Posted: 3/19/03

Record voter turnout takes care of election, 2004 levy

Jessica Foster
Staff Writer

In a record-setting voter turn out, residents of Wyoming Township made a handful of significant decisions last week.

The annual meeting, which was preceded by the annual election, was standing room only as residents approved a 2004 levy of $800,000, for total budget of $98,434.

The levy was originally $809,430, but when resident and former supervisor Dan Pitala made the motion, he did it less the $9430, saying the numbers have increased enough in recent years.

The township will have to do more with those dollars, as residents agreed to increase the funds for contracts for service with non-profit organizations from $10,000, up from the $5000 dispersed annually for several years.

To address the infection of Eurasian water milfoil in Green Lake, citizens approved a $3000 allotment for treatment.

The town board also will have to find dollars to hire the services of an outside planner.

The citizens voted 47 to 29 to hire a consultant to assist the planning commission on the comprehensive plan.

Issues stirred around the comprehensive plan, as some residents supported a $75,000 allotment to the comprehensive plan fund.

The issue came to vote in two ways, as an increase to the levy and as a reallotment from other funds. Moving the money failed with a 55-27 vote.

Election

Large numbers turned out for the Wyoming Township election, which retained Larry Parker and brought two new members to the board, Roger Elmore and Richard Berglund.

Incumbent Larry Parker seized victory for Seat A gaining 306 votes to challenger Lou Sibikís 294 votes; there were 7 blank ballots.

Roger Elmore took Seat B with 263 votes, beating out incumbent Don Waller who took 159 votes and former board member Gene Patrin who earned 179 votes. There were six blank ballots, one write in vote and four defective ballots in this race.

Three votes made the difference for Wyoming Townshipís seat D as Richard Berglund won with 299 votes to incumbent Jeffrey Eifflerís 296 votes.

There were three write-in votes and nine blank ballots for this question. Though Eiffler requested and received a recount, the results remained the same when votes were retabulated Monday night.

One day before the election, Waller filed a complaint with the Chisago County Sheriffís Office for unfair campaign practices by candidates Berglund, Elmore and Sibik who campaigned together. The complaint is under investigation.

Other issues

In other issues, residents of Wyoming Township:

ï Approved a gopher bounty of $2 per pair of front feet, with a cap of $1000 annually.

ï Appointed Forest Lake Times and Chisago County Press as legal newspapers for publishing notices. The town hall bulletin board is the posting site.

ï Set the 2004 annual meeting for Tuesday, March 9.

Meetings

The Wyoming Town Board of Supervisors regularly meets at 7 p.m. the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. The next regular meeting, which will feature the new board members, is scheduled for Tuesday, March 25.

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