| 12-1-02
NDTOA Executive Board Minutes
12-1-02 Radisson Bismarck, ND
All board members and officers were
present.
President Malcomb called the meeting
to order at 5:05 PM. President Malcomb asked for a reading of the
minutes from the 9-28-02 board meeting. Secretary Ken Yantes read
the minutes. Larry Syverson moved a motion to approve the
minutes and Floyd Miller seconded it. Motion carried.
Nolan Verwest then gave a treasurers
report. A motion was moved by Steve and seconded by Floyd to
file the report. Motion carried.
President Malcomb reported that the
Governor had communicated with him and would be in attendance
at our December 2nd meeting. President of the Minnesota Township
Officers, Loren Ingebretson, would be in attendance again this year.
Tom, Floyd and Steve offered to help
him in a flag ceremony Monday morning.
Tom gave his attorney’s report. He
spoke of his attendance at county annual meetings and of the Grand
Forks waffle plan action. He also discussed some of the legal
questions that county organizations had brought to him.
ACIR report was given by President
Malcomb. He indicated no new bills had been proposed since the last
board meeting.
Steve Ginsbach reported he had some
resolutions in hand and was expecting more this evening.
Bea Wall and Bryan both gave reports
from the national level.
The Awards committee had procured
awards for past state presidents Gene Gehrke, Chuck Thacker and
Bryan Hoime. The legislative award would be given to Senator Elroy
Lindaas. Mr. Township, the grassroots government leadership award,
would be decided by the committee tonight from a slate of three good
candidates.
Ken and Ralph discussed the Rules
Committee report and indicated it was ready to present tomorrow.
Barb and Nolan reviewed the
convention plans for all and said they were ready to go. Legislative
office plans were discussed and put off until Tuesday afternoon.
Nominating committee chairman, Floyd
Miller, reviewed the nominations procedure that would be used at
Tuesday’s elections.
Don Malcomb indicated that the NDTOA
jackets were here and ready for presentation. Director Bob Forward
was appointed escort for the Governor when he arrived for lunch on
the second of December.
A table was to be set up in the back
of the annual meeting room by Ken and Nolan to display the donated
auction items.
President Malcomb recessed the board
meeting until after the annual membership meeting.
President Malcomb reconvened the
state board meeting. All board members were present.
The dues increase passed at the 2002
annual meeting was discussed and the minutes from 2001 were read
indicating the intention to do so.
Ralph moved a motion and Bob
seconded it to have Ken serve as lobbyist this legislative session
for a fee of $100.00 per day. Motion carried.
. .Larry moved a motion to get
an apartment in Bismarck and pay the expenses of operation of the
same. Motion carried.
Larry moved a motion to allow
Kerry Schorsch to handle ad sales for the web page with 25% of the
sales to go to Kerry to cover the costs involved in selling the ads.
Kerry was to bill the advertisers as he deemed fit. Motion was
seconded by Bob. Motion carried.
Kerry moved and Steve seconded a motion
to have Ken sell ads for the Grassroots Report newsletter as
he has done in the past and bill the advertisers. Motion carried.
Bob moved a motion and Larry
seconded it to be sure we as a board and organization have a sales
tax exemption number. Motion carried.
Steve moved and Kerry seconded a
motion to empower Ken and
Nolan to secure an apartment and stock it with the appropriate
furniture.
Ralph moved
and Larry seconded a motion to appoint Ken as
Association Secretary and Nolan as Association Treasurer for another
year. Motion carried.
Kerry moved and Floyd seconded a
motion to appoint Tom as our attorney for the next year. Motion
carried.
Nolan reported that the auction
netted $310 this year. Registration had brought in $1330 and 76
dinners were served at the awards banquet.
Reducing the number of newsletters
per year was discussed and was not well received by the board. A
full time Executive Secretary position was discussed and the board
was to consider a dues raise by-law change in our newsletter at
least 30 days before the next annual meeting to help fund such a
position.
The 2003 membership annual meeting
will be held the first part of December in Minot ND.
Next board of directors meeting time
and place was discussed and it was decided to meet in Bismarck in
mid January (15th) at 11:00 AM.
The board meeting was recessed to the
new offices of the Association of Counties.
Mark Johnson, CEO of the Association
of Counties, conducted the board of directors on a tour of the new
county building.
President Malcomb reconvened the
board meeting in the large meeting room there.
All members of the board were
present. Ralph moved and Bob seconded a motion to rent an
office in the building for our legislative staff for the upcoming
session. Motion carried.
Steve moved and Larry seconded a
motion to adjourn. Motion
carried.
President Malcomb declared we were in
adjournment.
