ACT Board of Supervisors Meeting
06/07/2021, 7PM
Members Present: Chairman, Mark Springer; Supervisors Dusty Hasper & Eric Richard; Clerk, Cyndy Meidinger; Road Supervisor/Zoning Board Member, Roy Kuil; Treasurer, Jamie Vetsch; Weed Board, Terry Mauch and Zoning Board Member, Jerry Kunz.
Members Absent: Assessor, Mark Splonskowski and Building Inspector, Greg Hillig.
Chairman Springer opened the June 7th meeting of ACT. He asked if there were any additions or corrections to the May minutes. Supervisor Richard said the minutes incorrectly stated he was to contact Mr. Hoerer regarding the junk on Mr. Hoerer’s property. Chairman Springer was going to discuss the next steps with the township attorney. 2nd correction to the minute, Supervisor Hasper said Mr. Ray Miller did not try and contact the landowner but contacted him regarding location of a commercial business @ 8800 Sunrise Ave. and is on a residential lot. After discussion Supervisor Hasper made a motion to accept the May minutes as corrected. The motion received a 2nd from Supervisor Richard and the motion was unanimously approved.
Consent Agenda: Chairman Springer said he had a letter from Bismarck Planning and Zoning regarding an oversized building to be built on a lot in Copper Ridge Subdivision which is in Bismarck’s ETA. He then realized the discussion should take place in the Zoning Board portion of the meeting.
School Board Report: School Board Representative Roy Kuil said the results of the school board election for board members were Kathryn Aitchison and Coty Sible their terms will be for 3 years each. Greg Kuil’s term will end the middle of July. Roy Kuil said the school is not requiring masks. The school board does recommend masks if not vaccinated. He also said the school board was waiting on the word from ACT regarding the purchase of the school. Chairman Springer said there was some miss-communication between the attorney and the township. Attorney Kelsch was out of town and phone calls and messages did not get to the person that was to take care of the township. Chairman Springer did get is straightened out and there should be an answer soon. The township attorney will be Garrett D. Ludwig he is with Kelsch Law Firm. Since this is taking so long it was suggested the board could make the final transfer in an executive meeting. Chairman Springer said since the school board and township board agreed that could be a possibility to speed up the process.
Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Vetsch said there was $128,633.22 in checking and $251,055.31 in savings. She also stated the township received $9,065.83 for the April apportionment. Clerk Meidinger stated she checked the mail and there were no bills in the mail. Chairman Springer suggested to Treasurer Vetsch to give a financial report with expenses. She said there is not much change monthly. It was suggested she do a quarterly report. The report did not need to be detailed but general with the largest expenses highlighted. Chairman Springer asked if she could send out the report to the board before the meeting that would help. She said she would send out a report to the board.
Assessor’s Report: There was no report from Assessor Splonskowski since he was not present @ the meeting. Chairman Springer said Mark called him and said things are going well and they are getting ready for the county equalization meeting in June. Road Supervisor Kuil stated there was a property on Kitty Lane that is still zoned ag and has had house on it for several years. Weed Board member Terry Mauch said the 2-acre property was taken out of a larger lot for the mother of the landowner. This has gone through the previous administration. There was a suggestion Assessor Splonskowski needs to contact the residents before he comes to appraise the homes and if no one is home he needs to leave a card so someone knows he was there. Chairman Springer said he talked to Al Vietmeier and got the same response that Clerk Meidinger got when she talked to him last month. The board will have to decide how to proceed. The board is not comfortable giving up assessing control to the county it would make it easier for the county to take control of ACT.
Building Inspector’s Report: Clerk Meidinger said she had spoken with Inspector Hillig and he was out of town but he had issued 4 permits did 9 inspections and had 6 phone calls.
Road Supervisor’s Report: Supervisor Kuil said he had a call on 48th Ave that since the blade went by and pulled up gravel from the shoulder of the road, the road surface seemed narrower. He said he was going to measure the road to see it that was the case. He had contacted the county and had not gotten a response back about core sampling. There was a discussion on the 66th St RR bridge overpass and how to take care of the township’s share which is $200,000.00. Clerk Meidinger was not in favor of paying the full amount right away. She would prefer a down payment or some type of installment. Clerk Meidinger asked about the ND DOT extra funding for road projects. Chairman Springer said that could not be used because ACT was not main provider for the RR overpass. He did say the funds could be used for township roads. Road Supervisor Kuil said he would start making plans for road improvements even if he didn’t have the core sample findings. That way the township could see what the township could qualify for. Treasurer Vetsch suggested payment in full to get the money off the books. There was a suggestion of a down payment and balance paid 30 days after dirt work starts. Rick Hessinger suggested a down payment and put the remainder of the money in an escrow account and pay when complete. Chairman Springer asked Treasurer Vetsch and possibly Rick Hessinger if they would want to work on the project. Treasurer Vetsch said she would contact Dakota Community Bank and see how they suggest to procced. She would also contact Marcus Hall and get his input. She will give a report @ the July meeting.
