ACT Board of Supervisors Meeting
09/13/2021, 7:00pm
Apple Creek Township
Regular Meeting Minutes
Monday, September 13, 2021
- Call to Order – 7pm
- Dusty Hasper, Eric Richard, Jamie Vetsch, Roy Kuil, Greg Hillig, Terry Mauch, & Jerry Kunz were all in attendance. Mark Splonkowski called in a report on speaker phone for assessor’s report.
- Minutes – August meeting minute corrections and approval, Amendment made to August meetings.
- A. Motion to approve the minutes with corrections made By Dusty 2nd the motion by Eric
1. Vote to approve the motion – Unanimous Yes by the board
3. Final Budget Hearing – open floor for discussion
A. Floor was opened for discussion and Jamie had the budget available for review for anyone that wanted to review it again. Jamie asked if any changes wanted to be made. None were requested. Jamie asked if there were any questions on the budget. No questions.
B. Closed Discussion
C. Motion to approve the final budget was made by Eric, 2nd by Dusty
a. Vote to approve the motion – unanimous vote of yes by the board
3. Updating Township records and communication (email addresses)
A. What do we want to do with the records when we make them digital, Cloud, hard drive or both? It was decided to do a hard drive copy. We will use one of the new township computers to store the electronic documents so they will be available as needed for the township and a hard copy will be on an external drive or flash drive. We received an estimate from Fireside to make records electronic format the estimate is $5494.17.
1. Motion to approve the estimate and move forward with making records electronic was made by Eric 2nd by Dusty. Also noted that we will need to work with the school to ensure safe measures with any Covid procedures to get the paper records to Fireside.
a. Vote to approve motion – Unanimous Yes by all board members
B. Email- cost id $13.50 a month per account established.
a. Supervisor Mark said he wanted to reach out to the North Dakota Township Association with some questions before the board makes a decision on emails.
4. Area Reports
A. School Board Report-
1. Banking information will need to be updated and will need Mark Springer to assist as he is on the account from being a member of the school board. Mark made arrangements with Roy to complete the switch. The transfer of the school property will be done at the same time as it needs to be notarized. School board will make a check payable to the Apple Creek Township for the agreed $1 for the transfer.
2. No increase or decrease in taxes with the school budget complete. No change in taxes has happened in at least 4 years
B. Treasurer’s Report
A. Need to update and sign new documents for signers at the bank- Do we want the paperwork brought in or can we stop at the bank to sign?
1. all members needing to sign will complete paperwork with the bank.
B. Bills- Attorney payment due $127, $9069.30 due to Burleigh County for gravel bill.
1. Motion to pay bills made by Dusty 2nd by Eric
a. Vote on motion to pay bills – Unanimous yes board
C. Discussion on reimbursement from Apple Creek School for the cost of insurance for 2021 that was paid by the township. Township will request the school reimburse the township for the insurance that was paid for the year 2020 was the transfer of ownership is complete.
D. Checking: $123759.47
Savings: $251212.86
- Jamie needs to talk to bank the account is not showing on our banking records yet to transfer the funds that need to be set aside for the 66th st project. This money needs to be transferred out of accounts and into the designated account for the project.
E. Bond request - $50,000 as has been requested in the past board will sign the documents
C. Assessor’s Report- called in on speaker phone during the meeting
A. Mark Sponkowski stated that an email of where he has assessed will start being submitted to the Township so that they can be added to minutes so people of the Township know where he has been.
B. Everything has been going well and he will continue to do inspections for the fall/winter. He states that the door tags have been working to let the people know he has been there to assess their property.
D. Building Inspector’s Report-
A. 1 permit on Apple Creek Road, Final inspections were done on some properties and the final inspection sheets were turned into the board for the records. August was a slow month.
B. Questions from the floor – Did the tree farm on Apple Creek Rd receive a permit for the shop that is being built? Yes, the permit was requested, received, paid for and presented to the board for the records.
E. Road Supervisor’s Report – core samples update
A. Request from 1 person on 48th & Majestic to come look at the roads and have work done on them. A request to the county was sent to address the situation and they were out the next day.
B. Drove roads to check on conditions did not see any that needed any work. If any member of the Township has concerns about their roads and would like to speak to the Road supervisor to have him come take a look an email can be sent to Actroads@bektel.com.
C. Question from the floor on the work being done on Northgate. What is happening and will this be charged to the Township?
A. The county is prepping to get ready for the detour that will need to be put in place for the 66th St project. The Township is not being billed directly for this work.
F. Weed Board Report – trees in ditches update
A. Nothing new to report
B. Question from the floor do we need to schedule or contact anyone about trees & visibility that need to be taken care of?
a. This has already been done no follow up needed.
5. Zoning Board- opened
- Update on Adam Schmidt, 624 Brome Ave – Commercial use complaint
A. Eric drove by the property and most of the stuff has been moved off. Lawyer has drafted a letter to send to property owner.
a. Board reviewed the letter and was approved by all to send off to property owner.
