Board of Supervisors

BRIDGEWATER TOWNSHIP

County of Rice, State of Minnesota

DATE October 13, 2009

Call to order at 7:05 pm. The pledge of allegiance was said by all.
Supervisors Leif Knecht, Kathleen Doran-Norton, Glen Castore and clerk
Michael Norton present. It was noted that treasurer Brad Pfahning would be
late (and did arrive later), and Jim Braun zoning administrator was unable to
attend due to illness and injury. Brian O’Connell from the city of Northfield
was introduced to discuss annexation later in the meeting.

The minutes from the previous township meeting on September 8th were
reviewed in advance. Glen Castore move to approve without changes;
Kathleen Doran-Norton seconded. All approved. The minutes from the
September 15th meeting were approved. Motion by Kathleen Doran-Norton
and seconded by Glen Castore; all approved without change. The minutes
from the October 5th work session were approved. Motion by Kathleen Doran-
Norton, seconded by Glen Castore; all approved without change. The
correspondence for the month was discussed without note. A request for
public comment on non-agenda items but no comments were brought up.

Brian O’Connell came forward to discuss the process and time line of the
proposed Gill/Prawer annexation. Some of the questions and concerns raised
were:

-Were any specific developers or businesses already involved?

-Why this is being started if previously annexed areas were not yet
developed?

-Raised Concerns about sprawl and if industry will coincide with city vision?

-If ordinances for the protections of residents and natural resources could be
done prior to development?

As this was only an initial discussion on the timeline of events, many of the
specifics were unanswerable at this time.

Supervisor Knecht discussed his handout on points for improving the

Bridgewater/Dundas annexation agreement.

1
The supervisors then began a discussion on drainage issues at Gary Rock’s.
While the opinion that the city of Dundas should be assisting Mr. Rock was
expressed, it was also noted that this situation needed to be corrected and
unclear how long it might take to receive assistance from Dundas. Kathleen
Doran-Norton moved to grant $2000.00 to Mr. Rock from the landfill hosting
fund; Glen Castore seconded. It was noted that 25% of that fund was to be
used for remediation of the landfill and the remaining 75% was discretionary.
The board decided this constituted a water and drainage issue which is a line
item in the 20009 budget. Mr. Rock also noted that the amount he had been
quoted was an estimate and not the actual final cost. It was requested that
Mr. Rock return to advise the board of the total cost when the work is
finished. Motion carried unanimously.

John Shade from St. Olaf came forward to advise that his department was
looking for financial assistance in testing nitrate levels in Rice Creek. He
advised how this information could be beneficial to the township and that
unlike a state certified water testing facility they could provide equal results
at a lower cost. At this time he was only looking for and received permission
to test at the Todd Nichols Property and was requesting $1500.00. It was
noted that the township did allocate an amount of money in the previous
budget that this would qualify for. The Board suggested contacting the
residence on the other side of the creek as well, and if possible, to test both.
Glen Castore moved to provide up to $3000.00 for the possibility if testing
the two sides, Kathleen Doran-Norton seconded. It was requested to have
regular updates provided. Kathleen Doran-Norton advised that while she did
work at St. Olaf it was in a different department. Motion carried unanimously.

In response to the Northfield annexation agreement which was discussed

earlier supervisor Knecht noted how fortunate it was that due to the
agreement the township was able to work with Northfield, which is not the
case in all annexations that occur.

Supervisor Knecht advised that part of the highway 19 mill/overlay and that
CSAH 1 projects scheduled for next year would require detours for some
time, but not as bad as some of the work in the past.

It was noted again that Jim Braun was absent due to illness and the Planning
and zoning report would be held off until next month.

Brad Pfahning advised that while a year to date on the finances had not been
done that barring unusual costs the township finances are on track and
should be under budget. It was also noted that it was nearing the time to
apply for grants to the parks and trails legacy program. Claims were
provided at this time Kathleen Doran-Norton moved to approve; Glen Castore
seconded. Motion carried unanimously

2
-A break was taken at this time to sign checks-

Road status was discussed without major issue.

It was noted that as part of the Dundas ARD that there would be a meeting
on Thursday October 15th 3pm at Community Resource Bank with the
Dundas city council.

The Spring Brook Creek discussion group would meet again on Friday
October 16th at 7:30 am

The Trail ordinances were continued to be worked on for simplicity and that a
Bridgewater Planning Commission work session would occur on October 24th.

The planning and zoning report would wait until next month for Jim to
recover. The stream inventory is still progressing per a motion past in a
previous work session.

Glen Castore moved to adjourn Kathleen Doran-Norton seconded. Motion

carried, and the meeting adjourned at 9:05pm.

Michael Norton, Interim Clerk