Joe DrennanStaff Writer
The Columbus Township annual meeting began last Tuesday, March 9. with the Youth Service Bureau of Forest Lake the first organization on the agenda seeking funds.
The YSB informed the township that government cutbacks has hurt the funding to the YSB. The YSB needs the funding to help support programs like the youth advisory board that helps with drug prevention, truancy for students in junior and senior high.
Forest Lake Fire Department Chief Gary Sigfrinius was the next speaker at the meeting. Sigfrinius reported that although there was a rise in the number of calls the fire department responded to in 2003, the increase can be attributed to the growth of the area.
Since adding a fire station in Columbus Township in 1998, Sigfrinius said he couldnít be happier with they way things have worked out.
ìResponse time is great and the people we have been able to recruit here are great dedicated people,î Sigfrinius said.
Capt. Robert Aldrich of the Anoka County Sheriffís Department spoke after Sigfrinius and had a similar report in that there was not a drastic change other than an increase related to a growth in population.
Aldrich reported that there were 16092 calls in Columbus Township in 2003, 21 of which were burglaries, 119 thefts, 16 assaults, and 54 damage to property, and other infractions such as traffic stops.
Aldrich also informed the township that the sheriffís department has been taking active stance against meth labs.
ìAnoka County breaks up more meth labs than any other county in the state,î Aldrich said. ìThey target meth labs specifically.î
The majority of meth labs that are found are small Aldrich said. He informed residents that if they see a high frequency of vehicles visiting a house for short periods of time, that is a sign there could be some drug activity going on in the house. The other noticeable indicator would be a foul smell of obvious chemicals burning.
Columbus Elementary Principal Neal Fox spoke after Aldrich and asked the community to fund a school resource officer. In the past the sheriffís department has supplied one to the school, but with government cut backs, the grant money that was paying for that officer is no longer available.
At the moment Columbus Elementary shares a school resource officer with four other schools.
The officer is supposed to visit Columbus Elementary once a week, but because of problems in other schools, Fox says he is lucky to see the officer twice a month.
The school resource officer offers age appropriate education to students on how to approach officers and build relationships with them, bike safety, the danger of drugs, and assist school officials with truancy issues among other things.
If the community funded an officer they would share the officer with Linwood Elementary who voted to fund the program with or without the cooperation of Columbus Township.
The contract would cover two years and cost $100,000 a year to cover the cost of a patrol car and the officers salary.
If Columbus Township chooses to support the program, they would pay $100,000 for two years as it would only be $50,000 a year since they would be sharing the cost with Linwood.
ìIf we were to have an officer in the school we would also have an extra first responder in the community,î board member Renae Fry said.
The rest of the meeting gave the different township boards such as the tree board, planning commission, and road and bridge board to give a brief talk about what they have been up to.
The continuation of the annual meeting will be August 17 at 7 p.m. and will include decisions on funding requests.
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