Kim Tast informed the Big Lake Township Board Wednesday of the excess water his driveway had when snow melted last spring from 181st Ave NW. “I’ve lived here 27 years and while I have some water, last year was one of the worst.”

    Supervisor Larry Alfords responded that road is 40 years old and only two inches were added to the overlay completed this summer.  He pointed out that Tast’s driveway is lower than his neighbors and suggested Tast reshape the driveway to minimize water build-up when snow melts before replacing it.

    Tast wondered if creating a ditch or drainage would work although it was noted that many residents have seeded grass to the road in the township’s right-of-way.  Treasurer Ken Warneke suggested ponds behind the residents’ homes but City Clerk Brenda Kimberly-Haas responded that either option would be expensive and would likely require easements from neighbors.

   Alfords indicated next winter they would wing out the snow in that area when plowing to minimize the run-off in the spring, although it may cause damage to the lawns.

   Sherburne County Sheriff Commander Steve Doran was pleased to report that they charged a Zimmerman man several felonies for placing drywall screws on roads in Big Lake and Zimmerman and on county roads.  “Several hundred residents had damage from this individual’s actions.”

    Big Lake Fire Chief Ken Halverson reported only four calls in the township.  He hopes they will have their new truck tender from Sioux Falls within the next month.  The 11 new applicants are still going through testing. Upon recommendation of the Fire Joint Powers Board Budget Committee, the supervisors approved the fire department budget for 2020 at a 6.5% increase over 2019, although Warneke noted that over a two-year period the increase averages 4% per year.

   Town Engineer Ross Abel reported that all road work this year was now completed at a $40,000 savings.  Once easements are signed, the Meadowbrook drainage project can be completed in several weeks. Alfords noted, “I’ve been keeping the residents informed.”

    The supervisors appointed Dennis Wolbeck to the county parks committee and thanked him for his willingness to serve.  Supervisor Norm Leslie noted that his appointment is timely to help with the fall clean-up.

   After discussion about a recent individual donation to the dog park and the township receiving just $137 in donations in the last 18 months, the supervisors agreed to no longer accept small individual donations from the public because of the administrative work and resolutions that are required for donations. 

Chair Bruce Aubol added, “we greatly appreciate the public’s support of our park.”  Leslie reported that any toys such as small wading pools and balls left behind are thrown away to minimize liability on the township.

   Warneke requested input on 2020 budget as their finance committee will meet prior to their next meeting Sept. 11 to present the levy request.

It’s been a busy year of projects on the Sherburne County ditch system, which drains thousands of acres of property throughout the county.

Earlier this year, the county completed its first redetermination of benefits for Ditch 32 in the eastern part of the county. That was a long process that started in 2018, and is just the beginning of a program that will eventually cover the entire ditch system.

Heavy snow in late winter and early spring, then heavy spring rains and late frost led to lots of flooded areas in the county this year.

Although the weather lately has been decent, Ditch Inspector Mike Lindenau told members of the county board last week there are still issues being resolved from early 2019.

Work has still not been completed on a ditch cleanout on Ditch 15 in Haven Twp.

Lindenau said the contractor had to stop work earlier this year. He said the contractor tried using his Nuhn Crawler, a machine that excavates trenches, and kept getting stuck because of frost in the ditch channel.

The contractor has requested a third extension to complete the project.

“He’s planning to go in November when all the foliage is down,” said Lindenau. “My personal opinion is we should grant the third extension, and this would be the final extension, regardless of the outcome. That would go until the permit expires in February.”

Lindenau said another issue had been resolved during a maintenance project on Ditch 16 in Santiago Twp.

He said after cleaning about 400 feet of the ditch, water was still not flowing as swiftly as it should be.

“I proceeded to walk about a half mile downstream and discovered two beaver dams about 100 yards apart that were blocking the ditch and holding back several feet of water,” he said. “The contractor drove his backhoe downstream and removed the dams.”

Another project on Ditch 19 that crosses Co. Rd. 4 just north of Becker was delayed.

“Due to a delay in obtaining written approval from the DNR, and very wet/unstable soil conditions, the schedule for starting the cleanout and maintenance was delayed,” said Lindenau.

The contractor was scheduled to begin the ditch maintenance later last week.

Lindenau also gave reports on installing a manhole on Ditch 28 in Livonia Twp. and repairing a sinkhole on Ditch 31 in Elk River.

The board also approved the 2019 drainage assessments for properties that benefitted from ditch maintenance and repairs. Expenses for ditch improvements through July 31 total $145,604.90. Of that amount, $82,940 will be assessed with the 2020 taxes. Auditor/Treasurer Diane Arnold said $9,600 of the total is being assessed specifically for the Ditch 32 redetermination process.

