May 12, 2015 | Township Board Meeting

Meeting called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Chair Rick Fry.

ATTENDANCE

The following Board Members were present: Supervisor Rick Fry, Supervisor Scott Mead, Supervisor Lee Kaplan, Treasurer Kim Hand and Clerk Lita Wallace.

Number of residents: 3 / non-residents: 2

CLERK’S REPORT – January and April minutes read by Lita.

Motion by Rick, seconded by Scott to approve the January minutes, carried.

Motion by Rick, seconded by Lee to approve the April minutes, carried.

TREASURER’S REPORT – presented by Kim

$232,369.65        Total Cash On-Hand on 3/31/15

2,915.32        Deposits

           652.89         Expenditures

$234,632.08       Total Cash On-Hand on 4/30/15

Motion by Rick, seconded by Lee to approve the Treasurer’s report, carried.

OLD BUSINESS

Road Maintenance (long-term plans for road repair) – Five-year long-term plan for West Branch Road owned by the Township was discussed. Estimate on what can be done and how much it would cost. May need to contact an engineer to do a study. Rick will make contact with an engineer as well as the county if their engineer can come instead.

Logger at Rossini Road-what do they plan to do and when they plan to do it – Scott stated that Bill Hudson of the logging company said that work will be done sometime this summer but no definite date is available. The Township will be paid $6,700.00 which will go to replanting of trees.

Internet Review – no new information available.

CTAS accounting system – The advantages of using CTAS  was discussed along with purchasing two laptops for the use of the Treasurer and Clerk for an estimate of $1700-$1800. Lita will research the system requirements/Windows that works with CTAS and cost of the laptops/flashdrives.

NEW BUSINESS

Preparation of budget – Lee had requested Kim to prepare a report of expenditures incurred in 2014. There was an expense last year in the amount of $3,600 for the Assessor’s Office that will not be spent this year.

Use of Skype or Google Hangout technology to conduct meetings when a supervisor is out of town – Lee checked with the Minnesota Association of Townships (MAT) and the lawyer advised him that it is acceptable to use teleconferencing but the out-of-town supervisor would have to open their home to anybody that will be interested in attending. Up to 10 people can connect in Google Hangout. A high speed internet is required. Lee will conduct experimentation.

Exploring options in using new bank (e.g., Superior Choice Credit Union) – Kim will check. The Township will also explore investing part of the Township funds in (CDs) Certificate of Deposit. Kim will verify  with various credit unions how much interest is offered for different maturity dates of 3 or 5 years. Maybe put $50,000.00 in CDs. Ray Barnes, the Treasurer at North Star mentioned that North Star has their funds in Money Market and keeps only $200 in checking account. After expenditures are approved at each meeting, he then transfers the amount from Money Market to the checking account via online banking.

Electronic banking application status – We will hold off on this pending result of switching to a different bank and change of Board membership.

Proposed updates to the timesheet/expense forms – For now, we will keep using the Monthly Disbursement Forms and we can determine later if we will want to use the form that can be generated from CTAS.

Form 941 applicability – Our township is not required to file Form 941 for the following reason (per the Form 941 instructions): “Generally, employers are required to file Forms 941 quarterly. However, some small employers (those whose annual liability for Social Security, Medicare, and withheld federal income taxes is $1,000 or less) may file Form 944, Employer’s ANNUAL Federal Tax Return, annually instead of Forms 941.”

New employee forms – Lee, Kim and Lita submitted all the required new employee forms such as I-9 and W-4.

Other new business: Reimbursement approval totalling $814.41. Motion by Rick, second by Scott to approve paying the submitted reimbursements, motion carried.

Next meeting: Tuesday, June 9, 7:30 p.m., Pequaywan Fire Hall

Motion to adjourn, carried at 8:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by Lita Wallace.