Chairman Springer suspended the regular meeting of ACT and opened the Zoning Board. Chairman Springer said he had been fielding may calls regarding stray animals on people’s property and the destruction of approaches by dirt bikes in the ditches and jumping the approaches. There is not much that can be done about the dirt bikes unless the offender is caught. Chairman Springer said rip rap can be used on the approach for erosion control and that would help protect the approaches.
Clerk Meidinger said she put in the commissioner item in the agenda in case the board wanted to set up a meeting with Commissioner Bittner. Chairman Springer said he had been in contact with Commissioner Bittner and knew the commissioner’s view and what help the township could get from the Burleigh County Commissioners.
Discussion on Civil actions. Chairman Springer said he contacted Garrett Ludwig about the Hoerer Civil Suit and the sale of the school building to the school board. Attorney is waiting of paperwork to get started on both items.
Chairman Springer said he had not heard much about the Lincoln ETA but their public hearing is the 10th of June regarding the proposed annexation Resolution # 2021-4. Suggestions came from the audience that there should be a presence from ACT @ the meeting. Chairman Springer said he was planning on attending and Clerk Meidinger needed to get the ACT response to the Lincoln Auditor. She said she would get the response typed up and sent to Chairman Springer for approval and would hand deliver to Lincoln.
Commercial Business on residential property @ 8800 Sunrise Ave: Supervisor Richard said he had spoken to Luke Hilmoe about the equipment and drafted a letter to both Adam Schmidt & Luke Hilmoe. The business equipment belongs to Mr. Hilmoe. Mr. Schmidt is selling the property to Mr. Hilmoe on Contract for Deed. The letter stated the equipment is in violation of ACT Zoning Regulations and was sent on May 11th, 2021. Supervisor Richard also had a conversation with Mr. Hilmoe and was told that he (Mr. Hilmoe) has property up north and he could relocate the equipment there. After discussion, the board’s next step will have a letter sent to Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Hilmoe that the equipment must be moved by July 5th. At the Tuesday, July 6th meeting the board will decide if it needs to start a civil suit.
Oversized building request. There was a request from Spencer Allen Mewes and Jessica Weniger @ 6309 Copper Ridge Lane, requesting a variance for 2,792 sq ft accessory building. A discussion followed. Clerk Meidinger asked why it is such a big deal for an oversized building when the township lets people leave junk all over their property and nothing seems to get done. But mention a large building and everyone gets upset. Chairman Springer stated the requested variance comes from the City of Bismarck and is a courtesy to inform the township since Copper Ridge is in ACT; but the City of Bismarck has Zoning authority. The result of the discussion was the board had no problems with allowing an oversized building in Copper Ridge since the City of Bismarck had the Zoning Authority.
Garbage Complaint: Clerk Meidinger said she had received a complaint from Sherry Norbeck about bags of garbage @ Burton Heaton’s residence off 93rd St. She had stopped there to discuss guinea hens and noticed the garbage and the smell. She suggested the Dept of Health be contacted. Supervisor Richad asked if the person complaining was @ the meeting and Clerk Meidinger said she had left the meeting. Supervisor Richard said he lives next door and did not notice any smell or a lot of bags of garbage. The board all agreed unless a person brings the request to the board at a meeting or sends a formal letter of complaint to the board nothing can be done. This also includes letters sent to the board with no signature and no return address. There needs to be a paper trail and the person that has a complaint against them has the right to know who the accuser is.
Terry Hoerer property cleanup: Chairman Springer said he had talked to attorney Ludwig about starting a civil suit. Attorney Ludwing needs any info the township has so he can proceed. Clerk Meidinger will get copies scanned and sent to Attorney Ludwig. With no other Zoning issues to discuss Chairman Springer adjourned the Zoning Board and reconvened the regular meeting of ACT.
Weed Board: Weed board member Mauch said he had been checking the township for weeds and the leafy spurge seems to be relatively under control for now. He also said he did notice some areas that seemed to be missed when Fertilawn spayed. He would check with the county and find out if they had any info on the missed areas. He also asked if the weed info made it to the web page. Clerk Meidinger said there have been computer issues but will be in contact with the web page host and get it up.
Chairman Springer asked about the July meeting. Clerk Meidinger said under normal situations the meeting would be held the following Monday which would be Monday July 12th. Zoning Board Member Kuil said he could not attend because the school board had their budget meeting that night and chances were very good the meeting would be long and not adjourn until after 7. Chairman Springer agreed and asked about having the meeting on Tuesday the 6th of July. The consensus of the people present they were ok with the meeting date change. Chairman Springer adjourned the June meeting of ACT @ 8:30 and the next meeting will be Tuesday July 6th, 2021.
Respectfully Submitted
Cyndy Meidinger
Clerk, ACT