Linwood Township Town Board Meeting

All right. Um We'll call the Eaton Board meeting of uh Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 to order at 6:35. And Would everyone please rise for the pledge, please? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Julie, could you do roll call, please? Yes. Supervisor Lametti? Here. Supervisor Cole? Here. Supervisor Olsen? Here. Supervisor Henrickson? Here. Supervisor Ludtke? Here. And for the

Record, Alicia Morris, Treasurer, and Mark Allseits, lawyer. Thank you for that. All right. Um Public forum. Is anyone here for public forum? Seeing none, we will close the public forum section of the meeting. And uh let's see and let's just do a quick uh approval of the agenda. Is there any changes or additions to this agenda? I'll remove nine 91. All right. We're going to request to remove 91. Um I would also remove 93. That one will come back at the next meeting. That's regarding the handbook.

Um I would like to add in under uh old business a 94. Um which will be the Anoka County election meeting. I'll explain more when we get to that. Uh I'd also like to add one more which would be 814 under new business. And I'd like to just have a brief discussion about the clerk's position. Any other changes, suggestions? All right, is there a motion to approve the amended agenda? Motion to approve the agenda. Do you hear a second? Second. All right, motion has been made and seconded uh Sam and Dan. Um any other comments, suggestions? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries 5-0. All right, and we actually have a very special opportunity tonight. We have a special guest here. And so I think uh Supervisor Ludtke has uh a little presentation to do in recognition. So Supervisor Ludtke. Thank you, Chair Olson. Um yeah, this one in terms of what we get to do here, this one's one of the more exciting ones.

Um came through the uh Senior Community Center um coordinator Raymond had uh made mention that we have a special birthday party happening Thursday and then when inquiring about that she said it was Nancy's birthday and for those of you that know Nancy is an active participant in the center. Up at exercise multiple times a week and everything volunteer wise after she moved back here to be close to family. So what we've got here is a proclamation because what is impressive about her activities and participation is Nancy is turning 100 years old on Thursday. So it's very very impressive and an inspiration to all to see how active she is and uh and uh all the all the seniors light up around around her. She is got no sign of stopping. So this Thursday there's there's a party for her. As part of that the town is going to um proclaim Thursday, May 14th, 2026 as Nancy Steinmetz Day in the town of Linwood. So Nancy you get to make all the rules you want for Linwood that day. You're in charge. So with that we have a proclamation here for you that we get up here and and get you. Right.

Both of the people I do and all the things you do it so

Thank you, Nancy. Yeah. Thank you for the supervisory lucky. That was pretty awesome. Yep. [clears throat] Yes, congratulations. Yeah, that's That's amazing. All right. Move on to the consent agenda. Any changes, thoughts, Just as an item of note, the the printed one has the proclamation in it, so there is official action on it. What's on the screen? Okay.

Item 7, 7.9 was the additional one that was put on there, then. Perfect. All right. I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Is there a second? Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Any other discussion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Any abstentions? One abstention. Okay, so it passes four to zero with one abstention. Uh new business, parks committee, Doug. Come on up if you would like. A couple items of business here tonight. Hi, Beth Forbord, 237th Avenue Northeast.

Um I am the chairperson of the parks committee, and uh first would like to recognize um a member's resignation. Uh Tony Reimann was our current secretary, and he would had been a member of the committee for many years, and we will miss him, but wanted to recognize his uh dedication and service. And then the park or the committee should have in their packets two letters of interest from two individuals, Austin Santerre and Brian McCalla, who would like to join the parks committee, and uh our committee would ask the board to approve those uh letters of interest and let them join our committee. I'll make a motion to approve and appoint Austin Santerre and Brian McCalla to the Parks Committee. Second. Okay, motion has been made and seconded. Any other discussion? Just another big thank you to Tony for [clears throat] the work he's done. All right, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye.

