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MINUTES & AGENDAS

July, 2016

Commissioner Proceedings

July 26, 2016

pursuant to MN. Statute 331A.01, subd. 10

 the published material is only a summary and the full text is available for public inspection

at the lake of the woods county auditor/treasurers’ office

 or by standard mail or electronic mail or lake of the woods county

website –www.lake-of-the-woods.mn.us

The Lake of the Woods County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at Lake of the Woods County Government Center in the Commissioners Room.

Call to Order- Chairman Moorman called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited with the following members present: Commissioners Ed Arnesen, Patty Beckel, Ken Moorman, and Buck Nordlof, absent Thomas Hanson.  Also present were: Deputy Auditor /Treasurer Janet Rudd, and Woody Fiala.

Approval of Agenda-Motion was made by Commissioner Nordlof, seconded by Commissioner Arnesen and carried unanimously to approve the agenda with the following additions: Lost warrant, NWCA and notice of intent to LGUs and work plan.

 Approval of Consent Agenda None 

Approval of Minutes-Motion was made by Commissioner Beckel, seconded by Commissioner Arnesen and carried unanimously to approve the official and summarized minutes of July 12, 2016.

BORDERLAND SUBSTANCE ABUSE COURT-Christina Husbands, Drug Court Coordinator met with the board to discuss the state shortfall of funding for the drug court. She informed the board that she has been working on receiving other grants, if awarded they would not receive funding until later. The deficit is between Lake of the Woods County and Koochiching County Drug Court. Koochiching County Commissioners have expressed they do not want to contribute money to salaries for the drug court in the future. The board discussed having separate accounts, one for Lake of the Woods County contributions and grant monies received and one for Koochiching County contributions and grant monies. Commissioner Beckel stated that there has not been a steering committee meeting for the Drug Court for some time and requested that Christina check with the Judge to see if he would call a meeting for the two counties to meet and discuss funding issues.Motion was made by Commissioner Beckel, seconded by Commissioner Nordlof and carried unanimously to approve payment up to $15,000 to the State of Minnesota for reimbursement for payroll expenses for the Borderland Substance Abuse Court with funding from the Borderland Drug Court account and the Driving Under Influence (DUI) participation fee account.

Motion was made by Commissioner Beckel, seconded by Commissioner Arnesen and carried unanimously to add Social Service Director, Amy Ballard to the DUI steering committee.

SOCIAL SERVICES-Motion was made by Commissioner Arnesen, seconded by Commissioner Nordlof and carried unanimously to approve the following claims against the county: Commissioners Warrants: $10,036.43; Commissioners Warrants: $5,996.98.

 AUDITOR/TREASURER-Motion was made by Commissioner Beckel, seconded by Commissioner Nordlof and carried unanimously to approve the claims against the county as follows: Revenue $53,041.39, Road & Bridge $211,751.18, Co. Develop $200.00 , Solid Waste $691.80, EDA $4,771.45. Further moved to authorize the payment of the following auditor warrants: July 12, 7,658.34, July 20, $10,706.80, July 20, $5,174.89.    

WARRANTS FOR PUBLICATION

Warrants Approved On 7/26/2016 For Payment 7/29/2016

Vendor Name                                                    Amount

Arrowhead Library System                                                  33,118.02

Cole Logging & Livestock, Inc                                             8,490.00

Computer Professionals Unlimited Inc                                3,193.00

DLT Solutions, Inc                                                                2,092.74

Earthworks Contracting Inc                                                  9,930.00

Envirotech Services Inc                                                        7,181.24

Esri                                                                                          4,750.00

Ferrier Logging, Inc                                                              9,840.00

Fish/Kevin                                                                            19,440.00

Fort Distributors Ltd                                                              8,759.10

Hasbargen Farms Inc                                                            9,870.00

Hasler                                                                                      4,000.00

John Deere Financial                                                            2,929.12

Lavalla Sand & Gravel Inc                                                 100,000.00

Miovac/Tim                                                                             9,870.00

Mn Dept Of Transp                                                                5,637.95

Norman Johnson Trucking                                                  9,870.00

Northwest Community Action, Inc                                       3,506.00

44 Payments less than 2000  17,978.65

Final Total: 270,455.82

Lost Warrant

Motion was made by Commissioner Nordlof, seconded by Commissioner Arnesen and carried unanimously to approve the application and affidavit for lost warrant for Steve Le Claire dated April 15, 2016 for $645.00 without furnishing indemnifying bond

MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR-Maintenance Supervisor, Peder Hovland met with the board to update them on the Government Center North roof and sewer. The board discussed possible options on the roof and requested that Peder to pursue the sewer situation.Motion was made by Commissioner Arnesen, seconded by Commissioner Nordlof and carried unanimously to authorize Maintenance Supervisor, Peder Hovland to hire Tops All Roofing to replace the GCN roof with the cost up to $59,166.80, with funding from the Building fund and reallocate from the general fund.

