to meet the twenty acre requirement.

Section 727.6 (2) requires that the sand and gravel operation not interfere with water drainage or water quality.  There are two lakes affected by this project.

Section 727.6 (3) requires safety fencing and this must be required of the Pitra project.  This is in a residential area.

Section 727.5(6) There must be a 100-foot setback to any property line and a 500-foot setback from any residences.  There appears to be residential structures within 500’ of the gravel operation.

Section 728 requires proper permits for land alterations in a wetland area and the requirements are quite rigorous.

Motion seconded by John Dearing.  Motion was approved.

The motion and reasons to revoke Pitra Gravel Pit Mining Request are to be sent to the Wright County Planning Commission.

The Wright County Planning Commission will meet April 27th.  Andrew Juetten stated that he was going to encourage his neighbors to write a letter stating their concerns to the Wright County Planning Commission.

3.         Pat Krause, CPA and Town Auditor for LarsonOlson. Presented a draft of the Financial Statement for the year ending December 31, 2005.  The audit was conducted in accordance with auditing standards that require that the audit obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement.  In their opinion, the financial statements presents fairly, in all material respects, the cash balances of Corinna Township as of December 31, 2005 and the revenues it received and expenditures it paid on the basis of accounting as in accordance with Reporting and Publishing Requirements to City Audited Financial Statements for Cities under 2,500 in population as prescribed by the State of Minnesota’s Office of the State Auditor. Pat  reviewed the financial statement and the Budgetary Comparison.  She noted that expenditures exceeded the General Fund budget primarily due to the construction of the new town hall which had not been budgeted but will be financed later with a bond.  Expenditures exceeded the Road and Bridge Fund primarily due to cost overruns on the 80th Street Project and these additional costs will be covered by a bond in 2006. Township deposits were covered by authorized collateral at the Annandale State Bank.

4.         Topfer’s Sugar Lake Beach, Second Addition, former 106th Street Road Vacation.

Hearing will be scheduled for the first town meeting of April.  Each parcel owner along road will pay recording fee for their parcel boundary changes.

 

Road Maintenance Men Meeting:  Mark Miller, present.  Doug Smith, Absent

1.         Discussed the purchase of the Diamond Mower.

2.         Maintenance men will construct a temporary walkway to the new town hall.

3.         Mark noted that paving was breaking up along 108th and Lawrence.  Discussion.

4.         Brush and tree cutting will continue.  Work area now will be cutting trees along 80th Street  and removing trees and brush along Kimhall and Kleever in Clearview Acreas.

 

Other Items:

1.         Town Hall Construction.  Furniture will be delivered this week. 

            Bond:  Attorney Tim Young returned the bond closing documents to Kennedy and Graven for prepay language corrections.  Signing should take placed this week.

2.         Corinna Township Planning and Zoning.  John Dearing  will confirm with Chuck Marohn of Community Growth Institute that a preliminary planning report will be presented at the Annual Meeting, March 14, 2006.

3.         Election and Annual Meeting, Tuesday, March 14, 2006.

            Helen Sheenan was approved as an election judge.  Motion Bill and second by John Dearing.  Board reviewed proposed Annual Meeting Report.

            Voting hours are 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. with the Annual Meeting to begin at 8:15 p.m.  Absentee voting hours are Saturday, March 11, 10 a.m. to 12 noon and Monday, March 13, until 5 p.m.  In case of inclement weather, the Election and Town Meeting will be the following Tuesday, March 21, 2006.

4.         Corinna News.  Mailed Friday, March 3, 2006.

5.         Centerpoint Energy Agreement to relocate natural gas pipeline on Gulden Avenue.  Centerpoint Energy agreed to relocate the gas pipeline at no cost to the township as the reconstructed road corrected a safety hazard and the intersection was moved 300’ further west.

6.         Building Permits (1/4-2/14/06)  - 13 permits:  2-houses, 5-septic systems, 2-decks; 2-garages; 1-three-season porch, 1-bathroom in basement  

7.         Market Retreat Plat, corner of 70th and County Highway 6.  Planning and Zoning informed Corinna that preliminary plat has been approved and grading and road work may begin. Corinna Township will be monitoring the road construction.

8.         Local Board of Appeal and Equalization will be held April 12, 2006 beginning at 3 p.m.

9.         Township Financial Report for the State Auditor was completed and forwarded.

Copy was presented to each board member.

10.       Payment of Claims:  Claims covered by check numbers 13147-13184 and EFT 12-15 for a total of $71,753.75 were approved and paid.

 

With no further business to come before the board, Bill Lieb presented motion to adjourn.  Second, John Dearing.  The meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,                                                 Approved March 21, 2006

 

 

 

_______________________                                                  ________________________

Viola M. Novotne, Clerk/Treasurer                                          John Dearing, Chairman