Opposed? Motion carries 5-0. And we don't have to motion about accepting resignation cuz we have that wording now. Um we still want to uh formalize it in the documents. Okay, then I'll motion [clears throat] to accept the resignation of Tony Raymond effective today. All right, motion has been made and seconded with Sam and Andy. Um any other discussion? Just to echo that thank Big thank you to all Yeah, thanks Tony. Tony, you did a lot for the minutes and and tracking the uh the work in progress of and the needs of the park, so thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, I was surprised and saddened when I seen the notice. That's both him and his wife now in like less than a year. I don't think that should be allowed. No, both of them did a really good job for us, very dedicated. All right, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries 5-0.

Again, thank you, Tony. All right, any other uh discussion? Okay, good good deal. Thank you, Dad. Appreciate it. All right, um the one that I put in clerk's position, so typically I was looking through a lot of our past documentation um and how we've handled um vacant positions and um board positions and stuff. Typically we don't leave one sitting um in an interim that is very long. So, um I think just from a security standpoint for the township, I think we should figure out what direction we're going with our clerk's position and uh and get that solidified. Um we've been too many times in the last few years left without a clerk and I just I'm a little uncomfortable about that. So we don't normally leave them open. We at least go through the process. Um so I think the board should probably consider um directing staff to create the job posting for it. Um the solidify I know Mark had done a lot of work on the job description.

So I'll bring that back for the board um any amendments to it or whatever get that approved um and get a process going. And I would also suggest that when if we direct staff to do this we have it posted as either full-time or part-time cuz there's as as we're finding is that there's a lot of people that are that would prefer to work part-time as a clerk rather than full-time and this way we're not restricting any applicants. Um so that's what I would recommend moving forward. So so I'm going to make a motion uh to for the board to direct staff to move forward on creating said document documentation uh to move forward with the application process posting application process for the clerk's position. Second. All right, motion's been made and seconded. Any other discussion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries and so you can move forward with trying to get the documentation if you it should be a we've gone through this process a couple of times in the last few years so you shouldn't have too much difficulty finding the the postings and stuff that we've used in the past.

So All right, with that we'll move on. um Um Something I want to do under new business real quick, I'm going to throw this in even though we don't normally do this is I just wanted to make a public announcement. A lot of people watch these videos so hopefully there's a lot of people that hear this. Um Anoka County is having a tire free tire drop-off event in Andover. Um and it's scheduled for tomorrow the 13th, May 13th in Andover. So I think Lisa, didn't you say you put it out on the social media? Yeah. So it's posted out on social media for anybody that's interested. Um it's costing the township money to take in tires right now so anybody that can take advantage of the free tire drop-off, I would strongly encourage it. So phone number on there if they can't make it to go to some other places. Okay, and this is also yeah, you posted this also the whole thing.

Okay. So it's out on the Linwood Township neighborhood page. Anybody that's looking for the posting. in case no one Um yeah, I can do that. Um let's see, it says residents who are having difficulty with the booking software should call the main office at 651 All right, awesome. Yeah, and thanks for uh getting that out to us. The 10 tire limit though.

Oh yes, thank you. 10 tire limit. Thank you, Supervisor Lucke. So don't go up to 12. All right. Uh old business. Um let's see, the Rum River proposal. And who would like to speak to that? Anybody? So they were just hoping that the board would take action on the proposal that they presented to you at the last workshop. Okay. Everybody remember that? Any uh Do we have to wait for planning and zoning for the final There's a couple So, if I'm understanding it cuz there's a couple in here. The fee ordinance one, that's advised that we can't act on that one as much as going to the contract ones as far as additional services. So, I'm trying to navigate through here cuz Correct, it's actually multiple different items. Yes. [snorts] So, yes. So, right now So, for sure, I guess for simplicity, I'll break it off based on the Here we go. Page 28 has got the attachment. So, then the first one is

The SSTS program, the subsurface sewage treatment system program administration. And I would make a motion that we engage with Rum River on having them implement and administer our subsurface sewage treatment system program. All right, there's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? I just want to So, when residents get this notice, I think they think that they automatically have to have their septic pumped. It is not that case. It may be just to come out to inspect their septic system to make sure that it's working correctly. Yeah, I'm glad you added that. Yeah, and that'll be part of the education that they put forth to with the handouts they talked about. So, they'll be drafting some stuff along that to make uh the general public aware. Brian Lingquist, 232nd Avenue. I believe you just answered my main question. It's okay. So, is this going to be well defined by this group so the community understands exactly what the commitments are and the timing between inspections and is all that going to be aligned because there's been a lot of confusion, honestly, about that and I myself didn't find out I was I guess I knew I was past due.

