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The June session marked the end of an era in Lent Township. It was the last night Charles Peterson would serve as clerk, a position he has held since 1973. Peterson filled the post his dad served in for some time.

Monica Abress, Township Board Chair, expressed the Board’s appreciation for the many years of Service provided Lent Township by Charles Peterson and presented him with a plaque to commemorate his years of service. A surprise party complete with cake was thrown in his honor at the end of the regular monthly meeting.

Betsy Randt will take up the tasks of clerk and Don Bilunas was voted a new member of the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Falcon Ridge Golf Course has renewed its non-intoxicating beverage license, the Oak Marsh Plat was forwarded to the county and a plan to subdivide the Herbst property was put off until the August Planning and Zoning meeting.

Member Olson told the Board a resident with 170-acres that are not contiguous to Chisago City wants to be annexed into the city. Member Olson told the resident he could not do this because he is two and a half miles from the city limits. Minnesota law says the land has to be contiguous for uncontested annexation.

Members agreed that the meeting of July 14 will be too important to consider anything but the new Comprehensive Plan, a document that has been developed over a number of months with the help of a facilitator and residents. The board and Planning Commission members are close to creating a document for the county, although there is some disagreement about the need to include a historic chapter in the final plan. Whatever the differences, members of the board expressed confidence the Comprehensive Plan would reflect the views of residents.

The sale of Swanberg Park has been delayed while the township attorney filled in some gaps in the title. The property should be sold fairly soon.

The board discussed the need for a new website for Lent Township. The website would solve two problems. First, it could get information to the community more quickly. Second, the website could be one of the official postings for all township bids and notices, thus eliminating the cost of advertising bids and notices.

Annette Olson has been looking into the kinds of information a website should contain. She and the board discussed how the website be used to inform the community, to promote the community. Member Lyle Johnson, because of his expertise in computers was asked by the board to survey the various sites, especially, the North Branch site, to see how Lent Township could create a website that was “user friendly.” The board voted to spend $1,000 for a new computer, a fax and putting in sufficient lines to make the township more efficient and easier for residents to contact.

Member Lyle Johnson told the board, “We can’t get anyone to return our phone calls because we only have 8 miles of road to stripe and most road stripers want to quote on no less than 20 miles.”

Clerk Charles Peterson told the board, “The banks will stop sending us canceled checks on July 1. After that time we will get a picture of both sides of each check over the internet.”

The next meeting will be July 20 at 8 p.m.

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