The fall Meeting of the Pine County Township Officers’ Association was held on Saturday, October 26, 2024, at the Hinckley Community Center, in Hinckley, MN. The meeting was called to order by Chair Katy Overtoom at 9:00am. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Chair Katie Overtoom. The invocation was provided by Katay Overtoom.
Roll Call was taken with more than 10 townships present, establishing a quorum.
Motion made, seconded to approve the minutes from the Spring Meeting Saturday March 30, 2024.
Katy Overtoom on Order: The usual order was changed today to ensure fairness, as some people always go first and leave early, while others consistently follow their opponents. To address this, the sequence was mixed up.
We had several speakers:
Chief Deputy Scott Grice: The Sheriff’s office is implementing license plate readers to address crime committed by out-of-town individuals. These cameras will only be accessed during criminal investigations. The system can aid in identifying vehicles from surveillance footage and alert officers when a suspect’s car passes by. The initial installation costs $3600 per camera, with a subsequent annual fee of $3000. Additionally, the Sheriff’s Office plans to partner with the HHS Department’s Pine County Mett program, providing resources for domestic violence and chemical dependency. QR codes on squad cars will link to this program.
Pine County Attorney Reese Frederickson: This year has been challenging yet successful. In May, after two weeks of trial preparation, Reese Frederickson, a 60-year veteran prosecutor handled a difficult double vehicular homicide case. A 19-year-old intoxicated female, who drove against advice, caused a crash at 113 mph, resulting in two deaths and severe injuries to a third passenger. She denied driving but was found guilty on all counts and sentenced recently.
Reese Frederickson addressed the challenges faced by their office in handling difficult cases, urging individuals to talk to their loved ones about the dangers of getting into vehicles with intoxicated drivers. They commend the efforts of law enforcement and emergency responders and highlight the successful prosecution of long-standing drug dealers in the county, resulting in average prison sentences of 10 years.
County Auditor Kelly Schroeder: The Auditors Office is currently focused on an upcoming election. Their office is preparing township polling places and managing absentee ballots, which are currently at levels similar to 2020. On a busy day, the office handles about 80 absentee ballots, but they processed 122 yesterday. There are extended hours for absentee voting, including weekends. On Tuesday, Kelly is conducting refresher training for election judges at the Courthouse to address questions from the primary election and review equipment setup Town elections are in March, and township clerks have been informed that the Auditors Office can handle absentee voting within the statute. Absentee voting must follow strict procedures, and a winter training will be held to review the process. Additionally, clerks can request our office’s assistance in managing absentee voting.
On October 7, 2024, an email was sent to township clerks providing a cannabis update. The county has established a retail ordinance focused on registration of retail businesses. A resolution was drafted for townships to delegate retail registration to the county, which would limit the number of retail businesses to three. Fourteen townships have delegated their registration. Zoning of cannabis remains uncertain.
Nathan Nelson State Rep District 11B: In regard to cannabis, to many things have been left up to the local townships and counties. Make sure that you vote.
Paid leave was pushed through by the majority party. They would not take concessions for small businesses or townships.
Candidate for District #4 Brent Switzer: As the current Mayor of Willow River since 2017, he holds a degree in business and finance. He has worked tirelessly to address flooding issues by repairing the sewer system and completing a rock project. The mayor focuses on growing businesses, fixing infrastructure, and prioritizing community needs and desires.
Candidate for District #3 Roger Nelson: Highlights: Tax Levy people are concerned about the tax levy going up. That is a symptom of a spending problem.
Roads concerns, ½ percent sales tax is supposed to be for our local roads. Roger’s concern is that our dirt roads are not addressed in the county.
The board should look at per diem and where that is going. The board needs to have a legitimate and open discussion about that.
Tracts of land should be turned back to the tax base and get them back on the tax rolls.
County Commissioner District #4 J J Waldhalm: JJ is also a candidate. Our interest rates have gone from 2% to 6% this year. There are still situations going on with forfeited land. It is a deterioration of our tax base. There was a property that was forfeited and sold and never should have been taken in the first place. JJ worked on that and got it back to the rightful owner.
