GREENWOOD TWP- Residents here will resume their annual meeting on Thursday, July 22 at 6:30 p.m., after residents decided to continue the annual meeting begun in March due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. Next week’s meeting will be held in person at the Greenwood Town Hall.
In February, the board had passed a motion asking voters to approve a $150,000 levy for 2022, plus an additional $25,000 to set aside for future broadband projects.
At the board’s regular monthly meeting, on July 13, Chairman Mike Ralston asked the board to consider revising that request, upping the amount to $200,000.
“We are $49,000 deficit spending right now,” he said. “Last year we asked for $200,000, but got $150,000.”
“It was a close vote,” Ralston said, “probably swung by an ineligible voter.” Ralston did not elaborate on his claim.
At the 2020 meeting, a motion for a $250,000 levy failed on a tie 32-32 vote, taken by written ballot with voters being checked off on the voter registration list. A second motion for a $150,000 levy, passed 33-31, again on a written ballot.
The township has been levying less than its annual spending the past several years, as they chipped away at what once was more than a million dollars in reserves. The township currently has $515,779 in its accounts as reported in the June treasurer’s report, which includes $252,332 in long-term investments and $53,577 in restricted funds.
Ralston said that MAT advises townships to keep between one-and-a-half and two times its annual budget in reserve, but that number has been disputed by others on the board.
“We have very little to do besides the fire department and the town hall area,” said Supervisor Barb Lofquist. “Everything we have is insured.”
Ralston did not have any updates on the 2022 budget to present to the board but said the budget would be presented at the annual meeting. The preliminary budget presented to the board in February estimated spending of $331,800 in 2022, up just slightly from the 2021 budget of $330,833.
The board voted 3-2, with Lofquist and Sue Drobac voting against, to ask for a $200,000 levy.
The township’s annual levy is set by residents, not the board, though the board does set the actual budget and oversee all the spending.

Broadband funding
Ralston told the board there is possible good news on the broadband funding front, with Greenwood’s and Bois Forte’s requests for funding included in Sen. Tina Smith’s federal funding request. The request, if funded as currently written, would provide $5.5 million for the approximate $6.6 million dollar project. This would leave the project still about a million dollars short.
“Everybody wants to get broadband in,” Ralston said, “and we are going to have to pay for it.”
He asked the board to consider asking residents to add an additional $200,000 to the levy for the next several years to make up the shortfall, but his motion failed for lack of a second.
Ralston did not give any additional information of possible bonding or loan options for the township. He has been talking with financial institutions about these options.
While the township probably will not be eligible for state Border to Border broadband funding, there are funding options with the IRRRB that have been discussed. Drobac also attended the last St. Louis County Board meeting, which was held at Fortune Bay, and asked the county to consider making grant funds available from their American Rescue Act funding.
Other business
In other business, the board:
• Was asked why the clerk’s office was closed on three separate days in the last month, during regular office hours. “There was no posting that the clerk wouldn’t be there,” said Mark Drobac.
Clerk Deb Spicer said she was not there “because of the changes,” and added that she doesn’t know what the exact hours are.
• Heard from Spicer that the township copier was not working. Spicer had sent out the meeting agenda without the normal attached reports noting the scanner function was not working. Drobac said the machine was working and she had scanned in copies the night before, and made copies on the machine that morning. When the board was ready to approve payroll, Drobac asked that copies be made for the board to review before they approved it. Spicer said the machine was not working. Drobac then got up from the table, went into the office and made copies to distribute to the board members. Ralston thanked Drobac for making the copies.
• Heard some questions from Drobac on the new ADP payroll system, which had made changes in the payroll withholding, along with a question on why payroll wasn’t being done by the calendar month. Township officials are mostly paid on a monthly salary basis. Treasurer Belinda Fazio said she would look into the issues and make corrections.
• Clerk Spicer said that all requests for information from the clerk’s office will need a written information request form filled out. She said that Drobac had again been asking for information when she was busy getting ready for the meeting. The written information requests, which are available on the township website, can take several weeks to be acted upon.
• Drobac asked training officer Rick Worringer to update the board on the training status of department firefighters, as to completion of the standard Firefighter I and II classes.
• Drobac asked for written copies of the updated policies that had been approved. Spicer said they were posted online and on the wall in the office, but Drobac noted there was missing language, and that there needed to be a clarification on the policies for contacting the township attorneys.
• Had a request from a resident to look into how to change the classification of Old Highway 77 from a rural to urban road. Rural county roads default to a 55-mph speed limit, while urban county roads can be posted at 30 mph. Others noted this is an issue on Birch Point and Everett Bay roads, also. Several town board members noted this issue would need to be addressed by the state, not the county, and can take several years, but township officials will look at starting the process.
• Heard that a township resident is asking that Greenwood Township be moved to the Virginia Ambulance Service area instead of Tower. Spicer noted that the Cook Ambulance would be closer. Supervisor Carmen DeLuca said in that case, Greenwood would need to join the Cook Healthcare District, something voters have not supported in the past. DeLuca said he had talked with TAAS Supervisor Dena Suihkonen, who explained that ambulance service areas are assigned by a state board.
• Approved spending up to $2,500 to have Fisher Printing mail out a written survey to gauge interest in broadband. Lofquist said they would model it after surveys done by Field Township, and would give residents the opportunity to either fill out and return a written survey, or do the survey online. An updated survey has been requested by CTC, the company interested in providing broadband in Greenwood.
• Will look into getting quotes on having the township’s website updated.
• Approved a request from Drobac to get copies of fire department meeting minutes from earlier this year, along with more information on what the deputy treasurer is doing (whether these were township or fire department duties).
• Appointed fire department member Jet Galonski as Greenwood representative to the Joint Powers Recreation Board.
• Denied a request from the fire department to set pay for all 911-callout time at $20 per hour. Currently fire and EMS personnel are paid $20 for the first hour and then $10 for any additional hours. Department members are also paid $10 per hour for time spent at meetings and training. Fire Chief Dave Fazio noted that most calls take less than an hour. The vote failed 2-3, with Ralston, Drobac, and Lofquist voting against. Ralston noted he would consider this move starting in 2022, but didn’t want to do it this year because it wasn’t budgeted for. Lofquist said she was fine with the request and also said it needed to be accounted for in the budget but also wondered if the township should “take the word volunteer out of our fire department.” Lofquist said she also wanted the township to consider increasing the EMS pension amount for 2022.
• Heard that Bois Forte is looking at investing some of its COVID relief money into fire equipment. Fazio said the department had many members who live on the reservation.
• Heard that the fire department is working with the U.S. Forest Service on protocols for responding the emergencies in the Boundary Waters/Trout Lake area. Fire Department Assistant Chief Mike Indihar also discussed issues with the department’s fire boat being called out for non-emergency rescues, for example a boat that has run out of gas. Indihar said while the department would certainly respond to any boating emergency, he was reluctant to have department resources tied up for non-essential calls. “What if we are out there and get a fire call?” he asked. DeLuca said the township had previously discussed this issue and said the department would only respond if there was an emergency.