Greenwood board lauded for road repair, pickleball courts
Two ‘cabal’ board members, treasurer walk out based on a perceived technicality in a failed effort to disrupt meeting.
By Terry Carlson – September 12, 2024
In one of the shortest regular monthly meetings in memory—just 1 hour—the board moved smoothly through the agenda last Thursday evening.
Well, sort of.
This is Greenwood, after all.
The evening began with two of the supervisors, John Bassing and Rick Stoehr, citing a policy which they misinterpreted to mean that the meeting—as a regular meeting and not a special meeting—was illegal.
Chair Lois Roskoski, pointed out that the township attorney was consulted beforehand and deemed the meeting to be legal and appropriate.
Nevertheless, both Bassing and Stoehr got up and exited the meeting while Roskoski was yet speaking, followed in puppy dog fashion by fellow “cabal” member, treasurer Jeff Maus.
Later, near the end of the meeting, Paul Thompson expressed his disappointment “at their behavior,” questioning why the board members agreed to the meeting last month only to suddenly walk away when the meeting began. Clearly, most of the crowd were in agreement, chiming in vocally in after Thompson spoke up.
Moving along …
The comparative brevity of the meeting did proceed with uncommon harmony for the most part, albeit shortened primarily due to the absence of the reports from the now-absentee parties.
In the public comment slot, Steve Zaudke thanked the board, and Paul Thompson and the rest the leadership of the Lake Vermilion Pickleball Association for wonderful work done to bring the four pickleball courts to completion. He also marveled on how it was done in such a short time.
Chair Roskoski commented on the bank reconciliation and Schedule 1 were not included in the packet. Since Maus was no longer present, Roskoski was unable to question why they not included, and made a motion to require that the report be included at every monthly meeting, which the board immediately seconded and approved 3-0.
Supervisor Paul Skubic was pleased to report that Twp Road 4136 was finally patched and smooth, adding that they did an excellent job of it. To that result, the board received a full page letter from the Birch Point Interior Association congratulating this board for finally getting the job done and called the repair job “the best that has ever been done” and “far exceeded anyone’s expectations in both the scope of the project and the thoroughness of the completed repairs.”
Next up is the needed brushing of the road, Skubic noted that it is too late in the season to do it. Looking ahead to winter, Skubic then motioned to place ads in both local newspapers to take bids for the plowing and sanding. The motion carried unanimously.
Supervisor Craig Gilbert reported that he has been in touch with his Bois Forte contact for an update on the progress for the broadband extension into Greenwood. Presently the reservation has a request in to Lake Country Power, seeking their approval to use their poles.
Chair Roskoski attended the Ambulance Commission meeting and reported that the affected communities of Babbitt, Ely, and Tower will first need to be “on board” with the proposal to merge all of their licenses into one before the commission can move on.
In other business:
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Standard Operating Procedures for the Fire Department. Roskoski noted that the board is still awaiting and updated copy, which was requested of Maus over 3 months ago. As to the proposed amendments, further explanation was needed from Stoehr and Maus, so it was tabled until the October meeting.
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The board also has still not received the following:
– Updated copy for Paid On-Call Policy (from Maus).
– Capitol Replacement Plan (from Maus)
– Performance evaluations [fire chief (Maus) to obtain forms from other departments].
All were tabled until the October meeting.
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The board is awaiting the Brassmaster quote from Froe Bros (the process takes about two weeks).
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The plan to brush Township Road 4136 from fire chief Maus and supervisor Gilbert is on hold.
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The letter from the township’s attorney revealed that the Birch Point Road Extension is indeed a township road and not a county road.