Cannabis, JJ doesn’t want cannabis sales and production next to someone’s house.
County Commissioner District #3 Terry Lovgren: The MN counties association is working on improving cell coverage in rural areas, with efforts focused by the Telecommunications and Technology Committee. They urge people to test cell phone service via the FCC app, preregister for Wi-Fi at ecefiber.com, and check broadband availability at Scibroadband.com.
Out-of-home placement is expensive in the county, and the Family Resource Center in Hinckley meets on Wednesdays to address this. A state and tribal committee is working on keeping tribal families together, supported by a federal grant to the Children’s Justice Initiative.
Additionally, any forfeited property from last year must be sold. There is a portion of the land that will be dedicated as The Pine County Memorial Forest, and there is an upcoming veteran’s celebration and dedication.
County Commissioner District #2 Josh Moore: Levy budget we passed our preliminary at 4%. Other people have higher levies. We are self-insured in the county this year with zero increase this year.
Pine Tech Donor Fund Raiser. They have added student housing. 150 Students can live there. They have added childcare.
Elections: Kelly and her group are working hard. Disappointed that local elections are getting dirty.
County Commissioner District #1 Stephen Hallan: The EMS system’s equipment is aging and needs replacement, but current funds are insufficient, necessitating a levy increase. The number of police officers has increased, requiring additional funding for their salaries and equipment. There is also a rising demand for public defenders and higher pay for prosecutors due to more prosecutions.
Mike Couri of Couri and Ruppe: We will have another seminar in September and October. There is a resolution created for you, not knowing where your county is on the topic of cannabis. What we see in other places is some of our cannabis retailers are going to go where the traffic is. There will only be 3 in your county, and you will not have 2 in your townships.
MAT District #7 Director Tammy Carlson: If there is anything you want to get done legislatively, we do have a process for that. You can complete a resolution and bring it to your district 7 meeting which we have in August every year. When it passes it goes to the L&R committee, which we have in the fall before the annual meeting. If the majority of the association agrees with the resolution, we are saying that “yes, we want you to spend time lobbying on this and negotiating for us.
We reviewed the legislative priorities that people mentioned in the survey that went out on constant contact. They decided to pass those in order of what our membership wanted to be our priorities. Transportation passed at 62%, taxes and state aid at 58%, EMS funding at 38.5.%, broadband at 43%, and annexation fairness at 38%.
Spend your ARPA money by the end of the year.
Show up for Township Day at the Capital.
Barb Fischer-Hospital Board: There is a newsletter that comes out in the Evergreen Newspaper. There are new healthcare classes at Pine Tech.
We are creating a history of healthcare in the area from the beginning of healthcare in the area.
There is a lot of new equipment to keep up with technology.
All are welcome to come to our board meeting. We meet on the 4th Tuesday of every month at the hospital meeting room at 6:45pm.
ECRDC Jorden Zeller: If you have a business, we have a revolving loan fund available to you. There is assistance for marketing plans, business plans, transferring the business and the loan program. We are public sector. We do not compete with the private sector. Glen is on our loan committee.
The Holly Jolly Hustle for our local retail businesses, that’s coming up this Wednesday the 30th. We are partnering with all 5 of our counties and the small business center. It is online training. Marketing tips and how to get more sales to our small businesses.
Business Meeting:
The treasurer’s report was read, and a motion was made and seconded. The treasurer’s report was approved.
A resolution regarding cell phone service was read. A motion was made to pass the resolution, and it was seconded. The resolution was passed.
A motion was made to dispense with the reading of the minutes and approve them as written. The motion was passed.
A motion was made to adjourn the meeting and seconded and passed at 11:15am.
Respectfully submitted by
Glen Williamson Sr.
Secretary/Treasurer
Pine County Township Officers Association
Date Approved: ______________________________
Chair: ___________________________________________