4111 11th Avenue SW - Rochester, Minnesota 55902 - Tel. (507) 282-6488

2012 Rochester Township Annual Newsletter

In the midst of all the Presidential election hoopla it may be easy to overlook the upcoming Township elections. No need for caucuses and primaries, just come to the Town Hall on Tuesday, March 13 to vote directly for your Township officers and exercise your right to participate in the most democratic form of government we have.

In addition to voting, participating in Annual Town Meeting is a time to reflect on where we have been the past year, where we hope to go this year and to ask your Town Board members how we do it all. You also have the opportunity to review the annual Township budget and comment on or question or change the numbers before you approve its contents.

Our largest budget item is road maintenance and we continue to be pleased with the cost-effectiveness of our Joint Powers Agreement with Cascade Township for our roads and equipment. We have a request from our road crew regarding placement of trash containers. Please place them at the end of your driveway off the traveled portion of the roadway. Otherwise, they become a driving hazard or necessitate stopping the snowplows to move them. Don’t forget to give an occasional thank-you to our road crew for the great job they do.

Planning and Zoning services are always a challenge, both financially and regulatory. With diminished building permit revenues from the prolonged slump in the housing market, our Township Cooperative Planning Association (TCPA) has struggled to balance lower income with the fixed costs of providing zoning administration service to our constituents and to Town Board officers. We raised some of our building and zoning permit fees but kept them reasonable and competitive with those of the County. The good news is that building activity picked up some in the latter part of 2011, leaving TCPA with a small balance at the end of the year.

The regulatory challenges of Planning and Zoning are several: keeping up with changes in county ordinances and giving our input to protect our needs, writing new local ordinances which can be very difficult and time consuming, complying with mandated State and Federal government regulations which too often are unfunded and not geared to township level government services, and lastly, enforcing all those regulations and ordinances. Right now we are in the process of reviewing all of our Conditional Use Permits to bring them up-to-date.

Speaking of enforcement, we continue to benefit from the services of Deputy Val Coe, our shared township Sheriff’s Deputy. Val has become a valued and respected member of our Township “family”.

The MPCA is in the process of revising the very long very complex permit which will regulate how we manage storm water runoff and pollution prevention. We keep struggling to get the permit simplified for townships so that it reflects more accurately who we are and what we are capable of doing. In the meantime, you can do your share to keep our water clean by pumping your septic systems every two years, recycling all hazardous waste, reducing or eliminating landscaping chemicals and reporting any unusual erosion or water runoff. One more requirement from the MPCA is for a Township “illicit discharge” ordinance. Since the County is currently drafting their ordinance, we are waiting for them to complete the process so that we can adopt the parts that apply to our township.

Do we all agree that the Township annual picnic is worth repeating? We hope so, because the Board enjoys hosting the event and the attendees seem to enjoy it as well. Look for the picnic again late this summer.

See you at Annual Meeting! For the Rochester Town Board,

Brenda Dicken ,Supervisor

Gary Donovan, outgoing Chair Jeff Orth, Supervisor Doug Butler, Supervisor Brian Mueller, Supervisor Gary Swenson, Clerk/Treasurer

Web Site – www.rochester-township.com