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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Embarrass Township lowers levy to $153,300, less than one-percent reduction

Mickey White
Posted 6/20/19

EMBARRASS- Embarrass Township reconvened its Annual Meeting on Wednesday, June 12 and set the 2020 levy at $153,300, a less than one-percent reduction from 2019. The board had originally proposed to …

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Embarrass Township lowers levy to $153,300, less than one-percent reduction

Posted

EMBARRASS- Embarrass Township reconvened its Annual Meeting on Wednesday, June 12 and set the 2020 levy at $153,300, a less than one-percent reduction from 2019. The board had originally proposed to keep the levy at $154,00, at the March 12 Annual Meeting. It returned in June with a proposed levy of $185,300, a 20-percent increase over 2019. This new amount was intended to cover an increase in the Fire Department contract, to fund the purchase of a new plow truck, and to increase the Insurance Fund to include the new post office and the new truck. After a short discussion, the lowered levy passed on a 7-3 vote with one abstention.

Only eleven of the township’s approximately 600 residents attended the meeting. It began with a discussion about whether it had been properly posted. Although notices had been posted in the usual locations, there had been no official notice published in the newspaper of record. The issue remained unresolved and the meeting continued.

Two motions were passed to forward to the town board. These motions are advisory in nature and not binding on the board.

The first motion asked the board to look into selling two township properties, the Nelimark and the Phyala homesteads. The Nelimark Homestead on Hwy. 21 is leased to Sisu Heritage, Inc., which runs the Nelimark Museum and Farmstead Artisan gift shop in the old farmhouse. The Phyala Homestead, on the Embarrass River at Salo Rd., is part of the township’s Heritage Park, which also includes the campground and a paved trail. The Phyala Homestead is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Both properties are included on the Heritage Homestead tours, run by the township. The motion passed 7-4.

The second motion asked the board to present an accounting of how much money is spent on the township’s historic properties. The clerk had preliminary numbers for the years 2009 to 2019 to-date. The total was $27, 434. The motion passed 6-2 with 3 abstentions.

Other items of concern to residents were the condition of the Embarrass Cemetery grounds on Memorial Day and the condition of the Heritage Park Campground.