- Update on Terry Hoerer property
A. Pictures were sent to the attorney court will be happening in the upcoming weeks. If court finds in favor of the Township. The Township and/or Sheriff will escort a hired company to complete the cleanup. Bill will be billed to the defendant. At this time Hoerer has not contested the charges filed against him.
- Anthony LaFond chickens- They were present at the meeting
A. Received the letter from the attorney on a complaint about their chickens being on the road and in others property. They had talked to a lawyer on their own behalf before coming to the meeting. They will be putting up a chicken wire fence to keep the chickens in their own yard and off the road.
1. Eric requested a date in which the LaFond’s will have this fence completed?
2. LaFond’s stated that the dogs and wife have been working to keep the chickens in their own property and off the road. They stated that a fence will be completed by the end September and board will follow up with this in the October meeting to ensure homeowner complied.
3. The Lafond’s noted that they were upset about the letter and the fine that was proposed on them. They stated their attorney advised them their property was zoned for agriculture. The board stated this needs to be looked into as the property should be zoned residential.
4. A side bar discussion on the floor began with the board and the community members in attendance on how to ensure zoning consistency. The board noted they will be talking with the assessor to ensure he is reviewing that the zoning is accurate for the properties he is assessing. This will ensure all properties are zoned correctly.
5. Anthony Lafond stated to the board that the moved to the country to be rural and is upset about the letters he has received.
6. Board member Dusty looked into the Lafond property on zoning and found it to be zoned correctly as residential and not agriculture. This was stated to the LaFond’s so they were aware their property is residential not agriculture and that the information they had received was not accurate.
7. Anthony Lafond stated that he would prefer the public address him personally about any matters. The board stated this is why there is a Township board so that the public can come to their representatives with concerns and issues.
8. The board agreed that if the fence was put up as declared in the time frame the Lafond’s had stated that this issue would be resolved. Follow up to ensure the fence is completed will be done in the October meeting. If the fence has not been completed as stated the board will discuss the next steps to get this matter resolved with the Township attorney.
- Public Complaints (general)-
a. A written statement is requested by the board for anyone making a complaint so that we can pursue with legal actions as needed. When complaints come in writing the board members can reach out and address the issue. The written complaint if cannot be resolved by the board, can than be passed on to the attorney to file and respond accordingly to the situation if it needs to be pursued with legal action. If you speak or make a complaint it will be on public record.
A. Kirt Pelster addressed the board with questions and a complaint.
a. He asked the board about the enforcement of the sign policy in the Township Zoning and regulations. He stated he went by the rules to build his shop on his property and wanted others to do the same. He presented a map to the board showing the location of a sign that was posted by the Turd Buglar. He stated he owns his own septic company and that signage is not allowed by what he had read in zoning and regulations. The sign was originally in the Willhelms division and when a complaint was made to the county the sign was moved into the Apple Creek Township. He will also be attending the Lincoln meeting to address the companies sign that is located in the city of Lincoln’s jurisdiction. Kirt stated that the Turd Buglar sign was not placed on property owned by the owner of the business. The board asked where Kirt was reading the rules and regulations on signage. Kirt states Zoning page 8 under outdoor advertising. The Zoning regulations were reviewed by the board and noted that if a special use permit was granted the sign can be on property not owned by the company. Kirt asked if a special use permit had been issued for the sign. The board noted they will be looking into this.
b. Discussion from the floor with questions for Kirt and the board. Questions on Club Fido were brought up, but that business is not in the Townships jurisdiction and we can make no comment about their signage. Kirt did bring up that he has his shop on his property and was asked by the floor if he is running a commercial business out of a residential zoned area. He stated that his business is not on residential land as he has many shops.
c. Eric proposed steps that will be taken to resolve the matter. The land owner that the sign is on will be contacted. Eric will drive and look at the signs and their locations to ensure they are in the Townships jurisdiction.
d. Questions and complaint on a structure that is close to his home. There is a garage that is rotten and falling apart what is being done about this structure? Board asked for the a complaint in writing. Building inspector Greg noted that the home owner did have a building permit issued to him when the project was started. Greg will not allow the construction to be completed in its current state. It would need to be torn down and started again as it is no longer safe to continue the build. Board will be reviewing what actions can be taken and address the next step in the next meeting.
- Zoning regulations committee/special meeting?
A. Chairman Mark is asking when the special meetings should begin. It was decided that Mark will reach out to the North Dakota Township Association to see if they have any input on the update of the zoning and regulations for the Township. Special meetings will be postponed until discussion with Township Association is complete.
- Additions from the floor Culvert, who is responsible to ensure they are clean?
A. Burleigh County highway department or property owner is responsible for upkeep on the culverts not the Township. If your culvert needs to be cleaned contact the County Highway department and they will refer the property owner to the next steps. The Township board will get contact information for the community members and post it on the website and Facebook as to who to contact to get culverts cleaned.
- Zoning board closed
- other items-
A. Question from the floor on noxious weeds on private property. Can anything be done to get these weeds taken care of if they are on private property. Weed board will contact the county to see what can be done on private property.
6. Adjourn – 8:19pm
next meeting, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m