LUTSEN TOWNSHIP
ANNUAL TOWN MEETING MINUTES
March 11, 2025
Lutsen Town Hall
Present: Ashley VanDoren, Ginny Storlie, Rae Peipo, Sharon Hexum-Platzer, Steve Duclos, Matt Kartes, Chris Homyak, Fred Schmitt, Carl Friesner, Brian Larsen, Judy Motschenbacher
Call Meeting to Order: 2025 Annual Town Meeting called to order by Clerk S. Mcquatters-Spangle at 8:05 pm.
Nomination from the Floor for Meeting Moderator: S. Mcquatters-Spangle opened the floor to nominations for meeting moderator. Judy Motschenbacher was nominated by Samantha Mcquatters-Spangle; Matt Kartes seconded. All voted in favor raised their hands or indicated approval, no objections. Judy Motschenbacher was accepted as the nomination and assumed the position of meeting moderator.
Pledge of Allegiance: The Flag was presented, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Reading and setting of Agenda: Moderator Motschenbacher address the room and asked if there were any comments or question in regards to the agenda or if someone would make a motion to accept. Samantha Mcquatters-Spangle advised two changes to the donation request items. Lutsen ski team has requested an increase amount to $2000; Tofte senior lunch as requested a donation from Lutsen Township for the amount of $5000. Rae Peipo made a motion to accept the agenda, Chris Homyak seconded, no objections; motion carried.
Commissioner updates: (Ginny Storlie):
Advocated for the senior lunch support of a donation request as many Lutsen residents take park in this weekly program. Rae Peipo asked commissioner Storlie who has financed the senior lunch in the past. Previously Tofte township has fronted the money solely as they own the Birchgrove building. $6000 has previously been paid for the Tofte lunch by the county as well; currently each meal of a good portion is $5.00 with 25-40 people showing up for food every Wednesday at 11:30 and many people taking a second healing home as not every can drive or afford a good meal. Moderator Motschenbacher also pointed out that everyone is encouraged to attend of any age.
Commissioners attended the early March annual legislative meeting with senator Hauschild and Skraba to discuss local needs in each county and help legislators understand what our needs are. Commissioner Storlie did request Senator Hauschild’s assistant to convene a townhall in Cook County for the local public to attend. March 21, 2025; more details and confirmation will be posted to Boreal and WTIP.
County Board of Commissioners acting as a committee of the whole came together to discuss important items to consider in the forceable future. During this comity sheriff Elisen informed the group that they have saved almost $50,000 for the 14 body cameras for responding officers to better protect and recall incident or encounter should issues arise. Attorney Peterson seconded this idea as there are many instances when you after an altercation occurred and weeks or months have passed video evidence will clarify the incident.
Commissioners are currently in the process of working with the economic development in Cook County about the plans for Taconite Harbor. EDA director Heidi has hired a consultant to help organize steps needed to continue development of this next year. Public meetings and open houses held over the next year. Currently the land needs to be mitigated; Minnesota power owns the land but requested the community to be a part of the process in helping to determine the future development.
March 12, 2025 the final two interviews will happen for the executive director of the Cook County HRA; public is encouraged to view the interviews either in person or virtually via the Youtube link. Interviews to be conducted at 8:45am and 9:45am; Q and A will be available after the interviews conclude.
Reading of the Board of Audit report: (Clerk Mcquatters-Spangle)
For the fiscal year of 2024 January 1, 2024-December 31, 2024
Beginning Balance: $680.561.42
Total Receipts: $280,553.74
Total Disbursements $286,674.41
Ending Balance: $674,440.75 ($4,015.00 outstanding checks)
The Board of Audit report is available for public viewing and was on display during the annual meeting (Note: The Disbursements and Receipts included moving funds from checking to Truck Fund and separating the Truck Fund from Operating Money Market Fund thus duplicating some monies] The foregoing summary of receipts and disbursements, as well as the itemized statement of the Receipts Register, Cash Control Statement, Statement of Indebtedness, and the itemized statement of the Disbursements Register inclusive; have been examined and audited by supervisors and were approved the 31st day of January, 2024. All claims and receipts are located in the town office and available for review.)
Reading and Approval of the 2024 Annual Meeting and Continuation of Annual Meeting Minutes: Moderator Motschenbacher requested to dispense reading of the minutes; no objections. Moderator Motschenbacher questioned if any other items needed to be amended or if someone could make a motion to accept. Carl Friesner made a motion to accept the agenda, Chris Homyak seconded, no objections; motion passed.
