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as possible, and to wear your hearing aid, all rights of the clerk taking minutes and the resolution of April 3 be rescinded, and Paul be authorized to take minutes all over again, and Stefanie is hereby fired.”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

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, Stan and Tracy Riley, Angie Anderson, Lori Shute, and Jim Bredesen.

Approve Ground Rules: Glen read the 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 speaker holds the floor; Maintain respect and decorum.

Clerk’s Record of May 1 Board Meeting: Glen asked Paul to read his record of the May 1 Board Meeting. All Supervisors were given copy of the Clerk’s record, with the same challenge issued for the March 6 meeting: “I challenge Glen or Alden to show me one thing in my record that is not accurate and objective and has bias or my own interpretation. Glen said the printed record is different from the record posted on the township website. Paul said the record as he read it is exactly the one on the website, but he added some information in brackets in the Supervisor’s copies for information, but that is not part of the official record. Issue tabled again.

Stefanie Record: Glen asked Stefanie to read her version of the May 1 meeting. Glen moved to approve; Alden seconded, Mike abstained. Glen refused to bring the Clerk’s record up for a vote. Glen and Alden did not show one thing in the Clerk’s record that is not accurate and objective or has bias or his own interpretation, but they still refused to vote. The board in May had said that they would table the March 6 record issue until they can review the record more thoroughly, but again, they did not point out any inaccuracies or bias. Paul said that the Clerk’s record book is the official record book that will go into the safe with 100 years of prior clerk’s records, and a future board that is more honest will have the opportunity to approve all of his records that this board refuses to approve. He said it is not honest for the board to neither correct or approve the Clerk’s records, based only on personal animosity and personal grievances.

On April 3, Glen and Alden passed a resolution written by Stefanie which said, “WHEREAS, the town of Wilma has lost all confidence in the credibility of the current Clerk to responsible [sic] record the minutes of the meeting.” Paul said that this is simply a lie. This was less than a month after the voters of Wilma Township came out in record numbers to affirm their confidence in Paul Raymond as Clerk to take responsible records of meetings and discharge all other duties of the clerk, 32 votes to 11 for Stefanie.

Road Report: Road Inspection report from May 20 was given to the board to review, but it was not read or voted on. The report is on the wilmatownship.com website. Glen said that decisions on the roads as discussed at the road inspection can be made by the road manager.

Alden gave his report for June. He graded the roads until it got too wet to grade. Beavers plugged a culvert at the Ponds on Tamarack Pine Drive. Jim Bredesen removed two beavers and Alden cleared out the culvert and plans to put a mesh wire screen over the ends anchored with key posts.

Alden wants to stick with Hopkins for gravel, with Desanius for red rock gravel, and Summerland for pit run.

Escrow Fee: Mike moved to increase the escrow requirement to $1,000; Alden seconded. All aye. The Clerk will notify the county engineers and the DNR and change the posting.

Crooked Lake Road: The county wants to make a parking area at the lake access about one mile down so cars don’t need to park on the road. At the May 23 Zoning Board the Pine County Land Department explained their plans to create a public lake access point in Wilma Township.  Jason Palme attended. The Board wanted to ask the County to widen Crooked Lake Road at the culvert before the lake access because of a steep dropoff and narrow road. Per Mike, the County did not want to do this. Alden and Mike talked with Palme and they said all of the property owners and everyone except the county engineers opposed the parking lot. The project is on hold waiting for wetland reviews.

OLD BUSINESS: Plow display. Paul put lettering on the plow for the pancake breakfast, Est. 1907, WILMA TWP, DUXBURY. Patrice said she’d like the lettering to DUXBURY on top and WILMA TOWNSHIP, EST. 1907 below that. History of the Plow Display: Paul read the record from the September 6, 2023 Board Meeting: “Plow Display: Plows have been moved to the lawn before the display platform is built. Alden will place them on blocks, turn the angle plow to face the driveway, and then put down gravel inside a framework. The trees on road were trimmed. Patrice will paint ‘Town of Wilma’ on the angle plow. Mike moved that Paul get paint to put the base coat on the plow. It may need sanding for rust. Alden seconded, passed. Paul said tractor yellow with blue lettering would look good.” Alden insisted that he did not second the motion to buy paint for the plow but paint to stain the ramp.

