e e e e e e e e e e is Le ready and you have your recorder out or aren't you recording it I don't have record your job is just keep sitting easier e we call the sheriff not just not just yet we don't want to overreact that's true but we're nervous all right I will call the town board meeting of July 15th 2024 order uh approval of the agenda Patrick any changes no changes Mr chair Board of anything I have none no changes we need a motion to approve move to approve the agenda as submitted second motion made second I'll favor say I I I'll oppos uh item three is approval payment of bills I signed off move to approve payment of the bills well second all right motion made second all in favor say I I opposed all right then we need an approval of the minutes from July 1st 2024 anybody have any changes I had none I don't have any I'll move to approve do I have a second second motion M second all in favor say I I I all opposed all right five is a consent agenda item only move them on here um what's the board's pleasure I don't have any discussion on that I can make a motion to approve I'll second that all right motions made second all favor say I I I all at Mo carries all right six is old business we have none seven is public hearing we have none eight is new business we have none nine is that agenda we have none we have a Time slotted for Senator Heather gustaffson in open time but did you tell her we we're going to have a pretty short meeting oh I don't you would want to just give her maybe Scott has a few things that he'd like to add in open time it's open time Scott you can give your farewell we have a member of the public here yes stand up here and pontificate please proing once again we let anybody into these meetings Scott mckune 210 Grace Court garnavillo Iowa ZIP code what previously 5250 Anderly Lane I hesitate to talk because you guys could have the absolute shortest meeting on record oh we don't want to do that all right um I did want to hear what our elected official had to say but um I guess I won't anyway I wanted to take this opportunity for two things as a resident I wanted to say thank you to the board and to the staff for making the township a nice place to live I've been here coming up on 25 years and long before I got involved with the board I really thought it was a nice place to be of course I thought it was Whitebear Lake Township whatever and iiz I mean I went across the the Border several times but it was always easy to deal with and even back in a long time ago when Anderly Lane was redone um I had great interactions with the public works so I know you already complement them on a regular basis as a resident I would just reaffirm that as a elected official previously a prior elected official I want to thank you guys for all your patience and helping me get through my learning curve Chad and Patrick especially had to walk me back from the brink more than once and I really appreciate that of course you guys I've learned a ton from I had know way more about ordinances and um uh Zone uh enforcement and and Construction in fact I have a question for a general contractor at some point but I just wanted to say thank you from those two perspectives it's uh with any luck you know here I still am but uh I should be out of here shortly um if things go as they're supposed to oh you're still at the house I'm still at the house when when do you think you're a month ago but um okay when when's the next planning as I told the general contractor the other day come hell high water we are going to be there on the 27th whether they're done or not I'm moving in I'm tired of the delay so long story won't won't bore you oh it's never boring Scott so well thank you when you retire move to Iowa would you that's kind of what I was uh wanting you all to uh to noce well again thanks for your service to the bo for the service pleasure dealing with you you're you're a great Bean conter now Tom has take your place ouch ouch I don't like beans speaking Heather's here come on up Senator Senator we appreciate you dropping by of course well thanks for having me I was like coming here um I almost went to the wrong place I almost went to the um amid Road yes and then I remember I thought about that right as we were would not have been the first and well and I and I called my LA and I was like I just want to clarify which building is it that so yes happy to be here though so we share this with Gem Lake yeah which is nice it's a nice space too I have to say they touring all of the Cities it's really Our Town Hall was not exactly up to Snuff for still a little dated yeah you're a Pioneer it's good it's good how are the plans coming for Township days I can speak to that yeah it's moving along excellently um we've got vendors lined up we'll have our fire work show as normal um plans are in place and they'll be finalized uh this month probably everything nice a beautiful date you know the date right I think I mean it's on my calendar but all right that's all you need to know it's September okay are you going to be present of course all right yes I never miss yeah yeah yeah yeah um so I don't have a lot to you know disc our our session um this year was of course a a policy year and so uh we didn't have a big budget to work with um I know we had some things to iron out with the last Transportation Aid that we gave you and I think that that was iron all done