GREENWOOD TWP - In what may be a portent of meetings to come, Greenwood Township’s annual reorganizational meeting on March 25 proceeded with mostly 3-2 votes, with newly-elected supervisors Barb Lofquist and Sue Drobac often dissenting from the previously-seated board members Mike Ralston, Carmen DeLuca, and Paul Skubic.
Electing this year’s chair was the first order of business, and DeLuca nominated Ralston, who has served as chair the past several years. Drobac nominated DeLuca.
A motion to elect Ralston passed 3-2, with Drobac and Lofquist voting against. Drobac questioned if Ralston was permitted to vote for himself, which apparently he had not done the last two years. Clerk Debby Spicer said she had a letter from the township attorney stating such a vote was allowed. The letter was not in the meeting packet, but DeLuca said it had been emailed to all the supervisors that afternoon.
“We can choose to vote,” said Ralston, “there is no rule that says you can’t.”
Ralston noted that if the vote went 2-2 and was not resolved, the seated chair would remain anyway.
DeLuca was nominated for vice-chair and was confirmed on the same 3-2 vote.
Drobac asked if the board should expand those approved as signatories for the township’s accounts at Frandsen Bank.
“At the training (online) I attended today,” Drobac said, “MAT recommends that all board members are signatories, plus the clerk and treasurer and their deputies.”
“That would be a huge headache for the bank,” said Ralston.
“That’s just a recommendation,” said DeLuca, “I say we go with the chair, vice-chair, clerk, treasurer, and deputies.”
“You do what MAT recommends when you agree with it, but then don’t when you don’t agree,” said Lofquist.
Ralston said he would get information in writing from MAT, and the issue could come back to the table at a future meeting.
The vote to approve the chair, vice-chair, clerk, treasurer, and deputies passed 3-2.
When it came time to select the township attorney, Drobac asked if the township should look at hiring someone more local that the attorney from Duluth, and then use MAT attorneys as much as possible.
“The budget we have now for attorneys is $18,000,” she said. “That is quite a bit.”
DeLuca retorted that “if we didn’t get sued by a certain person all the time, we wouldn’t have the bills.”
Lofquist countered that this wouldn’t be the case if “the township did things right.”
The board voted 3-2 to stay with Mike Couri, but gave Drobac permission to contact Mitch Brunfelt, of Virginia, who serves as the city of Tower attorney, for information.
The board discussed moving to in-person meetings at some point.
“It is very difficult and cumbersome to conduct meetings over the phone,” Ralston noted. “But guidance from MAT is still advising us not to, hopefully that will change.”
Ralston asked that township officials, and those listening in, act professionally.
“Snide comments and laughter do not help,” he said, reacting to several instances of inappropriate comments from some unidentified people who were listening to the meeting on the telephone lines and had not muted themselves.
Other business
In other business, the board:
• Prior to the start of the meeting, held the Board of Canvass for the recount in the clerk’s race, which reaffirmed the two-vote victory of Debby Spicer over JoAnn Bassing.
• Set regular meetings for the second Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. with the annual reorganization meeting on the fourth Thursday in March.
• Appointed Lofquist as the road supervisor.
• Appointed DeLuca to the ambulance commission on a 3-2 vote, and Lofquist as alternate on a 4-1 vote with DeLuca voting against.
• Appointed DeLuca as grounds and maintenance supervisor on a 3-2 vote.
• Appointed Skubic as the representative to the Vermilion Trail Board.
• Selected the Tower News as the township’s official newspaper. Drobac made a motion to appoint both local newspapers, but DeLuca had already made a motion for the Tower News. Spicer said a township generally has one official paper. Lofquist said in that case it should be the most-read paper. Spicer claimed, falsely, that the Tower News has more circulation. The motion to approve the Tower News passed 3-2.
• Approved getting a subscription to the Timberjay on a 3-2 vote, with DeLuca and Skubic voting against. “The Timberjay is really the township newspaper,” said Lofquist. “That is your opinion,” replied Ralston.
• Appointed Ralston as noxious weeds representative on a 4-1 vote with Ralston voting against.
• Appointed DeLuca as 911 coordinator on a 4-1 vote with Drobac voting against.
• Appointed Drobac and Lofquist as representatives to the broadband committee on a unanimous vote.