3/12/24 Annual Meeting Minutes
TOWN OF CRANE LAKE
ANNUAL MEETING
March 12, 2024
The March 12, 2024, Annual Meeting was called to order by Clerk Jo Ann Pohlman at 5:31PM, at the Crane Lake Chapel Fellowship Hall with the Pledge of Allegiance recited by those in attendance including: Clerk Jo Ann Pohlman and 9 members of the community (including Zoom).
Clerk Jo Ann explained the purpose of the Annual Meeting and asked for nominations for a Moderator. Bill Congdon nominated Jeff Sanborn, with a second by Deena Congdon. There being no other nominations, the nominations were closed. All voted in favor of Jeff Sanborn being nominated as Moderator.
Moderator Jeff stated the order of business by reading the Agenda.
Additions to the Agenda: There were none.
OLD BUSINESS
Minutes Approval – All attendees of the Annual Meeting received copies of the minutes for approval. Jeff asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes. There were none. A motion was made by Bill Congdon, supported by Mary Tomasko, to approve the 3/14/23 Annual Meeting Minutes and the 2/13/24 Board of Audit Meeting Minutes. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Treasurer’s Report – Clerk Jo Ann read the following Treasurer’s Report for fiscal year 2023:
Opening Balance $ 127,283.29
Receipts + 686,046.92
Disbursements – 656,954.45
Ending Balance $ 156,375.76
A motion was made by Mary Tomasko, supported by Jeanne Shuck, to approve the Treasurer’s Report as read. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Moderator Jeff asked if there was any other Old Business from the floor. There was none.
NEW BUSINESS
2024 & 2025 Election Day Times & Location – A motion was made by Jerry Pohlman, supported by Traci Bak, that the polls would be open from 10AM – 8PM for all elections in 2024 and 2025. All voted in favor and the motion carried. Moderator Jeff Sanborn asked if the elections for 2025 should be held at the Fellowship Hall or the new Visitor Center. A motion was made by Jeanne Shuck, supported by Bill Congdon, to hold elections in 2024 and 2025 at the Fellowship Hall. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
2025 Annual Meeting Date, Time, & Location – A motion was made by Traci Bak, supported by Jeanne Shuck, to set the 2025 Annual Meeting date and time for March 11, 2025, at 5:30PM at the Visitor Center. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Annual Summary Reports – A brief synopsis of each report was read; a handout of full reports was provided at the meeting, which is included here.
Visitor Center & Campground – Gretchen Janssen
Campground: The Town has created a website called: crane lake campground.com where the public can learn more about this project. When the campground is complete and campsites are ready for visitors, the Town will add a link to a software reservation system developed by Recreogo. Campsites will be reservable for 2 nights or longer, up to 14 consecutive nights on a cashless system. At this time, campsites are cleared, leveled, and some underground lines are run. The construction crew encountered substantial amounts of rock while drilling, so some drainage ponds had to be relocated and not all of the sites could be completed in 2023. Casper construction will resume their work this Spring and plan to have the 38 sites all complete with water, sewer and electric by the end of July. The Town will then need to put finishing touches on the sites (picnic tables, reservation notices, informational kiosks, etc) and also to help with landscaping, opening of the campground is currently planned for 2025.
Town of Crane Lake Annual Meeting Minutes 3/12/24 – Page 2
Visitor Center: Construction is underway and the building is expected to be finished by early July. The Town will need to add signs, furniture and appliances and the Park will need to add exhibits, so the opening date is yet unknown. The Park Service is providing a permanent welcome sign for the Visitor Center and is planning to add temporary exhibits to the interior (while they continue to develop new exhibits for this facility). The exterior 52’ wing of the building is reserved for the Town to place informational signage on. The NPS has approved a lease agreement with the Town including a start date of June 2024. They expect to use two campsites for housing staff for the Visitor Center (starting in 2025 most likely). The Town and the NPS will be working together to determine how often the Visitor Center will be open. The Town would like to have volunteers work at the welcome desk, if any community members are interested.
Boat Ramp/Summary: Thanks to the Costin group and support from the Town, Crane Lake has been awarded $8,737,240.00 from the LCCMR, IRRR, St Louis County, and the DNR to fund these projects. There has been a tremendous amount of work done during the past year to arrive at our current situation. The construction phase is nearing completion, and any funds that remain after construction will be invested in the development of the Boat Ramp property at the end of Bayside Drive. The lease agreement with the NPS will carry us forward into the next operational phase.
Bayside Drive – Jim Janssen
After numerous meetings the town board elected to make Bayside Drive a town road. Grants were awarded, Engineering was done, bids went out. Rachel was awarded the bid and began by removing some trees. That was completed last week and now we wait for the next phase of construction. It will be a short project and we hope to have substantial (most of the work) completion done by 6/24 and final by end of summer.
Crane Lake Water & Sanitary District – Rob Scott
- All poop processed and treated with no issues.
- All bills paid.
- Treatment plant expansion completed on time and under budget.