it's all done in our bank account great oh how good does that feel then awesome that means I don't have to answer where is it anymore right I'm sure we so much appreciate you and Senator horn Stein's work on this yeah I I'm all 11,000 residents are going to appreciate that because it's just really going to help our budgeting for our road projects yeah I glad that we got it ironed out because I know I was a little bit worried too and they kept me informed on it but again at that point it really belonged to Senator Dibble because he was the transportation chair and so um I was sort of out of the loop but we kept an eye on it and I'm glad it's all worked out now so well I think I owe him a beer because I I was the Debbie donor on this one it's okay yeah but I mean you know it was worth it and now like you said now it's in your bank account and you're able to sort of plan that now the planning part starts right which just got to feel really a sense of relief yeah and I and I think it'll start getting some Traction in the community in our next couple of road projects when everybody starts to feel a little bit of the pressure off uh financially so sure and that really made the playing field even for all of our us surrounding communities good we've always been way behind on these sure and we have to make sure we let the public know like right because you you anticipate there will be a savings a cost savings to Residents oh yeah yes well the way that we structured all this is our finance officer in addition to money straight from some of our utility funds and special assessments on our property owners that are involved in the projects also would spread parts of um the project cost across the entire population through General Levy sure which I mean it's small enough to where 11,000 folks won't feel it but big enough to where the ones who are directly impacted by the project will understand and respect the fact that we're all sharing it and the funds that we got from you are just going to help that even more yeah so well I'll never forget our conversation where you saw the public safety money and then what said what happened to the yeah money for transportation that's right I no you get both that's right that was a very fun day and I thank you for that moment no no no it's yeah I mean happy to do it but I I it's one of those rare moments where you give somebody um what did they say like under promise overd deliver it was one of times where I was like oh I get to tell somebody some really good news and they're not gonna yes they're not going to get mad at me during a budget year you never know so well it's a very big deal for the township we really appreciate it so yeah Heather one of the things that I'm going to say might be a little easier and is not looking for necessarily dollars today but is working on some legislation to change the archaic language so that a Metro Township such as us has the opportunity to look at other Revenue sources besides just direct property taxes and the townships be just by the way the statutes were written many many years ago always seem to get left out and the needs of the metropolitan area are no different whether you're a city or a Township and uh franchise fees as an example um you know it's just some word changes could make right significant difference talk about that a lot where we say or you know cities or townships over 10,000 in population which is always the White Bear Lake or or not sorry the White Bear Township Clause you know I I know what it means very very few other people know what that means but we try to do it um I would that's what I was going to say I was going to bring it up is that we need to find ways because this is onetime funding so what can we do going forward that's more sustainable wait a minute we're not going to get this every year every every legislative session we should expect this right right right every time I go to the doors and someone says well you um you know you spent all of our Surplus and and I was like correct I mean not all of it but most of it but like go talk to Whitebeard Township there are things that got put into communities that had never been you know with the public safety Aid the transportation boost to Whitebear Township those are things that we would not have been able to do without that Surplus so I always say like it went to things I mean you might not think that roads is like something that's going to make a splashy headline but it's important to people in Township so they won't make splashy headlines but they will be felt right for sure right um and uh former supervisor mun and I have had numerous discussions about how it's good that we aren't necessarily in the headlines yeah and we'll stay out of the headlines even with this because like you said it's not anything that's going to get anybody excited right um but we really do appreciate it and we will know exactly what to do with it are those the new t-shirts keep Township boring yeah that's right we should that's right we could maybe raise some Revenue we probably aren't allowed to do that it's not too late for Township days we can get those t-shirts do it but no all keeping aside though there is you know just some legislative word changes and some statutes that would be beneficial to us um well we've been trying to get the the term Urban Township change so that then that that encompasses anything