Heidi Nistler, new director of the Sherburne and Northern Wright Special Education Co-Op, introduced herself to the Big Lake Board of Education at their meeting last week.

   She has been most recently with Shakopee Schools, overseeing their district wide special education programming for over 1,400 students with disabilities. 

   Her specific duties included management of over 125 licensed special education staff and 150 paraeducators.

   She was in that position since July 2018.

   For four years prior to that she provided instructional and due process leadership to special education staff in buildings across the district, including their 2,700-student high school.

   She has earned an Education Specialists degree from Minnesota State-Mankato. She also earned her masters and bachelors degrees in educational leadership and special education at the same school. 

   The Sherburne-Northern Wright Special Education Co-Op serves Monticello, St. Michael-Albertville, Big Lake and Becker schools. Monticello has 4,125 students, of which 603 use co-op services; STMA has 6,463 students, of which 677 use co-op services; Big Lake has 3,056 students, of which 477 attend the co-op; and Becker has 2,940 students, of which 443 attend the co-op.

   Co-op based programs are for students with developmental disabilities and autism disorders, ages 5-21, elementary level three program with students with emotional-behavioral disorders, home-based services for children birth to three, and early childhood evaluation and special education for students ages three to five.

 “I can truly say that my BBQ sauce is the best in the state!” exclaimed Jonathan Hopkins of Big Lake after winning a first place blue ribbon at the Minnesota State Fair in the honey meat sauces division of the honey and apiary product category.  “How many people can honestly say that?

 “I beat out hundreds of others.  My entry number was 188 and I registered early,” Hopkins pointed.  “I worked on this recipe several years.  But this is only the second time I submitted it for judging at the state fair.”

 Samantha Gilbertson of the competition staff at the state fair noted “we truly had outstanding and talented competitors this year and we greatly appreciate all the work they do to showcase their products.” 

   As a corporate chef in the restaurant industry for 20 years, Hopkins has created dozens of various sauces and salsas.  He recently received Dept. of Agriculture certification for cottage food products so he plans to bring his award-winning honey BBQ sauce to area farmers markets.

   In the past several years he has been a licensed contractor and certified home inspector.  He is winding some projects down so he can grow his new business called Prairie Fire Kitchens with 12 different BBQ sauces and up to 10 different salsas.  

  “As we grow this business, we also want to give back to the community and individuals in need,” concluded Hopkins.  He can be reached at pphimn@gmail.com.

  The resurgence of LGI Homes in their single family construction business on the south end of the city has resulted in renewed housing activity for the city.

Community Development Director Hanna Klimmek in her address to the Big Lake City Council last week noted the firm has been selling off its first crop of homes which have been under construction since 2017 and is applying for an additional six building permits a month until the development is completed, likely in 2020.

   Sanford’s Select Acres development has 141 lots for homes.

   Her office has 44 single family permits under construction or completed thus far this year, with another 20 applications in review.

    On the west end of the city, Progressive Builders continues to construct homes. Eight permits have been issued, adding a total valuation of $1,484,000, Klimmek reported. 

   She estimates up to 80 single family permits for the year.

   The Crossings apartment complex is underway, and will provide 38 rentals in two buildings, to be opened in 2020. They are located next to Cherrywood, west of the railroad depot.

   Valuation of the permits so far in 2020 is $23.4 million, with $743,000 in permit fees to the city.

   Greg Zurbey, manager of Lake Liquors, reported his store has granted $320,000 to date to the city general fund, with $170,000 of that going for the current McDowall Lake trail project, which should be completed this month.

   He reported July client and sales totals were up over the same month in 2018.

   Today, they are having an old fashioned ice cream social at the store, from 1 to 3 p.m. Big Lake Fire Dept. personnel will be on hand with displays. The ice cream social will have old fashioned root beer, he said.

   Finance Director Deb Wegeleben reported through July, the city had received 61% of its revenues and expenditures were 60% of the year’s budget.

   They are maintaining a 61% unsassigned fund balance.

2020 Street Projects

   City Engineer Layne Otteson met with the council and secured approval to prepare an preliminary engineering report on 2020 street and utility improvements.

Many streets will be improved in a project of total cost of about $3 million.

