Crane Lake Township

TOWN OF CRANE LAKE

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS’ MEETING

October 14, 2025

The October 14^th, 2025 Board of Supervisors’ Meeting was called to order by Chair Jim Janssen at 5:31PM at the Crane Lake Visitor Center with the Pledge of Allegiance recited by those in attendance including: Supervisors Jim Janssen and Scott Sanborn; Treasurer Traci Bak; and Clerk Ashlyn Denning. Also present were Deputy-Treasurer Gretchen Janssen; Deputy-Clerk Jo Ann Pohlman; Visitor Center and Campground Manager Serena Swenson and one member of the community. Supervisor Jeanne Shuck was absent.

BUSINESS

Additions to the Agenda: There were none.

Minutes: A motion was made by Scott, supported by Jim, to approve the minutes of the 9/9/2025 Board of Supervisors’ Meeting, 9/18/2025 Special Board of Supervisors’ Meeting, 9/18/2025 Closed Board of Supervisors’ Meeting, 9/22/2025 Closed Board of Supervisors’ Meeting, and 10/5/2025 Closed Board of Supervisors’ meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

Treasurer’s Report: The September Cash Balances were read, and the bills were presented as follows: Township: Costin Group,  Inc. – $1,250.00; Lake Country Power – $312.00; Anderson Canoe Outfitters – $212.23; CLVTB – $38,886.34; Johnson, Killen and Seiler – $142.00; Town of Crane Lake – $156.37; ATT Phone – $70.42; Quill – $54.68; Internal Revenue Service – $4,671.82; VISA – $120.79 Visitor Center: Lake Country Power – $2334.50; CLWSD – $1,654.64; Handbergs Marine – $120.04; Five Season Sports – $100.71; Friends Garbage – $228.15; Daniel Denning – $116.52; Charles Standfuss – $35.18;KGM Contractors, Inc. $110,535.11; AT&T – $70.42; VISA – $623.15; PERA: $65.80 (Twp) & $783.61 (VC) Payroll: $2,343.83 (Twp) & $3,971.69 (VC).  A motion was made by Jim, supported by Scott, to approve the Treasurer’s Report as read and the payment of bills. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

The Clerk presented the correspondence.  The correspondence was received and will be placed on file and acted upon as required.

OLD BUSINESS

CL Visitor Center/Campground

• Committee Report & Resulting Board Action: Gretchen Janssen Provided the following report:
  • Invoices to approve:
    • Visitor Center:
      • Max Gray CO 7 – $21,471.87
      • Transformer relocation, Exterior Lighting Dimmed – to be completed this week.
    • Bayside Drive:
      • E.H 494390 – Aug Construction Admin – $20,630.85
      • Braun Intertec – Aug Materials Testing – $2,849.25
      • KGM Pay App 2 September – $523,535.03
      • These 3 Bayside Project invoices total: $547,015.13

Board Action: A motion was made by Scott, supported by Jim, to approve the KGM, Braun and S.E.H. invoices totaling $547,015.13. All voted in favor and the motion carried. A motion was made by Jim, supported by Scott, to approve the signature of the KGM Pay App 2 for $523,535.03. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

• Campground Manager Report and Resulting Board Action:
  • Chuck Standfuss
    • Chuck, volunteer with the NPS presented his findings with the Crane Lake History Project he’s been working on this summer. He gave much insight into the history of Crane Lake. Town Board thanked him for all the work he put into it.
  • Visitor Center
    • Did not end up being open weekends in October due to govt shutdown
    • Total number of visitors for the summer – 8,656

• • Campground
    • Last campers left on 10/13
    • Water is shut off
    • Chuck and Liz are up there until the 20^th. Chuck is still trucking away on the Oral History Project.
  • Winter- Outside
    • Plowing
    • Shoveling
  • Electric Vehicle Charging Station Grant-
    • Distance from designated EV corridor is two miles or less, unless mutually agreed to by both parties. That’s not us.
    • Parking spaces: A minimum of two concrete or asphalt pad parking spaces and ample real estate upon which to create parking spaces for at least one additional fast charging station in the future is required.
    • ADA compliance: It is required that one of the parking spaces for the 150 kW dual-port station is ADA compliant.
    • Has to be connected to wifi through multiple carriers
  • Webcam
    • Mostly wanting to know thoughts on where we should hang it and how
    • CLVTB would buy it
    • Dan knows about how it all works and said he would help
  • Outside sign – Lake Door
    • The appox. Cost for a 3.5’ x 6’ flat sign with hardware installed would be $1,522.00.
    • Rough Draft. I don’t love this design but it’s a place to start
    • Is it something I should move forward with?

• • Sport shows
    • Want to revisit this. I think it’s an easy fairly cheap way to get in front of a lot of people.
    • General- need a banner, flyers, koozies? Printed materials. Under $1000. And we could use the banner as a temporary sign for the campground if we didn’t want to put something permanent up yet.
    • Duluth Sportshow
      • February 19-22
      • $800
      • MOST likely would not need lodging- otherwise it’s about $100/night
    • Northwest Sport show- Minneapolis
      • March 5-8
      • $1,195
      • Do not need lodging
    • Eau Claire Sport Show-
      • March 20-22
      • $599
      • Probably would not need lodging.

• • Recreogo Year 1 Summary

• • • Year 1 Performance: Your first season brought in around $40K in revenue. With your goal of $80K for year two, you’re positioned well for growth.
    • Online Booking Success: An impressive 73% of bookings were completed online, showing that your customers find the process easy and convenient. That’s a great sign that you’ve built a strong online booking culture.
    • Post-Reservation Emails:
    • Encourage guests to leave reviews
      • Invite them to connect on social media
      • Highlight special offers or your upcoming gift card program
      • Gift Cards:
        We also shared that our gift card feature will be rolling out soon. This is a great opportunity to drive repeat visits and generate off-season revenue.
      • Can I send out an email to everyone that stayed this year asking to leave us a google review, offering 5% off if they book for next season. Have to book by Jan 1.
  • Marketing
    • Ads have been turned way down
    • We are working on the off season plan to get ready for March when we will have a laid out social media strategy and content for the summer to start driving books and turn ads back on.
    • Request to pay Ben Shoff for his services.

Board Action: A motion was made by Jim, supported by Scott, to pay Ben Shoff for marketing services once an invoice is sent. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

DNR Public Water Access: There was no report.

Dark Sky Crane Lake: There was no report.

Community Action Plan: There was no report.

Gold Coast Road Potholes: These will be filled when they pave Bayside Boat Landing.

 

NEW BUSINESS

Premier Pyrotechnics Price Increase – Ashlyn will reach out to them to see how much we have left over from last year.

November Meeting Date Change – Motion made by Jim, supported by Scott, to move the Board of Supervisors Meeting to 11/13/2025 (Thursday) – 5:30PM. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

Other New Business: There was none.

Comments from Officers: There were none.

Public Comment: There was none.

Next Meeting:

• The next Board of Supervisors’ Meeting will be November 13, 2025 at 5:30pm at the Visitor Center.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:35pm.

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Ashlyn Denning, Clerk                                                                     Jim Janssen, Chair

 

 

This draft of the Crane Lake Township minutes has been posted solely for preliminary informational purposes. Minutes are unofficial and subject to change until they have been approved by the Crane Lake Board of Supervisors.