over 10,000 people then maybe that would make the wording easier we're not sure right well the definition of urban Township is just fine as it stands it's pretty clear just need to get in inserted in spots yeah exactly wherever it says you know municipalities include and you know terms should be cities and urban townships over a population of you you live in yeah the only ones the only actual urban townships that we can calculate Whitebeard Township Eureka no Eureka actually to city or Savage no Eureka actually is um because of their population they don't meet the definition of an urban Township by you know I mean they're they're they just don't meet it they're very close but they don't now Baytown Township is one that would probably meet it that's the only one people live in Baytown excuse me how Baytown Township how many what's the population I'll tell you what not as much as us we are the attorneys for Baytown Township by the way so I'll find out for you and let you know yeah as far as I can tell from it is we are heads and shoulders above everyone else as far as population goes with townships and so when I say that people always you know I'm in local state gov committee and I bring it up constantly um I'm sure people are actually tired of me talking about Whitebeard Township but I would say that like when you think of it that way most of the townships that my colleagues represent are you know 2300 500 600 so when you look at the list of townships and ours is like you know bigger than um size as Heights right so so the the best statistic that comes out of Le of Minnesota cities is that um Whitebeard Township has a higher population than 90% of the cities in the state MH so yeah and the easy answer from of some people's position is well they should become a city mhm not as easy yeah I me we could actually we they'd have but they'd no we can't because the definition of a city requires contiguous territory we're all over the place you know that yeah and so I can see you know that yeah so that's you're right that is the very first thing people will say what that's so dumb why they just become a city I said they can't incorporate because they're not contiguous so that's easy other thing to show people is the cities can in the if they have a new business comes in wants to have liquor license mhm cities can approve those yeah we have to go to the county who routinely say why are you coming to us because the statute I believe says we have to have Ramsey County approval that's right and and it's a simple thing at least it appears simple nothing is simple in government I understand that but with a little effort I think they could tweak languages if they want yeah do you have the capacity or the time to be able to put together a list of like the biggest headaches that you have that might be policy fixes that we could put together for Whitebear Township cbts or CBDs or whatever they're called so yeah I I did send oh you did okay to Nick your assistant right um I have a new assistant now so I don't know oh Nick's not there anymore oh he still the Senate but he he moved to agriculture so back so back in the fall here and I had a discussion about what were some of the language changes we'd like to talk about I I didn't men men anything about liquor stores or anything but I did he did know about um cannabis what's that cannabis no um the franchise fee he knew about the franchise fee that we had requested that but the other ones they yeah actually you've been pretty good about when you Define municipalities including townships yeah okay so that you know but there's still some statutes out there that have to be stream out but not many franchise fees and liquor licenses are probably the biggest sure at least they come to mind I can't think of anything else those are the big ones oh there was one other one we didn't qualify for bonding rates that a municipality would qualify for in this last round of bonds that we issued for um road projects okay PK talked about that at least a dozen times I didn't know that y okay okay get going to send me this list sure yeah yep yeah because what I'm thinking is that could put together just a sort of a like mini Whitebear Township Omnibus policy change bill that we kind of go through and again like I sit on local state gov I can explain you know this will not be uh I don't know that it would even go to any other if we're talking about bonding then maybe I I don't know um the other only other thing I could see is that it would have to go through tax committee but but really just some some sort of a bill that addresses the inconsistencies with the township versus the mun municip municipalities um and uh and we'll go from there but let me know what they are I mean you guys know I don't always it's not obvious to me sometimes so so I the um thing with some of these other these other language changes that are different is that Urban Township is excluded um from statute on those types of the the interest rate one in particular comes to mind because Tom showed me the statute and we're not in there MH as being allowed to take advantage of this um but the other so when we were approaching legislature over the last you know 5 10 15 years about LGA um we were specifically in there saying with the exception of urban townships townships whatever it was right and these other things don't take a bite into anybody else's