BLASD Regular Board Meeting #120
6:30 PM June 8, 2017
Perch Lake Town Hall
1. Call to Order – Vice Chair Rennquist called meeting 120 to order at 6:30 pm.
2. Roll Call
Present: John Fredrickson, Chair (tele) Rocky Rennquist, Vice Chair
Wayne Dupuis Bill Jaskari
Tom Luke, Alternate Chris Rousseau
Absent: Debbie Gellatly, Admin Assistant Ed Jaakola
Guests: John Stewart, MSA, Lora Eames, Perch Lake, and several residents
3. Approve Agenda – Motion by Dupuis and 2nd by Luke to approve the June 8th agenda. Motion approved.
4. Approve Minutes – Motion by Rousseau and 2nd by Jaskari to approve the May minutes. Motion approved.
5. Review of Treasurer’s Report and Payment of Bills – Debbie Gellatly - The Treasurer’s report will be presented at next month’s meeting. No payment of bills and claims were approved at the meeting this month.
6. Review of Correspondence - Mail – The Board received several comment cards property owners and each card was read out loud at the meeting and discussion followed the reading of each card. No formal action was taken to address the suggestions and concerns submitted, however, this information will be used and addressed as the Board works to finalize the District’s Sewer Use Ordinance. The following items were brought up on the cards submitted:
a. How will connections be handled when more than 1 seasonal cabin has been constructed on a single property?
b. How will sewer used be charged for seasonal properties?
c. Concerns expressed about the costs of a sewer system.
d. Will water lines also be constructed as part of this project? The board did indicate that water lines will not be constructed as part of this project.
e. Positive support for the project expressed via comment card.
f. Comments indicating strong support for sewer use being a component of the sewer bill (ie. Use more, pay more).
g. Question asked from the audience about how outbuildings would be handled if they were located on separate parcels of property (different sides of the road). This will need to be discussed during the preparation of the sewer use ordinance.
7. Old Business
a. Funding update –
i. Funding Update – 2017 MN Bonding Bill – The bonding bill was passed by the state of Minnesota, and we now have sufficient funding to complete the project. The project has received a total of $5.7 Mil. from the State of Minnesota with the remaining money coming from the USDA grant/loan program. The project will be paid using approximately 76% grant, which is a huge success.
ii. Newsletter Update - John Fredrickson will prepare an update to the residents via newsletter next week which will be sent out as soon as possible to inform them of the funding success.
8. New Business
A. Engineers Report for January and Plan for February – John Stewart provided an update and now that funding is secured our next step is to set up a meeting with the MN Public Facilities Authority to discuss requirements necessary to consolidate funding from the State legislature. Interim financing will be required and there are a few options available including private market and the Minnesota Rural Water Association (MRWA). This process will also involve the Districts bonding attorney – Mary Frances Skala (Fryberger Law Firm).
Task Order #13 was prepared by MSA and approved by the Board.
The Board directed MSA to set up a meeting with the PFA. The Board also needs to get all Joint Power Agreements signed by all entities as soon as possible. There was some additional discussion about the JPA with the City of Cloquet and obligations relative to connections outside the District boundaries.
B. Committee Reports – None
9. Public Comment – A summary of public comment and discussion was related to the following items:
a. Seasonal properties should fairly share in the cost of building and operating the sewer system;
b. General concern about the costs of the system (monthly bills);
c. Some discussion about connections and will they be required to connect to the sewer system (the Board indicated that connection to the system is required);
d. Project schedule discussion: There was discussion about when the design could be completed so that the project was ready to bid. Initial thoughts would be to ideally have the project ready to bid by January/February 2018;
e. General comment about getting more information posted to the website including the current newsletter.
10. Next meeting Thursday, July 13, 2017 at 6:30 at the Perch Lake Town Hall.
11. Motion to adjourn – Motion by Dupuis and 2nd by Jaskari to adjourn at 7:30 pm. Motion approved.
Submitted by Christopher Rousseau