Respectfully submitted.
NDTOA Secretary
Ken Yantes
9-28-02
minutes.
Ken Secretary NDTOA.
The meeting was called to order by President Don Malcomb at 11:10 in
the Ramsey county courthouse meeting room. The following
members were present Steve Ginsbach, Floyd Miller, Kerry
Schorsch, Bob Forward, Nolan Verwest, Ralph Olson,
Larry Syverson, Don Malcomb Bea Wall, Ken Yantes.
President Malcomb asked for the
reading of last meetings minutes. Secretary, Ken Yantes read the
minutes which Larry Syverson moved a motion to approve, Floyd Miller
seconded and was unanimously carried.
President Malcomb then asked
for the treasures report. Treasurer Nolan Verwest reported
incomes for the year of $46,497.23 and expenses of
$37,139.08 with a balance on hand in checking and savings
of $33,,432.70. The non-paying counties list was read and
discussed. $6880.00 remained unpaid to date. Steve
moved a motion to file the report which was seconded by Larry and
carried.
President Malcomb reported on the
ACIR meeting which he had attended in Pembina. He discussed
the presentation given on artifactual finds wind development
progress in our state. He also went though the proposed bills on
taxation that will be submitted from the ACIR committee during the
next legislative session. One of the key bills dealt with was
a county mill levy combination bill similar to the bill that
combined park board levies last session. A bill that revises
the state aid to political subdivisions according to the 2000 census
population shift should be closely monitored for its affect on
township funding.
Steve Ginsbach reported on both State
board of tax equalization meetings that he had attended on behalf of
the NDTOA. He observed the county tax equalization boards decisions
being overturned for good cause by the state board. He
mentioned the willingness of the state board representatives to go
out to the counties and inspect each case brought to the state level
by local tax payers.
A letter from the Kidder Co. tax
director was read which indicated a problem with the county
boards not recognizing the township concerns with local tax
decisions. Steve will report in the news letter of the actions
by the state board of equalizations actions when the county board
does it wrong . This will help more of our township officers to
realize that the county board is not the end of the appeals
process.
Ralph Orson discussed the T squared
meeting he had attended and the need of township input there.
Many of the board members of t Squared board wanted a copy of our
news letter. Director Floyd Miller with the consensus of the
board indicated we should try to get our newsletter to the
governmental entities that want to receive it.
President Malcomb indicated he had
viewed the jackets requested at a prior meeting and found them
to need some word changing alteration before we could pick up.
Ralph moved a motion to have Lowes do
the printing for the next newsletter and Floyd Miller seconded it
and it passed. Don to check out the pricing.
A discussion on the Forest service
take over of township and county road systems was surfaced but no
action taken.
President Malcomb reported on the
Grand Forks Waffle system as proposed last meeting. His discussions
with Boe Bailey netted a great deal of concern with using township
roads as dikes. The SCS and the Water boards both plan a resolution
in opposition to the system as well as Grand Forks township officers
association.
Ralph announced a Nov 19th meeting to
reorganize the Ramsey County Township Officers Association and asked
for Donny, Steve and Ken to assist this process.
Ken and Nolan were to travel to
Bismarck to try to finalize the cost of rental of office space in
the Association Of Counties new office building.
President Malcomb was to write an
article for the newsletter on the confirmation checks from NDIRF.
Bea Wall National Director reported
on the following:
- The census bureau action to make
census taking an annual process.
- Waste water and drinking water
proposals netted an unfunded mandate and was opposed.
- The assistance to rural Fire
departments grants went to smaller departments this year (those
towns under 25,000)
- Bea attended a workshop on land
use, Zoning liability which she thought was very .
Ridge, the director of home
land security, gave a report on all the agencies under his control.
Bryan Hoime submitted a letter as his
national director report which the board all appreciated, his
comments are attached to these minutes.
Ralph moved and Steve seconded a
motion to ask Tom to prepare a presentation on Zoning for our
upcoming annual meeting. Motion was unanimously passed.
Ken read a letter from the Internal
Revenue Service. Bea moved and Floyd seconded a motion to ask
Al Klaman to present at our annual meeting. Motion carried.
Further discussions on the annual
meeting surfaced the want for an auction of donated articles.
Don to cover this in his article in the newsletter.
Floyd moved and Larry seconded a
motion to fund a breakfast for all county presidents at this annual
meeting. Motion carried.
Grassroots leadership awards
applications to be in the next newsletter.
Annual meeting registration fee to be
set at $25.00 and an extra $10.00 for spouse at the banquet.
Larry moved and Ralph seconded a
motion to adjourn.