- Expanded the decentralized systems.
- Continue this construction cycle to do more individual system installs.
- Working on our rate structure to hopefully reduce rates.
- Life is good.
Snowmobile Club – Mike Cherrywell
Not to much happening this year with snowmobiling as this was short. On another note the crane lake club has merged the trail grooming with the vtsi. ad will now be just a mn usa club. thats all for now thanks
Crane Lake Chapel – Steve Bergerson
This has been our first full year with new pastoral leadership and the chapel is experiencing steady growth. More and more of our friends and neighbors from Crane Lake and Buyck are attending services and getting involved in ministry at the Chapel. We’ve had many outstanding guest speakers, a baptism service in the lake, a record breaking Bazaar, as well as a record breaking National Night Out to benefit the Buyck and Crane Lake fire departments. During the Winter, we had monthly meals for all in the community to come and enjoy.
One issue we are working on is how to accommodate the number of people coming during the Summer months as last year we had over 100 on several occasions. As a stop-gap, we have installed a screen and speaker in the fellowship hall that can stream a live feed from the sanctuary. The screen is also able to be used by the community for presentations at meetings, etc.
Our goal is to truly be a Christian chapel for everyone in our communities. Our message is that Jesus loves everyone and wants to have a personal relationship with everyone. We take our motto, “Come As You Are” seriously. We want all to feel welcome to stop in and experience the love of Jesus.
Crane Lake Visitor & Tourism Bureau – Drake Dill
The Crane Lake Visitor and Tourism Bureau is continuing to aggressively promote the Crane Lake area. The CLVTB has made several strategic changes in the past two years, and continues to see the benefit of those actions. One change that was made in 2023 was requiring that lodging tax payments are remitted monthly. As a result of this lodging tax guidance change, delinquencies are at an all time low. Another change in strategy was enacted that entailed a more dynamic shift to online and virtual marketing of our area. The CLVTB continues to see higher annual bed tax numbers on average beginning with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Town of Crane Lake Annual Meeting Minutes 3/12/24 – Page 3
Crane Lake Volunteer Fire Department – Jeff Sanborn
2023 was another busy year for the CLVFD. We had a lot of activity both on Fire and EMS response.
Here is a recap of our calls: Fire: 19 total calls – Structure: 1; Wildland: 1; Landing Zone: 1; Auto Alarm: 5 (false alarm 4, sprinkler/flood 1) Mutual Aid: 11 – Orr: 8 (7 structure, 1 wildland); Buyck: 1 (Rescue (stuck snowmobilers); Camp 5: 2 (Rescue snowmobile accident, Landing zone-did not respond due to distance/time)
We are on an auto box alarm system for Orr VFD. We get paged to any structure fire in their protection area. That area stretches for Ash Lake in the north to Greany in the south west.
EMS: 20 – Crane Lake: 19; Buyck: 1 (Highway traffic control and standby ems);
For 2023 we contracted with MN Public Safety Group for fire training. We will have had approximately 12 sessions for the winter season (January through April 2024).
We paid off the outstanding balance on our Tender in early 2024 (5 years early) realizing a $11,000.00 savings.
We are going to start looking at replacement of our rescue/brush truck this year. We will also be replacing and upgrading misc. small equipment this coming year.
We are always looking for dedicated volunteers to join our department.
If you have any questions, concerns or comments please contact us.
Review Proposed Revenue & Expenditures – Clerk and Budget Committee member Jo Ann reviewed the proposed 2025 budget revenues and expenditures. Copies of the 2025 budget were distributed to everyone in attendance prior to the meeting. Jo Ann reviewed the proposed revenues of $279,300.00 and the proposed Township disbursements of $215,375.00 plus Fire Protection for $60,000.00. The Project Fund balances were also presented. Jo Ann asked if there were any questions. There were none.
Other New Business from the Floor: A Community Action Plan revisit was introduced. The last CAP was in 2016 and cost $9,120.68. An IRRRB Grant paid ½ of the expense. The group discussed working on the CAP this year and to hold the event in 2025. A motion was made by Bill Congdon, supported by Deena Congdon, to add $2,000.00 to the General Fund Levy request to begin funding future CAP’s. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
There was no further New Business from the floor.
Set Levy for 2024 (Payable in 2025) – A motion was made by Mary Tomasko, supported by Bill Congdon, to approve the Township portion of the levy request as follows: General Fund – $42,000, Community Property Project Fund – $5,800, Bond for Community Property Project Fund – $9,200, Visitor Center Fund – $15,000, and Road & Bridge Fund – $5,000 for a total of $77,000. All voted in favor and the motion carried. A motion was made by Deena Congdon, supported by Traci Bak, to approve the Fire Department portion of the 2025 levy request of $60,000.00. All voted in favor and the motion carried. Total levy request is $137,000.00.
A motion was made by Bill Congdon, supported by Jerry Pohlman, to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:12PM
Jo Ann Pohlman, Clerk Jeff Sanborn, Moderator
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.
