Unofficial Minutes
PINE COUNTY TOWNSHIP OFFICERS’ASSOCIATION MEETING
SATURDAY MARCH 28, 2026
The spring Meeting of the Pince County Township Officers’ Association was held on Saturday, March 28, 2026, 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 Katy Overtoom. The invocation was provided by Katy Overtoom.
Roll Call was taken with more than 10 townships present, establishing a quorum.
We had several speakers:
Jason Rarick – Senate District 11: In regard to Paid Family Leave, you are being heard. All the people who voted for it are all still in office. Several people are retiring this year so keep on coming in and letting and expressing how it is impacting you. The biggest focus is a bonding bill for infrastructure needs rather than wants. In this session the bonding bill will be done but not a whole lot else. Anything spent this year just increases the deficit in the next year.
Steve Hallan – County Commissioner: Electronics have gone up a lot. Purchases are being made in a four-year period to reduce the number purchased all at one time. They are up by around $300 each. The memory has also gone way up. This will cause budget issues.
There is a road project scheduled from the South end of the county to Highway 23. The bridge over the Snake River in Pine City is scheduled to start in 2027, one half at a time. It will be nice when it is done.
The Engineers will come to your town meeting (Mark and Erin) have agreed to do this. If you have issues on your road and you need some advice. It’s a good way to get it cheap.
It is important to get the bonding on the bridges because it takes a long time to get the planning on this.
We do not have the kind of fraud that you are hearing about in the news. We have an HHS department. Cary Rybeck is working on fraud. She is good at it.
Our new Administrator is Kelly Schroeder; she was the County Auditor Treasurer. We now have Mary Jenson as the County Auditor Treasurer.
Mary Jenson – County Auditor Treasurer: Property Tax Statements have been sent out. Elections are under way. The Township Elections have just wrapped up. State Primary is August 11, 2026, and the State General Election is on November 3, 2026. You will be getting reminders as to what to do about absentee ballots. Training schedules have been sent out for Election Judges, Clerk and Head Judge training.
Jeff Nelson County Sheriff: Is not running for Sheriff next term. He will still be in office all summer. The plan is for him to retire. Public safety starts with the townships, your neighbors and letting the Sheriff’s Department know what the needs are. Staffing at the Sheriff’s Department will have issues over the summer due to the Family Medical Leave Act. Let them know if you see longer response times. Calls have gone down over winter.
Tammy Carlson thanked Sheriff Nelson for all his dedication and hard work.
Jorden Zeller and Natalie Koerber – ECRDC: Bob Voss has retired. New executive director is Natalie Koerber. Glen Williamson is our Vice Chair of the commission and also chairs a couple other committees. Steve Hallan, a Pine County Commissioner is also on the East Central Regional Development Commission. Feel free to reach out to them. There is an energy and transportation office and a new transportation person, Nicole Posner. There are energy and conservation block grants available for $2000. Up to 20,000. To do energy audits on government buildings. Rural Transit Coordinating Council are currently applying for their 26-28 grant for mobility management projects. Small Business Revolving Loan Fund is gap financing for small businesses. This is for the amount between what you have, what the bank will lend and what you need to expand your business. ECRDC is a local form of government under State Statute, we are on your local property tax for about 3, or 4 dollars. ECRDC helps to build industrial parks, and have done 3 or 4 grants for projects at Pine Tech. They work with MNDOT to get roads and bridges funded.
Barb Fischer – Hospital District Board: The Hospital Board provides local hospital care. The board is sponsoring another EMR class at Pine Tech starting in June. There are 12 available spaces. Hospital District is sponsoring Fire Departments EMR training for those that are enrolled in the hospital district.
The newsletter will not be in Evergreen but will continue, and there will be key places all around Northern Pine if you would like to pick up a copy.
The Hospital District is reviewing grants to Fire Departments for defibrillators.
16 Townships are participating in The Hospital District.
Mindy Sandell – Veteran Services: The population of Veterans in 2024 was 2014, now it is 2301. This is in addition to widows and families that the Veterans service also helps. Expenditures were listed, and are available to Veterans, Widows and Families. ACVSO Jaimie Nelson has Dan Birch has resigned. We go to Twin Port on Mondays, St. Cloud on Tuesdays, and we have 6 drivers now. Be aware of fraud.
Tammy Carlson – MAT District 7 Director and President: The Townships are lobbying to be exempted from the paid leave program. MAT will be going out to DC in May to lobby with our National Association of Townships. Spring Short Course will be up in Carlson on April 3, 2026. ADA compliance will be covered. District meeting is Thursday August 3, 2026. I am up for Election, I plan to run, anybody can file and run. There will be more information on the web and on Insider.
The CTAS program is not set up for the Paid Leave Program. The state Auditor has put together an excel file for you to track the information so you can start to pay that tax. This payment is due.
MN STAT 471.3422: If you administer your own absentee balloting, you will be required to have a .gov website. It is recommended by MAT due to it being more secure from cyber-attacks. You must start the setup process by June 1, 2026. Deadline for the completion is June 1, 2028. MAT has a consultant Leslie Brosal she can help set that up if you need.
Year-end financial report is due by Tuesday March 31, 2026, or lose your town aid.
Annual Conference is Brainard Grand View Lodge December 10-13, 2026. Room block will be released late summer.
Jeff Dotseth District 11A: If the State Mandates something, they need to fund it as well. Reach out to me if you are having issues and need solutions for your situation.
Nathan Nelson State Rep District 11B: Government needs to fund issues that are mandated on the State Level. Not property tax.
Please get your audit reports in. We will help if you need it.
Stephen Fischer – Supervisor of Danforth Township and ECE Representative: March 6, 2026, there was a request from MAT for each Township to assign a representative for BEAD funding. They allocate money for each state and then allocate it down to local areas so we can bring broad band universally to everyone in the state. Last year installation was done in Isanti, Kanabec, Southern Pine, and Pine City. This year construction will be in Northern Pine County, to the South end of Superior.
Business Meeting:
Attendance was taken with 10 Townships attending a quorum was established
We have received payment from 24 Townships. There are 32 Townships that are members.
Election of Officers: There are two vacancies open on the Executive Board. Dan O’Flannegan is no longer on the Township Board so his position on the Executive Board is up for reelection. Also, Glen Williamson, Secretary/Treasurer for the Association, is up for reelection to the Executive Board. Katy made motion to nominate Glen Williamson, Wilma Township and Stefanie Williamson, seconded the motion. Kevin Carlson, Pine City Township was also nominated by Stefanie Williamson and the nomination was seconded. Katy called for a unanimous ballot. They were both elected to serve a three-year term on the Executive Board. Glen has been the Secretary Treasurer since 2008 and this is Kevin’s first time serving on the board.
Katy moved to adjourn the meeting motion seconded and passed, meeting adjourned at 10:25 am.