GREENWOOD TWP- In a meeting that started with an apology from Chairman Mike Ralston over the lack of an agenda, the Greenwood Town Board fumbled its way through its Feb. 8 meeting.
“No agenda, no minutes from last month,” said Ralston.
The board passed a motion to table approval of the January minutes, but never passed a motion to approve an agenda.
They then proceeded with the treasurer’s report. Supervisor Sue Drobac noted that the printed report detailing receipts did not match the treasurer’s reported total of $6,184. Treasurer Belinda Fazio went into her office to produce a correct printout, noting the treasurer’s report was missing its second page.
Clerk Debby Spicer arrived slightly late to the meeting and did hand out packets, but the attached agenda lacked anything under old or new business. She told the board that with all the “election stuff” she didn’t have time to prepare the agenda. She did tell the board they needed to act on the appointment of an absentee ballot board, which they did approve.
Employee versus independent
contractor status
Fire Chief Dave Fazio told the board the entire department was in favor of going back to “volunteer” independent contractor status versus employee status, which would mean the township would issue 1099 year-end forms, instead of W2’s. This issue had come up at a previous meeting, and the board had asked the fire department for their input.
Audience member Joanne Bassing pointed out that independent contractors were responsible for paying the full cost of their own Social Security taxes, while employees get half of that tax paid by their employer.
“More than one department member said the W2 income screws up their unemployment,” said Fazio.
Bassing wondered if the township would still be responsible for workers compensation insurance if the members are not considered employees.
“The township could get in trouble with the IRS,” she said.
Supervisor Carmen DeLuca put a motion on the floor to make the change. But questions remained about the legality of the move. The township had switched fire department members to employee status back in 2016 due to advice from the Minnesota Association of Townships and their township attorney.
“The fair labor standards act certainly allows it,” said Ralston. “They can be paid up to 20 percent of what a full-time fire fighter would make.”
“They do not fit being an independent contractor,” said Drobac. “We need to do more research.”
Ralston said he would contact MAT for guidance, and the decision was tabled.
Board of Audit
The board conducted their Board of Audit, where townships are allowed to conduct a self-audit of the books from the previous year. Each supervisor was instructed to randomly choose a number for receipts corresponding to records from the calendar year 2021, and one random number for disbursements. Once a number was selected, the clerk and treasurer then presented the claim or disbursement that had been randomly selected. There was some confusion about some of these numbers not falling in the year 2021.
The board had to note the books had a discrepancy in the township’s end-of-year balance of $150.51 ($664,541.15 versus $664,390.64)). Spicer said the problem appeared to be something in the CTAS accounting software they use and was working with MAT trying to track down the error. Spicer said she had spent about ten hours working on the issue with MAT over the weekend and was hoping to hear back soon so the problem could be corrected before the information needs to be submitted to the state.
Other business
In other business, the board:
• Heard that the fire department has purchased a 2016 Alumacraft boat with a 2018 25 hp Evinrude and trailer for $11,000. The purchase was funded with a $10,000 donation to the fire department and $1,000 from fire department funds.
• Heard that the Heiam Foundation will be putting up a plaque to honor the township, because their donations have now totaled over $1,000.
• Clerk Spicer told the board she had erred in sending out individual emails requesting permission to attend a training. The registration deadline was before the next meeting date. She said the township attorney told her this wasn’t a violation of the open meeting law, because she is not a member of the board, but someone did question her actions and she apologized for the confusion.
• Ralston told the board he had prepared a draft request for proposals for a consultant to work on the idea of a regional ambulance service and would send it to the other supervisors to review, as well as send it out to those who receive notifications of township meetings.
• Heard the new water treatment system is scheduled to be installed on March 14.