However, I didn't realize I was getting fined until last year and subsequently had the inspection done, which is painless and not that expensive while the pump out was being done. So, I just want to make sure we're going to have all the information that's clear, easy to understand, as well defined timelines, right? That's the purpose of this. Yep. That's what they said. That's the benefit for us is they're taking all of that over communications, the whole thing. And that'll be EBD and all that's distributed?

Yeah, this this is they do the presentation and stuff and the pricing and then uh and then we take the action and then they'll go forward [clears throat] with setting everything up and get the communications out. So, the communications are going to be set up so it's from me to all members of the community, seniors, younger people, whether it's through emails or how are mailings? That's up to Rum River how they do their communications. I'm sure they'll probably post something here. Yeah. Yeah, if you go on their website, they got handouts how to build your deck railings and everything. They have a sewer They have a sewer one. Yep. Probably more than you've had before. Yep. By far. Probably more than you want. All right, thank you. All right, any other discussion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. I I opposed. Okay. Motion carries 4 to 1. All right, next one Andy. So it's right here. Sorry. Well, the professional service agreement that we went That one's not

Active today. I guess what was the action for today that was needed? Um so they wanted the SSTS one and also um wanted to talk about the the timeline for the public hearing. The action action on the board to move forward with that. Yeah, just the approval on the public public hearing. Yeah. Yeah. Are the fee changes are the fee schedule changes and some of the ordinance changes that they have in their proposal as well. I guess procedural-wise and so we need to make a motion to have the public hearing or does the public hearing happen out of the ordinance for having everything at once? But since the board is all convened here today, I don't think it hurts to do a motion just setting a public hearing. We're directing staff to find a date that works for public hearing. However, you want to frame it. Generally speaking though, you know, you wouldn't need a motion of the board to set a public hearing. You could just have staff do that by operation. Yeah, so based on that, we'll motion to have the public hearing done June 9th for ordinance amendments related to zoning and fee schedule. Whatever else staff determines. Second. Yeah, motion's been made and seconded. Yep, Brian, come on up. Yep.

Uh it's not the it's not the sewage, no. Now we're on to just calling a public hearing. I'm I'm still on getting one more point out. So when they do do this, are we going to have a public hearing to review the processes, the fees, fee structure, and and so on? And what the what the requirements are as far as who can ins- and do these inspections? Or is going to be like the board is going to select only one or two or three? That's what I'm most concerned about. So is if you're talking about sewage, um we're not in a position to where we can even recommend a sewage company to use. That's [snorts] kind of off off our table. So it's whoever anybody wants to use. as they're qualified. Yeah, right. As long as they're licensed. That's what it would be. You can use anyone you want. Yep. I just And as far as a public hearing, that's because anytime that we go through and there's a possibility of changing any of our fees, you have to have a public hearing before we can move forward with that.

So that's what the June 9th date is for. That's unrelated to that particular subject. Okay, thank you. Right, yeah. All right. All right, any other discussion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries 5-0, so I think you can let them know we are set for June 9th. All right. I didn't see anything else in there. In there? I don't think we can take an action on anything other than everything else.

Councilman, if I could just chime in quickly. As I'm scrolling through this, it's what piqued my interest with Supervisor Ledkey of mentioned the amendment to the fee schedule and then some other ordinance revisions. It looks like possibly there's revisions with respect to rental housing property maintenance code. I just want to make sure that the notice covers all of that that's drafted by Rum River that you're going to post for the for the hearing. And it seems to me just on a quick look of it that that the notice is limited to town code chapter 2 article 6 division 2 section 2-249 and that seems to just be limited to the fees. So, I would just check with Rum River to make sure that every ordinance that they want to put their hands on gets noticed cuz otherwise it's not fair game for the meeting. Correct. And I I was going to follow up with staff on this cuz I assumed you made the posting or they They sent that.