Access to Review of 2024 Board of Audit Meeting Minutes and Review of 2024 Board of Appeals and Equalization Meeting Minutes. Moderator Motschenbacher advised the room the board of appeals and equalization minutes for 2024 and the board of canvass meeting minutes of 2024 were for review by the public.
Motion to authorize board actions MN Statute 365.10: Donation Requests: Moderator Motschenbacher asked the board if there were any comments or questions regarding donation requests for 2026.
Lutsen Junior Alpine Ski Team for 2026 - $ 2000; Matt Kartes made a motion to approve donation request of $2000 for Lutsen Jr alpine team. Steve Duclos seconded. Motion passed; none opposed. Moderator Motschenbacher made the comment of how proud the community should be of the alpine ski team as they placed well and were determined.
Tofte Township for July 4, 2023 Fireworks Display - $1500; Carl Freisner made a motion to approve the amount of $1,500 donation to Tofte fireworks. Sharon Hexum-Platzer seconded. Motion passed; none opposed.
Funding to support Lutsen Community Fall Celebration - $ 500; Carl Friesner made a motion to support the donation of $500 for the Lutsen fall celebration, Fred Schmit seconded. Motion passed. Rae Peipo questioned what the $500 was used on during the previous year. clerk and treasurer clarified that a large portion of the budget went to food and drink supplies for the community and decoration; the receipts and claims will be available from the clerk in the townhall office upon request.
Tofte senior lunch program at Birchgrove for 2026 - $5000; Carl Freisner made a motion to donate $5000 for the senior lunch program. Chris Homyak seconded. Motion passed; none opposed.
Proposed 2026 Township Budget Treasurer VanDoren first presented and explained that the Proposed Town Budget planned on February 2025 with the township supervisors, the Fire/EMS chiefs. Using the budget handout, she explained the General Town Budget includes township expenses and the Fire District Budget includes items that impact the entire fire district as well as Fire and EMS departments which are under one budget. She noted a specific change for 2026 budget; The general budget is looking at in increase from last year; adjustments to payroll in the amount of $3500 that is split between our general and fire general accounts. Election costs are going down to the 2026 year do to it being an even year. The new request for Tofte township senior lunch donation has also been added during this meeting in the amount of $5000. Fire district side the budget is decreasing from the 2025 year as the current year included buying 14 new air packs to the tune of $100,051 which we do not need to worry about replacing the new gear for another 10 years. 2026 building maintenance line item has gone down. The town board is evaluating projects in the near future but the subject will be revisited in August for the continuation meeting. Maintenance of the parking lot for projects like resurfacing and line stripping are budgeted for 2025 and will go down significantly for 2026.
Fire admin miscellaneous expenses will cover specific random items that come up throughout the year. Fire payroll increased due to new members and additional calls each year; 2026 will also be a full fire crew training refresher. Vehicle and equipment maintenance has also seen increases in needs over the last few years and the budget increase has reflected those costs. Pagers and radios; specifically truck radios will need to be budgeted for replacement. Discussion has been happening in increasing refurbishment and maintenance to continue acquiring funds to cover larger future expenses so a single year won’t increase the levy by 200% but an incremental amount per year like 2025 and needing to replace all air packs per OSHA standards and ensuring the safety of our fire fighting crew.
Treasurer VanDoren opened the room for questions. Rae Peipo; why is the tax levy has gone down over $50,000 but still considerably larger than the budget from 2022? VanDoren; The tax levy is the next discussion to have the township discuss what we want those levies to look like. In the past we used to levy for exactly what the budgets were but over the last 5 years we the township has been budgeting at a deficit in and find other funds to accommodate the levy. The currently projected levy rate while higher than many previous years is still lower then to projected 2026 budget. Sharon Hexum-Platzer; 2025 levy was so high because of the needed air packs for the fire department. Lutsen township applied for a matching grant to cover costs, unfortunately we did not get selected for the grant and had to pay the whole cost our of pockets; the air packs were charged January 2025, so the 2026 levy and budget that we are projecting for this meeting are significantly less. Carl Friesner; We need to forecast a little better for larger purchases then we did in the past and have started budgeting smaller annual amounts to required big purchase line items like fire truck fund and equipment that township can hold and even place some in longer term CDs to acquire additional funds until the big-ticket items are purchased. A depreciation expense line item.
