County Township Officers Association meets

    The Le Sueur County Township Officers Association held its annual meeting in the county commissioner’s room in Le Center on Saturday, Feb. 9.
    The meeting brought together representatives from  the townships: Cleveland, Cordova, Derrynane, Elysian, Kasota,  Kilkenny, Lanesburgh,  Lexington, Montgomery,  Ottawa, Sharon, Tyrone, and Washington Townships. There was no represenative from the Waterville Township.
    Dale Korbel, of Montgomery Township, read the minutes from the 2012 meeting and summarized the treasurer’s report. He stated the balance, as of January 1, 2012 was $6,113. Income was listed as $9,907, expenses were listed at $8,113, which left a balance of $7,907 as of December 31, 2012.
    The agenda listed county commissioners and legislators who introduced themselves and told the group what they are working on at the Capitol. State Senator Kevin Dahle spoke about fine tuning open meeting laws for townships so “people don’t get into trouble”, annexation reform, and adequate funding, which he said is always an issue.
    State Representative David Bly introduced himself and told the group the committees he serves on.
    County Assessor Dave Armstrong spoke about ag land values increasing and how it is shifting the taxes from residential to the farms. He added that commercial and lakeshore values have remained flat over the past year.
    County Administrator and Highway Engineer Darryl Pettis spoke about the county’s implementation of the federally mandated Allied Radio Matric for Emergency Response (ARMER) system. The system brings the county up to federal  800 mhz requirements that promotes more efficient use of the VHF and UHF land mobile bands. Normally these bands are congested, but with narrowbanding, it frees up more channels.
    Pettis said the sheriff’s department, public works, police and emergency services all received this upgrade.
    He added that a big project for the county is a $2 million, 90-mile road reconstruction project. He also told the group the county had received approximately $156,000 from the state for the township roads. He said that total will be divided up among the townships, with checks being sent to town clerks in the next two weeks.
    Pettis also spoke about the aggregate tax, and the increasing values of county ditches.
    Also speaking at the meeting were Joseph Boettcher, the county auditor, treasurer, who reminded everyone that he is retiring as of May 31, 2013.
    The meeting also included the election of officers for the next year. Joe Lambrecht of Lanesburgh Township and Dick Peterson of Ottawa Township were both elected to three-year terms.
    Also on the board are Steve Biehn of Washington Township and John Kluntz of Cleveland Township.
    Korbel, who was elected to the board last year for a three-year term, said he needs to step down from his seat. No other township representatitives were nominated to his seat, and the board was unsure of how to proceed.
    “We will see what we need to do,” said Biehn.