   They include Edgewater Place from Lake Shore Drive to the lake; Euclid Ave., from Lake Shore Drive to Hwy. 10; Euclid Court, from Euclid to its end; Hennepin Ave., from Lake Shore Drive to its end; Highland Ave., from Lake Shore Drive to its end;

   Lake Ave., from Lake Shore Drive to its end; Leighton Drive, from Leighton Circle to 85 feet west of Maple Lane;Leighton Circle; Maple Lane, Leighton Drive to Euclid Ave.,; Nicollet Ave., from Lake Shore Drive to its end;

   Oak Avenue, from Lake Shore Drive to Oak Street; Oak Circle, from Leighton Drive to its end; Oak Street, from Oak Ave. to its end; 

   Powell Circle East, North and West; Powell Street, from Hiawatha Ave., to Glenwood Ave., Red Oak Drive, from Lake Shore Drive to its end; Shady Lane, from Lake Shore Drive to its end; Sherburne Ave., from Lake Shore Drive to Euclid Ave., Westwood Drive, from Lake Shore Drive to its end; and Will Street, from Powell Steet to Hill Street.

cutline

   LGI HOMES in the south end of the city has resumed construction of single family residences. Above, finished houses, most of which have been sold, on Sanford Avenue. (Photo by Gary W. Meyer)

The Sherburne County Board Tuesday approved a Regional Rail Authority levy of $0 for 2020.

It is the second straight year the board decided not to levy property tax dollars to cover rail expenses.

Assistant Administrator Dan Weber said the zero dollar levy is the direct result  of the passing of the local option sales tax for transportation, which occurred last September.

The sales tax, which is expected to bring in about $3.26 million a year, covered last year’s Regional Rail budget of approximately $1.4 million, which is used to cover the county’s share of NorthStar operations. 

Weber said next year’s proposed Regional Rail Authority budget is $1,860,123.

The board will vote on the complete 2020 preliminary property tax levy at its next meeting Sept. 17.

New Assessor

Sherburne County has a new county assessor. Michelle Moen took the Oath of Office Tuesday.

She started in the Isanti County Assessor’s Office 19 years ago.

Moen will fill out the term of Greg Olson, who retired in July.

SSTS Ordinance

The board adopted a Subsurface Sewage Treatment System (SSTS)  Ordinance for the county’s low interest loan program.

Under the program, the county provides low interest loans to property owners for replacement or repair of failing septic systems.

Solid Waste Administrator Dave Lucas said the program has been very successful towards replacement of failing septic systems. 

“It greatly enhances our compliance, so we’re not kicking things upstairs to the county attorney’s office,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of upgrades.”

Lucas said the state did not provide money to fund the program in 2019 and 2020. He said the goal is to fund the program internally.

“We’re just shifting the funding source,” he said. “We need to pass an ordinance. That gives us the authority to administer the program.”

Along with the ordinance, the board approved an allocation of $80,000 from Landfill Host fees to help fund the program. Since it is a loan program, the fund will continue to rebuild assets as each loan is paid off.

The maximum amount of a loan is $20,000, with a 3% interest rate. Loans are payable twice a year over five years for loans up to $5,000. Loans greater than $5,000 are payable twice a year over 10 years.

Proclamation

The board approved a proclamation declaring Sept. 27, 2019 as Edward Foley Day - the 100th Anniversary of his death.

Deputy Edward H. Foley’s life was taken in the line of duty on Sept. 27, 1919 while he served the citizens for Sherburne County. Deputy Foley is the only Sherburne County deputy ever to be killed in the line of duty.

    Seven local youth in the Refuge Rangers 4-H group of Sherburne County won blue ribbons at the Minnesota State Fair for their projects.  

   These youth had received blue ribbons or higher at the Sherburne County Fair but now were competing against hundreds of youth. 

   Avery Anderson  of Big Lake won his blue ribbon at the state fair in wildlife biology while Samantha Mekeland of Clear Lake won her blue in fishing sports.

   Kayla Meyer of Becker and Bailey Muelhbauer of Becker,  who attends school in Big Lake each received a blue ribbon for their photography projects.

   In the livestock division Muehlbauer received blue in swine and third place among all 4-H entries across the state. Olivia Bond won blue ribbon with her goat and she was an interview finalist.  She also received a blue award in her exploring animals project while her sister Emilia Bond received a blue with her rabbit. Blazden Mueller of Big Lake also received blue in goat division.

The Big Lake Girls Tennis Team lost three games this week but it was a close defeat to Sartell Tuesday at 4-3.  Ella Dotzler and Lilly Sholte won their singles and Sophie Wesolowski and Brynn Mossak won their double.  

   Alexandria hosted the tri-meet Tuesday and Big Lake hosted Princeton Thursday.  Princeton won the last seven of eight of their conferences so the meet was a challenge for the BL girls.    