DITCH AUTHORITY-Chairman Moorman informed the board that the Auditor/Treasures Office have completed the beneficiary spreadsheet for Ditch 7 & 28 and by the end of August to have Ditch 26 completed.

LAND AND WATER PLANNING-Land and Water Planning Director, Josh Stromlund met with the board and presented two Conditional Use Permits for Michael Gamache requesting to move more than fifty (50) cubic yards of material in the shoreland area of Kelly Creek and for Janice Kabat to conduct a commercial business consisting of a short-term vacation rental in a Residential (R1) District. He informed the board that the Planning Commission recommended to approve both Conditional Use Permits. Motion was made by Commissioner Arnesen, seconded by Commissioner Beckel and carried unanimously to approve the Conditional Use Permit for Michale Gamache with condition that it is completed by July 1, 2017. Motion was made by Commissioner Nordlof, seconded by Commissioner Beckel and carried unanimously to approve the Conditional Use Permit for Janice Kabat with no condtions.

RECESS-The meeting was called to recess at 10:50 a.m. and reconvened at 11:00 a.m. as follows:

NORTHWEST COMMUNITY ACTION- Chairman Moorman, on behalf of Lake of the Woods Economic Development Association President Tom Hanson presented a letter notifying Northwest Community Action that the Lake of the Woods EDA will longer need their services, and informed Randy that the EDA and has taken action to terminate the contract with sixty (60) days’ notice and appreciates all the work that Karl Frigaard has done for the EDA. Northwest Community Action Executive Director, Randy Nordin met with the board to inform the board that they did not receive the grant for the Youth Program for the Little Brother, Little Sister. All that funding stayed in the Metro Area; however they did receive a $20,000 grant from the Economics of Opportunities, but not enough funding for the entire program. Randy indicated that the State Association Director came up with a plan on savings on home placements, that if the three counties would contribute $20,000 each, for two to three years to see how it would go.  Randy also informed the board that NWCA did receive a grant from DHS for a “Live Well at Home” which would assist with Respite Care, Home modifications and Personnel Attention.

WHEELER POINT SEWER-Commissioner Beckel informed the board that the sewer project is being held up right now with Wetlands issues.

RECESS-The meeting was called to recess at 11:50 a.m. and reconvened at 1:05 p.m. as follows:

SANDY SHORES/BIRCH BEACH CROSSING

Chairman Moorman welcomed the residents to the meeting on the Sandy Shores/Birch Beach crossing and requested that Public Works Director, Tim Erickson give a summary of the issues of the crossing.

Public Works Director, Tim Erickson informed the residents that the county has a drainage easement from private property owners for the ditch between the two developments. This is the location where the proposed crossing would be located. The drainage easement does not give the county the authority to install a crossing. Permission would be needed from both landowners to secure an easement. As of July 25, 2016 the necessary easements have not been granted to the county. The only other option would be for the county to condemn the property. The Lake of the Woods County board has decided against the condemnation process. The County has tried to assist to help with this issue, but this issue is something that the property owners need to work out. Chairman Moorman opened the floor for comments from the residents. All letter received were acknowledged.  Chairman Moorman thanked the residents for attending the meeting.

Summary-Birch Beach Plat was established in 1926 and Sandy Shores Plat was established in 1975. 

In 2005 the county improved the ditch and also improved the drainage outlet at Sandy Shores/Birch Beach and removed a culvert. In 2012 someone constructed a makeshift bridge on private property and on Lake of the Woods County drainage easement without any permission from the county. Public Works Department removed the bridge for it was unsafe and not permitted. In November 2012 the county received a petition from the residents of Sandy Shores/Birch Beach area expressing support in favor of crossing that they would like to link the two communities together. Then in June 2013 a representative of the Sandy Shore/Birch Beach met with the board to discuss the crossing and at that time the board requested Public Works Director Tim to meet with the property owners about their property to see if they would be interested in an easement so the crossing could be made to connect the two communities. Because the necessary easement have not been granted to the county, the Lake of the Woods County Board is not considering any further action at this time.

Recess-With no further business before the board, Chairman Moorman called the meeting to recess at 2:03 p.m.

Attest:                                                                                     Approved: August 16, 2016

_______________________                                                  _________________________________

Janet E. Rudd                                                                         Chairman of the Board, Ken MoormanDeputy Auditor/Treasurer