Revenue yeah um the LG a one was fought and the language has remained in place as excluding Urban townships but I get that I understand where the resistance was I think it is good that we're talking about this stuff because LGA is not going to change probably and and you guys I'm sure have you were alloted spent yeah I mean $3 I uh yeah that's I wish they just keep it that's what I to buy a latte for $3 what that supposed to do for them but whatever um no but I agree so it's good to be thinking about other places where we can bring in income because I don't see LG and we fought that in like session you know first session when uh they were re re tooling that but didn't go in my District's favor so yeah we uh the 7 million that was granted to us uh so graciously by the legislature was pretty much equivalent to just over 10 years of LGA anyway as what we had formulated or calculated I guess sure so got the job done and was all going to go to road projects anyway cuz that's what our biggest expenditure is for the next decade right so it worked out fine everybody can relax we're not going to raid their money now yeah you're you're good for now when you when you get our list and and one way good way I think that legislators could understand this is that the language in a lot of these statues were put in 40 plus some of those are very old and the townships were all considered rural but as the metropolitan area duth Morehead Rochester as they've expanded townships have been brought more into the I'll call a metropolitan life and so their needs have changed for a lot of reasons right along with the cities they just the language just hasn't caught up right and so it's a good opportunity to clean up some of it I think too and what I discovered first session especially with the 7 million was that um I did not realize or at least I underestimated the um animosity between White Bear Township and the township Association and so whenever anything special is sort of done for my Township that has seen as sort of a like shots fired um so I would say we are probably doing our best going forward if we keep using the term Urban Township and if we keep specifying it to things that are very much a White Bear Township exclusive need not to I mean I only care about Whitebear Township when I'm at the Senate right because that's who I represent but I do want to keep you know good relationships with people who are also in other parts of the state who who are like why are they getting special treatment and why are you know why are you taking away from Township funding because Whitebear Township is so big or whatever um and then of course it's the constant reminder to people that we are right in the middle of you know what what are these technically tier 2 suburbs right and so we get so much traffic so much population much more than the townships have and I think a big thing too is we fall under the Met council's thumb and their umbrella so we get a lot of unfunded mandates that the cities are compensated for and we're not right I and and I personally have 30 plus years probably for close to 40 Years of time with the Minnesota Association of townships way back in the rural in the rural days and um and it's changed but we you know we without going into tons of details we had the management people come and talk to us and we told them what our needs were and it didn't really go anywhere yeah and so we had to reach out on our own right one other point the conversion from a Township to a city is not cheap uh Scandia and Credit River I think Scandia budgeted about $100,000 to do it and for a Township that's a lot of money are you worried about the city's annexing well that's another issue yeah I mean we're not because I don't think that's going to happen anymore but yeah annexation is another issue um it's more of a problem I would say for um smaller ones for the Dakota County and Scott County y well they can't they can't justify an annexation because they can't offer anything to a Township resident that they don't already have sure it's not like you're taking a big block property with no service so chance of them even doing it that's a very good point because the statute's clear if you already have sewer and water service you're really not eligible for annexation that's the whole basis for annexation doesn't the law say something about if 40 people step forward or that yeah and then there's a 40 acre rule but the 4 but that also kicks in only if there's well the the 40 people yeah that that can happen but but but I I do maintain though that if if townships acted collectively recognizing the sprawl of of the major metropolitan areas they could they could address some of these things right up front and and for the benefit of all because townships are not all just 300 people anymore there's all around every St Cloud Morehead the Luth they're all growing and with remote learner and remote workers I should say they can access their work from anywhere and so the living in the rural is important but they want the services and so we just got to figure the mechanism to get them such as the broadband that's now going around the state very good for for Rural Minnesota yeah um um so it's a we're we're heading in the right direction I'm also on that committee too and it is striking how much of our state was not covered by Broadband yes I have family that lives up by uh at the