Alexandria 7, BL 0 

Singles

Briana Holm, Alexandria def. Ari Laun, 6-0, 6-0.

Kaylee Svee, Alexandria def. Ella Dotzler, 6-4, 6-2.

Sarah Jiang, Alexandria def. Lilly Stolte, 6-0, 6-3.

Maci Tilleskjor, Alexandria def. Sophie Jones 6-2, 6-1.

Doubles

Joria Downing - Ellie Murphy, Alexandria def. Sophie Wesolowski - Brynn Mossak, 6-2, 6-2.

Whitley Netland - Taylor Sayre, Alexandria def. Emmy Bowne - Katelyn Kolyer, 6-0, 6-2.

Autumn Botz - Anna Doherty, Alexandria def. Janelle Gerdts - Kayla Niedzielski, 6-2, 6-0.

Sartell 4, BL 3

Singles

Sadie Baumann, Sartell def. Ari Laun, 6-3, 0-6, 10-8.

Ella Dotzler def. Haiey Hennen, Sartell, 6-1, 6-3.

Lilly Stolte def. Addison Burns, Sartell, 6-1, 6-2.

Victoria Clemems, Sartell def. Sophie Jones, 6-2, 6-0.

Doubles

Sophie Wesolowski - Brynn Mossak def. Libby Crandall - Emily Domres, Sartell, 6-2, 6-4.

Kiley Rodamel - Riley Trobec, Sartell def. Emmy Bowne - Katelyn Kolyer, 6-0, 6-4

Lauren Peterson - Taylor Carrier, Sartell def. Janelle Gerdts - Kayla Niedzielski, 6-3, 6-0

PRINCETON 7, BL 0

Singles

Anna Dahlen, Princeton def. Ari Laun, 6-0, 6-2.

Lily Wyluda, Princeton def. Ella Dotzler, 6-0, 6-1.

Lydia Erickson, Princeton def. Lilly Stolte, 6-1, 6-2.

Avery Romann, Princeton def. Sophie Jones, 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles

Halle Farley - Sam Haverinen, Princeton def. Sophie Wesolowski - Brynn Mossak, 6-1, 6-2.

Riley Turnquist - Cloey Howard, Princeton def. Emmy Bowne - Janelle Gerdts, 6-2, 6-0.

Amelia White - Summer Schepper, Princeton def. Katelyn Kolyer - Kayla Niedzielski, 6-3, 6-1.

Although losing to Monticello Thursday at home court and with a 0-4 record, the Big Lake High School varsity volleyball team is working hard to improve.

   Returning varsity players from last season are senior Ashlyn Mattson, junior Mia Huberty, and sophomore Olivia Stockham. 

   “We lost a core group of varsity players last year and we have many new faces on the floor.  We’ve also had some injuries,” Varsity Coach Alisha Brust noted.

   Monticello game results on Thursday were 18-25, 21-25, 17-25.  

Results from Watertown-Mayer played earlier this week were 23-25, 8-25, 12-25. 

They narrowly lost to Delano a couple weeks ago in five sets with scores at 20-25, 12-25, 25-20, 25-20, 13-15.  

“Communication and consistency are the two areas of focus for us,” added Brust.  “We work every day on eliminating our mistakes. The other area we work on constantly is serve receive. If we can run an offense on serve receive, rather than waiting on a free ball from the other side, we are much more competitive.

   “This crew is a great serving team and they run a quicker offense which helps beat some of the bigger blocks. What they lack in height they provide in speed. 

“There is potential for growth in all of our players as they come in ready to learn and work every day,” concluded Brust.

Big Lake cross country Coach John Bruns describes this year’s team with two words - “We’re young.”

The Hornets have four seniors combined on the boys and girls squads. That’s on a team of 80-plus athletes.

But young doesn’t mean they’re not competitive. Even the newcomers are making their presence known.

“This is the first time we didn’t have any “walkers” on our first practice,” says Bruns.

Walkers are stragglers who can’t keep up with the rest of the team during practice.

“Everybody was ready right from the first day,” says Bruns. “And not everyone ran over the summer.”

That youthful enthusiasm only got better when the Hornets competed in their first meet of the season at Milaca in late August.

In the 10-plus school Early Bird Meet, ninth-grader Kade Layton won the boys varsity 5000 meter race. His younger brother Owen, an eighth-grader, finished third to help lead the boys to a fourth-place team finish.

The girls also took fourth, their best finish in years at the meet. Their top runner was junior Josephine Lentz. Two of the their top five are ninth-graders.

The boys junior high team took the title, placing three runners in the top 10.

“And that was without our best runner (Owen Layton),” says Bruns.

