Baldwin meets peacefully for once
About 75 Baldwin Township residents showed up for the shortest and most civil annual meeting in recent memory Tuesday night. (MPR Photo/Curtis Gilbert)
"No fireworks," Baldwin Township Board member Jay Swanson marveled as the gavel fell.
Baldwin's annual meeting, infamous for chaos and acrimony, was a swift, orderly and civil affair this year. The 75 residents who showed up approved the township's $784,000 budget on a unanimous voice vote.
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The meeting lasted less than two hours. Last year it dragged on for more than three and devolved into a shouting match at several points.
"This was wonderful. This was exactly what this township needed," Swanson said.
Unlike cities where the city council determines the budget, township residents set their own taxes in an annual meeting.
Baldwin's 2011 tax levy will be 3 percent less than this year's. It's the second year in a row the township voted to decrease its budget.
Much of the savings will come from zeroing out the township's contribution to the retirement fund for its volunteer firefighters. Baldwin supervisors recently discovered they had overfunded the account by more than $150,000.
Baldwin also decreased its road and bridge budget by $5,000 to $385,000.
"We have to make do with what we've got," Baldwin maintenance supervisor Terry Carlile said. "I'm satisfied with how [the budget] turned out."
Baldwin also held elections for the township Board today.
Jim Oliver was elected to a second term, beating back challenger Dean McDevitt on a vote of 188 to 103.
Tom Rush won the seat vacated by retiring board member Bryan Lawrence in a four-way race. Rush received 124 votes. Carlile came in second place with 77.
All vote totals are unofficial.
The only issue that received significant debate in the meeting was whether to install signs with house numbers in front of every house in the township.
The Fire Department says the signs would aid in navigating the township's labyrinth of cul de sacs during emergency calls.
"This is the only township I know of that doesn't have these signs," said developer and Baldwin resident Dylan Howard, who has built homes in many other townships in Sherburne County.
The signs would cost an estimated $47,000 for materials and labor, and there could be additional costs for maintaining them.
At one point it was suggested that individual property owners should be required to maintain their own signs, if the township installs them.
"And what's the penalty if you don't do it?" one resident asked.
"You die!" another called out as the room erupted in laughter.
Residents voted against raising taxes to pay for the signs, but Board Chair Jeff Holm says the board may look into spending unused funds from other accounts to pay for them.
Like Swanson, Holm was delighted by the positive tone of the meeting.
"I think there's been a turnover here in Baldwin," he said.
He also urged the residents continue that conversation here on Ground Level.
"We encourage you to go on there, post feedback and keep the discussion going," he said.
That's what the form below is for.