Homer Township Board Regular Meeting Minutes

February 10, 2025 at 5:30 pm

Location: Homer Town Hall


Board Members in Attendance: Chairman Harlan Larsen, Supervisor Franklin Fitch, Jr., Supervisor Gordy Nagle, Treasurer Kim Skappel, Clerk Charlotte Roraff

Absent: None


Meeting was called to order by H. Larsen at 5:30pm followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.


Prior meeting minutes were read by C. Roraff. G. Nagle made a motion to accept the minutes as read. F. Fitch seconded. Vote taken, 3 in favor. Motion carried.


Meeting agenda was reviewed. G. Nagle made a motion to adjust the agenda to add Pickwick Fire Chief Report as item 6c and add Bob Bambenek to discuss Stone Roller Road under 6a Road Report. F. Fitch seconded. Vote taken, 3 in favor. Motion carried.


Public comments started. Bea Salisbury and Amy Cordry made comments.


Board of Audit was called to order. Clerk and Treasurer books were provided to the Supervisors for review. 3 transactions were randomly selected to verify. All transactions matched and verification was completed. Clerk’s and Treasurer’s books were verified to match with a year-end balance of $625,281.83. Board of Audit report was filed with the Clerk.


C. Roraff requested the board set the Moderator Fee for the Annual Meeting. Brief discussion was had. F. Fitch made a motion to set the Moderator Pay for the Annual Meeting at $50.00. G. Nagle seconded the motion. Vote taken, 3 in favor. Motion carried.


Winona County Recorder, Bob Bambenek, gave a brief overview of Stone Roller Road. Township records from 1990 indicate a prior agreement with the Town Board to bring Stone Roller Road up to Township Road standards and once that was done, to record the road as it extends to the end of Homer Township. Since then, all of Stone Roller Road has been brought up to Township Road standards and maintained by Homer Township, however a formal resolution was not filed to extend Stone Roller Road to the end of Homer Township boundaries. A draft road order was presented and read to the board for review. Discussion was had. F. Fitch made a motion to pass the road order as read for Stone Roller Road, pending review by the Township Attorney. G. Nagle seconded. Vote taken, 3 in favor. Motion carried. Steve Friend agreed to cover costs associated with the review and recording.


H. Larsen had the following to report regarding Homer Township Roads:


G. Nagle indicated the Township Attorney is still working on the review of the documents submitted regarding the fire department. G. Nagle clarified we are just starting this process and the attorney is only reviewing the documents to be able to understand what liabilities, contracts or charters are involved. The attorney can then inform the board of what liabilities and costs would be involved. This information will be discussed in future meetings as it becomes available.


Pickwick Fire Department Chief, Adam Zimmerman, gave a brief report on the Black Horse fire incident on January 17th. Due to the size of this fire, several local fire departments provided mutual aid. Additionally, an excavator was used to ensure all areas of the fire were extinguished. These additional costs are billed back to Pickwick Fire Department and currently totaling almost $19,000. The insurance company covering the Black Horse has stated they will only reimburse $1,000 of these costs. Pickwick Fire is requesting help from the Township to cover these costs because paying this full amount, will use up all the funds they have fundraised for the year. Currently, they are still trying to work with the insurance company underwriting to convince them to change the policy to cover the mutual aid costs, but it is difficult. They will exhaust the option of insurance covering before requesting action from the board. Additionally, they will be asking for an increase in the fire department contract for 2026-2028 to $44,000 per year. This is voted on at the Annual Meeting and they will bring this request to that meeting.


K. Skappel gave an update. W2s have been completed and issued. Work Comp Audit has been submitted to the State and she is working on the State Auditor report.


F. Fitch made a motion to adjourn the meeting. G. Nagle seconded. Vote taken, 3 in favor. Meeting adjourned at 6:33pm.


Respectfully Submitted,

Charlotte Roraff

Homer Township Clerk