Approved Annual Meeting Minutes 3.10.15
The Annual Meeting in the Town of Farming, County of Stearns, State of Minnesota was held in the Farming Community Center on the 10th day of March 2015. It was called to order by Clerk Judy Bruemmer at 8:30 pm. The flag pledge was said.
Judy Bruemmer asked for nominations from the floor for moderator. Todd Barrow made a motion to nominate Dewey Klaphake, Dale Lange seconded. All in favor, motion carried. Jack Wimmer made a motion to close nominations, Ken Hamann seconded. All in favor, motion carried. Dewey Klaphake accepted the nomination and was declared the moderator.
The minutes of the 2014 Annual Meeting were read by Clerk Judy Bruemmer. Lisa Klaphake made a motion to accept the minutes as read, Patti Zimmerman seconded. All in favor, motion carried.
The Treasurer’s Report was reviewed. Discussion was held. Paul Killmer made a motion to accept the report as printed, Ken Hamann seconded. All in favor, motion carried.
Ken Hamann made a motion to continue with Trappers Pub and Grub, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Farming Community Center and the Township website as posting places, Paul Killmer seconded. All in favor, motion carried.
Dale Lange made a motion to have the Albany Enterprise as the official Township newspaper for publishing legal notices, Ken Hamann seconded. All in favor, motion carried.
Paul Killmer made a motion to have the Farming Community Center as the official polling place for the Annual Election and for the polling place to be open from 2 pm to 8 pm, Todd Barrow seconded. All in favor, motion carried.
Dean Rausch made a motion to have the Farming Community Center as the official Annual Town Meeting place with the meeting to start at 8:30 pm on March 8, 2016, Brian Brix seconded. All in favor, motion carried.
Dale Lange made a motion for the monthly board meetings to be held on the first Tuesday of the month at 8:00 pm in the Farming Township Board Room, Lisa Klaphake seconded. All in favor, motion carried.
Ken Hamann made a motion to allow the Township to hire someone to mow the road ditches, Duane Janssen seconded. All in favor, motion carried.
The results of the Annual Election Canvass were reported as follows: For Supervisor – Vernon Willenbring received 32 voted, Norb Jost received one write-in vote. Vernon Willenbring was declared the winner of the Supervisor position. For Treasurer – Duane Janssen received 33 votes, there were no write-in votes. Duane Janssen was declared the winner of the Treasurer position. A total of 33 ballots were cast in the Annual Election.
Patti Zimmerman made a motion to destroy the old Annual Election ballots from 2013, Charles Reichert seconded. All in favor, motion carried.
A report was given by the Township Board on the proposed levy for 2016. Discussion was held. Supervisor Neil Franz gave a report on the possible transfer of County Roads 117 and 161 to the Township. Paul Killmer made a motion to accept the levy of $208,500 for the year 2016, Joe Thelen seconded. All in favor, motion carried.
The next item on the agenda was the tarring levy. An extended discussion was held by Township residents on the amount of the levy, which roads to tar, whether to tar, residents input, etc. Dean Rausch made a motion to have a special meeting to discuss the order of roads to be tarred and the possibility of bonding for tarring roads, Todd Barrow seconded. All in favor, motion carried. Further discussion was held on forming a committee to research the information to be presented at the meeting. The Township residents appointed Fred Holthaus as head of the committee and the person to contact if you wanted to be a member of the committee. Fred Holthaus requested that one of the Supervisors be a member of the committee. Neil Franz agreed to be on the committee. It was decided to present the information at the June monthly meeting rather than have a special meeting. Dean Rausch then made a motion to retract his motion for a special meeting, Lou Jost seconded. All in favor, motion carried.
Joe Thelen made a motion to levy $100,000 for the tarring fund with the understanding that the Board of Supervisors would not contract for any additional tarring until the committee had presented their recommendations, Paul Killmer seconded. Fred Holthaus requested a secret ballot. There were 31 voters present of the original 39 residents present. The vote was 16 for the levy, 15 against. The levy was passed.
Brian Brix made a motion to continue dustcoating roads with the Board deciding which roads to dustcoat and residents wanting additional roads dustcoated paying half of the cost of the dustcoating, Lisa Klaphake seconded. All in favor, motion carried.
New Business: Norb Jost presented a petition with 28 signatures regarding a request to limit parking along Clear Lake Road. Discussion was held. Supervisors stated that more No Parking signs will be put up but they will have to review the petition at the next monthly meeting and see what can be done.
At 10:55 pm, Lisa Klaphake made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Brian Brix seconded. All in favor, motion carried.
Cookies, provided by the Stearns Bank, and milk were served following the meeting.
Minutes taken by Judy Bruemmer, Clerk