They sent that, but we gave them the number. Yeah. So, they just face it up. Okay. So, yeah, to me this my direction was going to be that with this is not our official posting yet because we do have our zoning ordinance talk that we have to capture as far as planning commission. So, it'll be summarized. So, if there is something to change, we'll have all that listed. Yeah, if it doesn't get run by me, just make an exhaustive and detailed list of what is to be discussed to make sure you all are able to discuss everything at that public hearing. And I really appreciate you saying that. Um, who's got the responsibility to make sure that the posting is right? Okay.

Thank you, Julie. [clears throat] I'll run it by Mark. Okay. And then the the same runs to the summary for publication that follows, right? Just make sure that the summary for publication properly reflects summaries of every ordinance that has been amended. Um, and that's what needs to get out into the paper. Perfect. Thank you. Okay. So, Rum River 92 is done. Um, I added a 94, which is uh, I explained it as an Anoka election meeting. Um, so as the board directed, uh, Mark, he's worked with, um, Anoka County. He was trying to get a hold of Anoka County for a while before our last board meeting and hadn't heard back yet. Um, since then, he has heard back from Anoka County. Um, they have offered that if we want to continue to talk about election integrity, um, we had that uh, resolution. We actually had a couple resolutions we looked at, but um, the one that Mark had uh, provided on my direction at the last meeting, um, apparently, there's some concern or question from A- Z- it.

So, in that, um, Brian Johnson from Anoka County said that he could have somebody from Anoka, the election group, come here for a meeting. So, that if we've got questions about it, we can ask right to the right people. So, I would suggest that we take this, uh, opportunity and at a workshop, um, get, uh, get a representative here from Anoka. I know I still have a lot of questions about it. Um and it would be great to be able to have that conversation with them. And Cherelson, just as a point of clarification, um my intent has been to get in contact with the Secretary of State's office. I actually didn't reach out to Anoka County. Anoka County, Brad Johnson, the County Attorney, actually reached out to my office. Um called because he's been kind of staying in touch with what's happening uh across the county and has been watching videos with respect to here.

Um he expressed that he sided more uh in line with my interpretation of how I'm reading statute. Um but said that he is more than welcome to have a representative come and answer any questions that you all have. He highlighted some also just practical concerns with respect to switching back to paper poll books um that, you know, we don't need to delve into tonight cuz I think that if uh Anoka County comes, that conversation can be had with them directly instead of playing with, you know, passing it through with me as the middleman. Um but I do think it's a great opportunity. I I think it's great to have ASIT come and share their perspective, Anoka County share their perspective, me share their my perspective, uh and have the town board make a decision informed by all parties around them. So, I can also further address, I know there was some additional um correspondence from ASIT uh with respect to the resolution that I previously drafted.

If the board would like me to talk about that at any point in time, I'm happy to as well. Um I just have not been drafting at will as much as I want to respond cuz I could go on for days and days, but I want to be conscious of the time uh the town's resources. So, if there's additional questions with respect to that, I'm I'm happy to talk about that. Thank you. Uh my thought is cuz this could be rather lengthy. Um so, I don't think doing it before our next board meeting is probably the right option, but But I'm thinking that first Tuesday um in June. That's our longer one. That would also give about 3 weeks for everybody to schedule for it. What do you guys think? Do you want to have the meeting?

Um um we just committed parks or a day. How long would parks be? Yeah, that could be a long one. Yeah. Can you do it before a meeting? Cuz that would probably be better for the parks. better to make it on a different night. Maybe the next meeting parks could do it if it's is Do you want to call it as a special meeting for the election stuff? That way we don't mess up our agenda for that first Tuesday. If so, we could do that. I mean I mean cuz we don't even know if if everybody can make that date anyway. No one might not even be available for that. might be special meeting might be better. I reach out to them and But you'd have to add another meeting in, but I'm down for whatever, but I'd like to keep that workshop parks. Okay. Yeah, I agree. I'm not I I'm really cautious and curious about the cost of all this.