cast Lake Bea area and when they went to when Co times came and they were doing remote learning they had no opportunity for remote learning they had to they had to go on a school bus and get outside and where they could get internet access mean they didn't have dial up no they had nothing I mean it's we we are spoiled in where we have it and there's a lot that needs to get taken care of so kudos for the that also absolutely so what what else is happening on your end outside Township news yeah well you know it's we're in the interim now so session's done and we're gearing up for the next budget season so I don't know what it looks like I don't know what the forecast is going to be um you know I'm going to try to work on some more Public Safety funding I don't know what that'll look like but I know that that was something that people were hoping would it was one time but yep you know we'll ask again every bid helps yeah I you again just to go back to LGA and you know I represent nine cities um eight cities in a Township and uh I think that it was it was helpful in ways in that if the money sort of earmarked for that knowing that that's such a major expense and your budget is a little fungible and you can move this over and now you can focus on the other things that you couldn't before because your Public Safety budget was so big I know you guys contract with Ramsey County uh sheriff's department and then white bear fire right yep right so those are expenses that you have and if the money is there now you can um move things around um so trying to work on that um trying to work on um education funding long-term facility funding for schools um working on uh a lot of Public Safety things as well but um we'll see I don't know this is the time of year where you're sort of looking for you know I go to every one of my cities I go to all my school boards and I do a bunch of door knocking U during the week and um it's just trying to hear what people are saying and see if there's a bill that can help um you know I always remind people that not every problem has a legislative solution so it's not that I can write a bill for every family problem or uh challenge that they're facing but um I don't know unless I talk to them so sometimes I can help and sometimes I can't but I can at least like be somebody who's paying attention so that's the goal yeah so if you do have ideas again the list is a great way to start and I apologize if you had sent that before maybe it got missed when my I my assistance changed but um it's okay I'm happy to send it again I think those are things that we could work on and yeah and I have access to do that a huge list it really is and and they're pretty inoc changes to so yeah I'm sure you know that's the famous last words of any uh legislator senator of the house is this is an easy Bill W be controversial and then they come out of the woodwork so yeah but keep in mind uh or keep me in mind if you're thinking about something that you're facing and think about like is there something that could change in statute that might solve this problem the answer is sometimes no but sometimes it's yes so just let me know okay yeah I I just yeah before you guys might have something to say um the the the funding of of $7 million to the township to help us do our road projects and infrastructure work over the next 10 years um for the past three years when we've had assessment hearings for these projects we've had you know 20 24 people that will show up and for the first 15 to 20 minutes they're all pretty riled up um because they're getting the the board is in charge of you know passing or not passing at highest possible assessment fee right and it's amazing to me how much the temperature goes down when the board mentions to our residents that as opposed to years past in the township where we were required that all projects were 100% funded by residents through assessments yeah we're sharing it you know almost 50/50 and the temperature go down goes way down and I'm excited exed to see what the temperature does when we tell them that we're splitting at 5050 and we're going to be spreading some funds across the general Levy to alleviate everybody's tax Bur please invite me to that meeting I I will I will that is the first time I met all of you as I went to one of those meetings and I think I don't know if any of you remember it or not but after the meeting I introduced myself but I remember sitting here I remember standing in the back and you go you get no funding no funding no and then the LGA I think it was $12 or something they dropped it it used to be it's 12 it was 17 yeah you'll feel it you'll feel it just go down the minute that comes across everybody i' love to just sit in the corner and watch everybody just yeah just relax oh it's just that huh okay right Tom you have any questions your comments I don't no appreciate all your help appreciate you thank you no I've said my pieace thanks thanks for stopping by and giving us an update yeah appreciate yeah thanks so much this much this year but it's always good to hear ideas too so it's good to see all of you bet thank youor all right moving on we just need a motion to receive agenda materials and supplements so moved second all in favor say I I oppos all right then I need a motion to adjourn at 7:29 so move second all fa say I I excellent work gentlemen we have to take it down we do