Fire Chief Duclos; everything purchased for fire will need to be replaced in another 10 years, having the money acquired in small amount over time will be better for the tax payer secure funding for fire safety needs are meet. Lutsen Township donated all expired per OSHA turnout gear to firefighters in Ukraine and all expired air packs have been donated to fire training in Hovland; talks about air packs being donated to firefighter in Ukraine after training.
Moderator Motschenbacher; this is the preliminary setting of the 2026 Lutsen town budget, this will also be available for everyone to view on at the township site Lutsentownship.com. Minutes and agenda out on the site as well as the budget and other relevant township information. Please share the budget with friends and family that aren’t here tonight and discuss, come to meetings. We would all love to hear for the community and have some feedback.
Current 2026 budget plan: General Budget-Township is $63,200, Fire District Budget, $265,395 for a total combined budget of $328,595
Preliminary setting of 2026 Levy: Preliminary levy amounts are open for discussion and currently are based off looking at the proposed state grants, town hall rentals and park electric reimbursements based off the previous 5 years; conservative because those funds can change quickly. We have been fortunate enough to see a large increase in townhall rentals after 2022 covid period. If all figures stay the same in the general town budget, we would be operating $40,000 at deficit of $14,600. The fire district if the figures stayed the same the levy would stay at $250,000 that includes accounting for $30,000 in state grants and aids and a potential for donations adding up to $6,000 gives us a surplus of just under $21,000. Those two levy amounts are placeholders and open to discussion.
Citizen comment; are those two account separate entities or does the funds flow between the two? VanDoren; the funds can flow between the two accounts. The main difference is with the county and how property taxes are done. General town budget is a tax that is applied to Lutsen township boundaries and the fire district expanded because the fire department services a larger area then just the Lutsen township boundaries. Moderator Motschenbacher; the reserves, how much is in the “fun” balance? VanDoren; the money not spoken for as discussed in the past with a one-year safety net was increased to a two-year safety net estimated to $520,000 based on a 5-year average. Taking that out of our funds we have $50,000 for unallocated funds. The $520,000 also encompasses the truck fund money which is being invested in long term CDs until the funds are needed. Sharon Hexum-Platzer; can you figure out how much the levy would cost for each taxpayer? VanDoren agreed to work on calculating the cost per tax payer and present to the board.
Total proposed tax levy/budget [including recommended donations, and other yearly payments] is to be determined at Annual meeting continuation in August 19, 2025. This budget can be reviewed after 6 months finances are checked and accepted/changed at a Continuation meeting in August. A complete copy of the 2026 budget plan is available in the Town office and online. Sharon Hexum-Platzer made a motion to accept the preliminary 2026 levy, Chris Homyak seconded the motion. Motion passed; none opposed.
Annual Town Election Results: From Head election judge Sharon Hexum-Platzer, who gave tentative election results; For 3-year supervisor position with incumbent Carl Friesner receiving 23 votes; 2 votes defective. For the 2-year Clerk position, Samantha Mcquatters-Spangle received 23; 2 write ins; 1 vote for Sharon Hexum-Platzer; 1 vote defective. 25 votes total.
Other Business/Citizen Comments: Moderator Motschenbacher question the fire chief if Lutsen was doing ok with the fire and EMS personnel numbers as other nearby townships were have trouble with staff shortages. Recently a few new recruits have helped to bolster the crew; currently Lutsen first responders have 13 personnel trailed in both fire and EMS and 3 additional people trained in EMS. Lutsen township recently upgraded the problematic air packs for the fire crew to the tune of $100,051.13 with OSHA compliance along with all new turnout gear that is estimated to be around $22,000 of equipment and gear for each trained member. The expired turnout gear was donated to Ukraine firefighters and the problematic air packs donated to Hovland training program after which they are expected to be donated to Ukraine firefighters as well. Thank you fire and EMS for all your hard work!
Set next Annual Meeting Date: March 10, 2026 at 8:05pm; Sharon Hexum-Platzer made a motion to have the next annual meeting date for March 10, 2025 at 8:05pm at the Lutsen townhall. Matt Kartes seconded. Motion passed; none opposed
Rae Peipo made a motion to Continue Annual Meeting to Finalize 2026 Tax Levy August 19, 2025 at 6 p.m. Sharon Hexum-Platzer seconded. Motion carried.
Note: Minutes are not word-for-word. Motions are as presented.
Respectfully Submitted,
Samantha Mcquatters-Spangle Judy Motschenbacher ______________________________
Lutsen Town Clerk Meeting Moderator