Those are we're trying to go through stuff. I just can run on and run on and run on and then the town one is paying for all this whether it one way or not it's going. We don't have to see an end in sight. And we don't have a budget. With respect to Supervisor Ledkey's comment as well, I just like the board to consider whether you would want me present at that meeting or not. Obviously, I know that incurs additional cost for you all, but I'll leave that up to the board.

It's either that or the other option would be in 2 weeks we could also make sure that we have a lighter agenda for the the board meeting and schedule meeting afterwards. That way we're not scheduling another meeting. Staff is already here. Mark's already here. It's just that it would be more like a 7:00 or 7:15 start for that meeting. Would that make more sense to everybody? Now we're being a little bit more cognizant of expenses, but yet we can get this done. But I But I agree with the supervisor. Look, you got to call it at some point, but I think that uh since Seminole County is offering to have somebody here, um might be a good opportunity to um to get some questions answered. So, we do it at the workshop next meeting. And I'm just trying to be cognizant of staff and everything cuz if we're doing special meeting notices and postings, and then the county can't come, they're taking stuff.

You put it on the workshop for your 2 weeks. Then it's amendable, and he's here anyways, and we can make it happen. Yep. Yep. We'll uh we'll do the our workshop at the beginning, recess it, have the meeting, have the board meeting, and then re um reconvene uh right after that, and then we can have that discussion with them. If everybody's okay with that. Works for me. All right. And then uh So, the workshop would All beforehand, where did Would that be voting integrity stuff or just after?

Uh most likely just after. Okay. Yep. While everybody's in attendance. And uh Alicia and Julie, I think both of you guys got the copy that Mark had sent out with the contacts. Okay. And then uh would either one of you be willing to contact them and see if they're available to meet? Yeah, so Alicia and I are going to uh clerk's meeting and election meeting tomorrow, and um Tom will be there. So, we will We'll talk with him, too, during our one of our breaks. Oh, that's awesome. We've been in communication and email um and I know he had mentioned that that supervisor Luckey had been had sent an email to him too and he had sent our information to somebody who may be interested in helping with the elections but we have not heard anything yet from that. He just made the introduction and left it to Yeah. that individual. Okay. Joe. Okay. Um yeah, if you guys can look into that that would be amazing if we can get that scheduled.

Great. Okay. That's 94. Um upcoming meetings. Um so we got the town board workshop on May 26th at 5:30. Parks is May 18th at 6:00. Uh planning and zoning is scheduled for May 19th at 6:00 p.m. I think that's next Tuesday. Um cemetery committee committee meeting has been cancelled for May. And our next regular town board meeting is scheduled for May 26th at 6:30. Is there any other meetings or anything of special interest that I missed? The only thing that I would say Chair Olsen is um you and I were corresponding previously uh with respect to the employee handbook and personnel policy. Um one thing I may just I don't need to write a memo since we're all here. I can kind of just tell you all that I've done some updates based upon the questions and revisions that the board as a whole has had. I think at this point my recollection is I CC'd Chair Olsen and staff on it.

If staff could just individually send that to the supervisors, the content that I had sent to Chair Olsen. Um it has two documents attached to it. One is just taking the questions that were in the email that Chair Olsen sent to me and then writing answers underneath them. Uh and then the second is uh a an updated draft from the draft that the board had worked on uh integrating some of the changes that I made based upon the proposal proposed updates that that the board had asked for. Perfect. All right, thank you, Mark. Right. Staff, you guys come forward that one of you. And then that could be included in the meeting packet for next meeting. Thank you. All right, thanks. Anything else to come before the board? See none. Motion to adjourn. Second. All right, motion's been made and seconded.

Any other discussion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries 5-0 and we are adjourned at 7:10. Thank you, everybody, and good night.