At a later point in the same meeting this motion was made: “Town Hall Deck, Plow, and Pressure-wash Hall: Paul asked if we shouldn’t put stain and preservative on the town hall ramp; it’s been several years. Mike moved that Paul buy the supplies and stain it. He also moved that Paul pressure-wash the town hall for the spider webs and dirt. Alden seconded both; passed.”

At the October 4, 2023 board meeting: “Alden wanted the record corrected; he said he did not second a motion for Paul to paint the plow this fall; he thought we would do it next year. Paul read the record; it does not say that Alden seconded the motion to paint the plow: “Mike moved that Paul get paint to put the base coat on the plow. Alden seconded, passed. Paul said tractor yellow with blue lettering would look good.” Alden said he had said slate/silver gray would be a good color, like the county plow. No motion was made on the color, or for Paul to paint the plow once he bought the paint. Paul apologized and said he did not hear Alden say this, but no one objected when he suggested safety yellow with blue lettering. As ammended, Alden moved to accept the report; Glen seconded; passed.”

Paul read emails he sent to both Glen and Alden on 9/14/2023: “I bought the paint for the base coat (safety yellow) and for  lettering (harbor blue).  Is it ok with you to have DUXBURY VFD  on the left side and TOWN OF WILMA  on the right side?  We can’t wait for the Oct. meeting because we can’t paint when it gets much below 50 degrees, unless we get some warm October days. I already asked Mike and am asking Alden.  It’s OK with Mike.  I prepped the plows, pressure-washing all the lichens and loose rust and dirt off.  I may paint the base before Alden moves it.” Neither Glen nor Alden responded to his email, not then or ever, so he went ahead and painted the base coat safety yellow.

Patrice said at the annual town meeting in March, the people voted to have the plow painted gray. Paul said the only time anyone but the board is allowed to vote is for their levies; we allow voting on other issues at the annual meetings as a courtesy, but only the board has the authority to decide. Angie said she remembered us as voting to find out the original color and paint it that color. Paul said that the most important signs in our daily experience are road safety signs and no passing lines, always painted safety yellow. The original plow was painted safety yellow. Safety yellow draws and hold attention more than any other color and he gave the board examples. Paul said he does not care if they want to repaint it. He will remove the letters when they’re ready to paint. He did not charge for his time or for the letters. There was no motion either to buy paint or to hire someone to repaint the plow, so issue is tabled.

Duxbury VFD Pancake Breakfast: Paul said it was very successful and we fed almost the same number as in 2022. We got more contributions two years ago, but the total was 5.5 K before expenses.

NEW BUSINESS: wilmatownship.com website: Glen said he is getting weary of township business and wants to travel and enjoy his life, and will be ending his hosting of the website when the contract is up. He suggested that the town contract with townweb.com at a cost of $900 plus $500 per year and made a motion which was not seconded. Mike said Erv has said he would take over the website for much less. Alden said we should wait until we are closer to the deadline. Paul and Mike will talk with Erv. Glen said he will work with whoever we choose and will help transfer over all of the files on wilmatownshipl.com. Glen said it has been an honor to serve but it has become too frustrating and his dream of America is shattered. He said Jim Bredesen hurt his feelings. Jim demanded to know what he is talking about.

Stain and Preserve Township Picnic Tables. The town has two wooden picnic tables that are solid, but badly in need of staining and preserving. The consensus is that they are only used by the fire department, so the fire department should do this.

Treasurer’s Report and Claims: Total bills for June, $2,200.06. Mike moved to approve her report and transfer $2,200 from savings to checking. Alden seconded; all aye. Passed.

Alden moved to adjourn; Mike seconded. Chairman adjourned the meeting at 9:00.

Paul Raymond, Clerk