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Sunrise Township saw four times the voter turnout last week compared to 2023 ballots cast, with 99 voters participating in the election March 12.  Sunrise Supervisor Dan Kaiser was not seeking re-election and he got rousing applause from those attending his final township meeting as a supervisor.  Adam Grubove III was seated as successor with 61 votes.  Jake Holzem was also vying for the seat and he got 34 votes.

Incumbent Supervisor Mark Osland was unchallenged and he received 88 votes. 

Township Clerk Wendy Kowalke got 95 votes.  The rest (to get to 99) were various write-ins. 

Resident Rick Olseen was selected to be moderator and the meeting was very informative and interactive.

Sunrise Township residents should start to see some action at the site of the new township hall project soon.  

Supervisor Greg Strom announced some of the building materials were due to be delivered this week.  The new town hall is 54 by 72 feet, with 10 foot tall walls and is being built where the salt storage shed is now situated off County Road 9, just north of downtown Sunrise.  The township is not borrowing for the project, there is an account set aside and American Recovery Act Program monies are also dedicated for this.  The new town hall is an estimated $400,000.

As for the old township hall, a committee is looking into what happens next.  The new structure won’t be put in use for at least a year so, as committee member Deah Shymanski explained, and there is “no rush” confronting the future of the historic township hall/Royal Wilcox Community Center.  She asked the 60 or so people attending the annual meeting to spread the word the committee is open to ideas, offers, business plans, or suggestions to move it elsewhere or tear down the old hall.  Originally a one room schoolhouse when it was constructed in 1892 Sunrise Town Hall has undergone basement and bathroom space additions, and the interior is re-arranged from original. The front door is rebuilt with a handicap accessible ramp.

The Almelund Fire & Rescue department is one of three area fire departments that provide service to Sunrise Township and the township is being asked to contribute towards a new truck. (North Branch and Rush City also provide services.).  Sunrise Township built $30,000 into its 2025 budget for this capital purchase.  The township expects to collect this same amount for 10 years to cover its share of the new rig.

The township also continues to pay off a $310,000 balance left in an Internet broadband enhancement project the township undertook with CenturyLink.  This is to be paid off in 2028.

A levy for the cost of blacktopping township roads was allowed to expire and will not be reinstated. 

Sunrise has been levying $100,000 annually, in a five year local property tax approved by citizens.  It sunsets this year and there was discussion that ended up not supporting continuing this dedicated fund.

The citizens supported a motion to allocate a maximum of $4,000 to a non-profit account for 2025.  There were presentations given by the Historical Society (Perry Lindberg), the Viking Vittles food program for North Branch Area Public School students’ families (Martha Arnold) and the Chisago Age Well Coalition and its activities (Leilani Freeman.)

The township supervisors will disperse the $4,000 in a later action.  

Not represented at last week’s meeting, but also on the list of regular requesters of funding are the County Fair Board/Ag Society, Family Pathways, Senior Federation and cemetery association.

Sunrise will continue to pay $4 as its gopher bounty. Bring two of each animal’s feet into town hall for claiming the bounty.  The bounty budget was overspent last year so plenty of gophers are inhabiting Sunrise Township.

County Commissioner Dan Dahlberg, from Rush City,  gave a talk about ordinance updates and other relevant county matters.  He encourages residents to contact him about any issues and concerns for the County Board.  Sunrise was in Rick Greene’s commissioner district for years,  until lines were re-drawn after the 2020 census.

The Sunrise Township levy for 2025 will not change from the 2024 levy which is $577,944.  

In addition to income through property tax—Sunrise also gets revenues from aggregate hauling tax, an inter- governmental roads fund, solar production tax, sales of obsolete equipment and Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) as reimbursement for protected public lands and from power line companies.

And, mark your calendars for Tuesday, August 6, National Night Out as the date of the popular Sunrise community picnic.

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