The girls junior high took third, highlighted by a first place finish by eighth-grader Emilee Doperalski.

Bruns says it will be an interesting and exciting season as lots of young runners will be competing for spots in every race. And that will only make the team better.

The Hornets are competing today (Saturday) in the Monticello Invitational at Bertram Regional Park.

The Big Lake girls soccer team is expecting big things this season.

Head Coach Mike Turner says the team is strong from front to back.

“We’re not super deep, but what we have is solid,” he says.

The Hornets opened the season with four straight wins before losing a close game to undefeated Watertown. It was the first time Big Lake ever started a season with even three wins. And all three games were shutouts.

“We’ve got two of the best goalkeepers we’ve ever had,” says Turner. “Not only do we have a senior keeper that’s awesome (Taylor Moen), but we’ve got a good eighth-grader (Kayden Dilger). Our defense is solid. Three of our players went to nationals and we won the President’s Cup.”

Even with their early season success, the Hornets are younger than most of their competition.

“Our average starting varsity player is 10th grade,” says Assistant Coach Kelly Dilger. “Right at the start of the year we had two eighth-graders scoring five of the nine goals in the tournament.”

The team has speed and strength, but Turner says the strategy is keeping possession of the ball. That translates to better shots on goal and fewer goals allowed.

“They’re playing at a high level this season,” says Turner. “We’ve got three, four, five premiere players. If we’ve ever had one we were lucky.”

One of last year’s shortfalls was finishing the play and scoring goals. Even when the Hornets outplayed their opponent, it didn’t necessarily lead to a win.

It’s different this year. They’re 5-1 and haven’t been shut out.

With players like Reagan Sternquist, Emily Steen, Mya Turner, Lilly Berglund, Ava Vizenor and Kayden Dilger scoring goals and Sophia Lange, Kelsey Meyer and Lexi Moen on defense, the Hornets are a team to watch.

  “We have a young team compared to the other schools with no returning seniors.” Big Lake Varsity Tennis Coach Brett Mattson noted.  “We have three returning juniors: Brynn Mossak, Kayla Niedzielski and one of our Captains Sophie Wesoloski.

   “While we haven’t won any meets yet, the girls have had individual wins in both singles and doubles,” Mattson pointed out. “And in Sartell on Tuesda we narrowly lost, 4-3.  The girls are getting stronger. I’m anticipating a good year for our team.”

    The tennis team has four students co-oping from Spectrum in Elk River along with a middle school team for the first time in four years.

   “My goal for each player is to improve and try their hardest during practice and games,” noted Varsity Captain Ariana Laun of Big Lake. “We are excited to compete.”

   BLHS tennis teams will compete against 16 teams in a new district, District 8AA with their season ending in mid-October.

The Big Lake football team will have something to prove when it takes the field this season.

The Hornets have a new quarterback after Spencer Hinrichs graduated in June. He was their starter for three seasons.

This season, first-year head coach Bob Blanchard will have to pick a new quarterback.  Josh Hunt had some snaps last season and is familiar with the offense. Brandon Stern is a good passer and runner. 

“They both have their strengths,” says Blanchard.  “We’re still trying to figure out who we’ll go with. We have to find out who’s going to run the offense best.”

Stern started the team’s first game against Grand Rapids and did well, passing for a TD and running for another in a 25-6 win.

Whoever stays in that position will be handing off to DeAndre Hill, one of the premiere running backs in the state.

“He is pretty special,” says Blanchard. “And now he’s starting to  move a little bit more inside and willing run over people and not swing outside.”

Hill showed that power against Grand Rapids. He ran for 173 yards and scored two touchdowns, one on defense.

The Hornets have another scoring threat in wide receiver Jack Iverson. Iverson, a track and field standout, can run, jump and at 6’4,” he’s going to be tough for any defensive back to stop. He caught a 49-yard touchdown pass in the opener.

“That’s a nice weapon out there,” says Blanchard.

The defense also did well in the opener, stopping the run and pass, and more notably, not allowing any big plays. The longest running play allowed was 14 yards. The defense allowed a total of 205 yards and had two interceptions.

“We have a pretty good sized offensive and defensive line,” says Blanchard. “But I think its our speed is what’s going to help us.”

It showed in the opener, with numerous backfield tackles and a few quarterback sacks. Hunter Holum, Colter Thieke, Vince Dailey, Reed Bottema and Brandon Steen combined for 22 tackles and 13 assisted tackles.

If the Hornets can keep performing like they did in the first game, they could be  fun to watch.

“As long as we keep things simple, it’s going to be a good season,” says Blanchard.