Motion carried. 2:20 PM
Respectfully submitted
Secretary Ken Yantes
June 6, 2002
President Malcomb called the
meeting to order at 9:15 on 6-22-02 in the
Twin Oaks Resort meeting room, Lake Metigoshe.
The following board members were
present: Larry Syverson, Floyd Miller, Ralph Olson, Robert Forward,
Don Malcomb, Steve Ginsbach, Nolan Verwest, Thomas Moe, Ken Yantes.
President Malcomb asked for the
reading of last meetings minutes. Secretary Yantes read the minutes,
which were amended by a motion from Steve and a second from Larry to
include Larry’s name in the members present list from last meeting
as he was present. Motion Carried.
The treasurers report was given by
Nolan. It indicated expenses to date of $23,737.16 and incomes of
$45,009.23. Nolan also reported that of the 242 individual townships
billed that 153 had already paid dues to our association and that 21
county associations had paid current dues but 10 had not. The list
of non payers was read by Nolan.
Don gave a report on the activities
at the last ACIR meeting that he had attended.
Ken gave a report on the action taken
at the Director of transportation’s advisory commission
meeting. He indicated the action to include township input regarding
the increasing importance of township roads being used for commuting
to and from work in our rural areas.
Annual meeting report: Nolan reported
that the 2002 Dec. 1,2,+3 annual meeting place has been changed from
the Radisson to the Holiday Inn at Bismarck.
Tom Moe submitted his attorney
report. he indicated the nature of a lot of the phone calls he had
received. he was increasingly concerned with the population losses
in the smaller townships and the lack of residents to serve as
officers in townships. He suggested we consider legislative
alternatives to allow townships to have the flexibility to operate
with a reduced number of officers in the future. Ralph Olson
asked for a legal report on the Government and Indian take over of
land and the tax problems caused by this action. Federal action is
still pending on the legislation required to correct the inequities
that the Eddy county residents had brought to our attention
last meeting.
Ralph Olson asked of the NDIRF
potential funding question. It was decided to ask Mayor Fred Bott to
come to our next meeting in Devils Lake and talk to us of the future
funding effort potential.
President Malcomb asked of the
directors present for the lists of the county presidents in their
districts and Larry Syverson handed in his list.
President Malcomb Indicated that the
new jackets ordered last meeting would be in soon and available for
annual meeting presentation.
A newsletter discussion was held.
President Malcomb indicated he had talked to a township officer that
was interested in doing our news letter and attending our meetings
to be informed of our organizational activities and report them in
future newsletters. A bid for doing the newsletter including
handling all the advertising was submitted and appeared to be of a
lessor cost than the present system. Ralph moved and Bob
seconded a motion to send Don, Nolan and Ken to meet with the Lowes
printing service in Minot as soon as they could work out the
logistics. President Malcomb would inform LeAnn Harner of the change
and ask for our property to be returned to us.
Larry moved and Bob second a motion
to establish a web page for NDTOA as submitted by Kerry last
meeting. Motion was carried.
Bob moved and Larry seconded a motion
to send a copy of all the clerks and chairman of ND Townships to the
NDIRF for use in contacting them on refund business only. Tom was to
ready a do not release form to be used in this process. Motion
carried Board members reviewed the most common used index form and
Tom indicated the need for adding real estate transfers in the list.
Tom reported on the water waffle
system and it’s affect on the Grand Forks Townships. A resolution
that was developed by Grand Forks County was read. Larry moved and
Steve seconded a motion to adopt the resolution as state policy in
this emergency situation. Motion carried. President Macomb to
send letters to Joan Able, Willie Huet and others in support of the
Grand Forks County resolution which requested township and county
seats on the study commission set up by the EERC.
Ken was to get a letter of
introduction to Steve for his attendance at the State Board of
Tax Equalization meeting. Ken to call Commissioner Clayburg to find
out when meeting is scheduled for and inform all members of the
date.
Ralph asked of the legality of non
acceptance of a Texas crossing in Benson County area. Tom responded
with the NDCC on crossings and bridge responsibility of county
government and the need to cooperate to accomplish a solution on a
local level.
Ralph reported on reorganization of
Foster County and others in his district and indicated proposed
future meetings to do so. State Board members and officers were
welcome to attend and help with these efforts.
NATAT Having not received a
report from either of our representatives in the last 3 meetings it
was moved by Ralph and seconded by Floyd to ask our representatives
what their future intentions were concerning future meeting
attendance. Ken to contact Bry and Bea.
Barb and Bob to write next board
member articles for the news letter.
Next meeting to be held in Devils
lake, September 28th, 9:00AM Court House meeting room.
Respectfully Submitted,
Secretary Ken Yantes |
