Town of Morse Annual Meeting March 12, 2024
Present at the annual meeting were Beth Chapman, Lisa Pekuri, Leslie Chapman, Bill Erzar, Bob Berrini, Len Cersine, Mary Ann Lekatz, Nick Wognum
The Board of Audit was held at 8:05 p.m.
Clerk Nick Wognum announced there were 21 votes cast with 20 votes for Terry Soderberg and one write in vote.
A motion was made by Cersine, seconded by Berrini to approve the election results with Terry Soderberg receiving 20 of the 21 votes cast.
Len nominated Nick Wognum as the moderator. There were two more calls for moderator and none were received.
Moved by Erzar, seconded by Berrini to approve Nick Wognum for the moderator. Motion carried.
Moved by Cersine, seconded by Chapman to approve the minutes with change of date. Motion carried.
Mary Ann Lekatz presented the treasurer’s report for 2023. The January 1 balance of 286,621.60 in the general fund and finished with $120,730.17. The Road was $60,597.72 and finished with $139,180.01. Gas tax started at $45,111.96 and ended with $58,740.55. The building fund has $12,339.91 and finished with $12,339.91. The land purchase fund began at -$126,719.14 and ended at zero. The IRRRB grant started and ended with $6,214.47. The Reserve fund started at $45,641.93 and ended with $46,294.07. She said we had a surplus of money for 2023.
Moved by Cersine, seconded by Erzar to approve the treasurer’s report. Motion carried unanimously.
Mary Ann presented the 2025 budget with the general fund of $254,200 with an increase of $8,000 for first responder and fire from $65,000 to $80,000 for 2025. Other items were changed along the way. Bob said this one of the first increases in many years for the fire department. Nick gave a breakdown of the increase of the number of calls and Bob explained the number of calls on the bicycle trails. Beth asked about the ambulance budget. It was explained some of these are one time expenses. Lisa asked about library funding with 22 percent of the items checked out at the library. She would like to see a funding increase for the library. Berrini said this is not a decision to be made at this meeting as the only financial decision is the levy. Berrini said the township only receives $9,000 in state funds.
For Road and Bridge there was $122,800 budgeted for 2025. Lekatz said there is salt sand available for people to use by the bucket for their sidewalks. Berrini said the township is trying to get and increase of the $3,200 paid for rental of township land for tower space to $750 per month. Erzar asked about road chloride in the summer and it causing muddy roads in Romberg Acres. Berrini said the township was able to get a fire prevention grant which the board hopes to use for brushing.
Lekatz said the total of $365,730.16 was the proposed levy from the board. This breaks down to $181,036.43 for General Fund and $184,693.73. She went through the Receipts portion of the budget. Lekatz said the township funds increased by $50,000 in 2023 from $329,808.13 to $383,499.18
A motion was made by Erzar, seconded by Cersine to set the levy at $181,036.43 for General Fund and $184,693.73 for Road and Bridge. The motion was carried unanimously at 8:38 p.m.
A motion was made by Cersine, seconded by Chapman to keep the polling times the same at noon to 8 p.m. Motion carried unanimously.
A motion was made by Cersine, seconded by Berrini to have the 2025 annual meeting March 11, 2025.
Berrini said there will be a $650,000 improvement project to be done at the ambulance facility including renovations and a new building.
Chapman asked about who is on the ballot in 2025. Wognum said it would be Cersine.
Erzar gave an update on the Highway 169 improvements between Robinson Lake and Wolf Lake Road. He said the road would be moved away from the lake to provide more room for the public access. The dip at Wolf Creek Pass would be raised up with turn lanes into Wolf Lake public access, Wolf Lake Road and a raised roadway at Soley’s Corner. The cost went from $12 million to $13.1 million and Erzar said he requested letters of support for an application for federal funding through Congressionally Designated Spending. For the third year, the request was turned down. He say he would try one more time to get funding. The project has not changed but the costs have increased. There was support from Sen. Klobuchar and Smith but not from Rep. Stauber.
Erzar made a presentation on township roads in the Romberg Acres area. He said Hematite Boulevard, Hallmark, Hiawatha and Heather streets were originally designed to be in the middle of the right of way. The road ended up on the edge of the road right of way. He asked to have the road graded so it is moved closer to the center of the road. He said the county originally said buildings had to be 35 feet from the property line and the county changed it to 48 feet from the center of the road. Berrini said he walked the area with Erzar and looked at the pins. He said the road was raised three feet in front of Merriman’s. He said there are other areas he has mentioned for 20 years that need to have dirt added and have not. He said he is working with St. Louis County Commissioner Paul McDonald on the Planning and Zoning issue on what the setback should be.
A motion was made by Lekatz, seconded by Cersine to adjourn at 9:00 p.m. Motion carried.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:01 p.m.