Gordon Town Board fills in for missing clerk
Aug. 9—TOWN OF GORDON — The Gordon Town Board unveiled temporary town hall hours, discussed pickle ball court resurfacing and mulled options to reduce ATV damage to roads at its Tuesday, Aug. 8 meeting.
Board Chairwoman Jen Knutson also talked about the need for an electoral meeting to allow the town to sell sections of property, including a sale that was allegedly approved at the 2022 annual meeting.
"But we cannot find any minutes for the annual meeting last year," Knutson said.
Tuesday's meeting included approval of a resolution for the abandonment of a 340-foot segment at the end of Oak Road. The parcel can't be sold, however, without approval at an annual or electoral meeting.
"We suspect there might be more of these coming out of the woodwork in the next few weeks," Knutson said.
With the abrupt
July 26 resignation of former town clerk Stephanie James,
board members have stepped up to cover her duties until a new clerk can be appointed. That includes providing temporary office hours at the Gordon Town Hall from 9-11 a.m. Mondays and Tuesdays and 2:30-5 p.m. Fridays.
"I just want to say thanks to the town board for stepping up in the clerk's departure," said Erik Finstad, chairman of the Gordon Good Neighbor Days Committee. "I know there's been a lot of rough times here."
He highlighted the good things going on in the town, including a new, cooperative town board; a future commercial development along U.S. Highway 53; and a successful
2023 Gordon Good Neighbor Days.
The town's signature event collected about $62,000 in revenue while expenses were $45,000, leaving the committee with a profit of roughly $17,000. Future plans include creating a scholarship for Northwood High School and putting together a resource guide for putting on the event.
Julie Schad discussed upgrading the town's pickle ball courts. She presented an estimate of $11,250 to resurface the two current pickle ball courts and paint in four more. It is a fast-growing sport, Finstad said. Twenty-five people took part in a pickle ball tournament held during Gordon Good Neighbor Days. Organizers expect up to 50 next year.
It would be something to bring up at budget time, Knutson said, as this year's budget is already set.
Board Superviser Craig Golembiewski Jr. and Highway Department Superintendent Justin Holmes discussed damage being done to town roads by ATVs where recreational trails cross but do not run perpendicular to the road. The machines build up high berms of gravel when they slide onto the road and crank it up, Golembiewski said, and lips of up to 12 inches can form in the middle of the road within a week.
"Every week I've gotta go out and fix every single one of those crossings," Holmes said.
Possible solutions included rerouting the trail entrances to line up perpendicular to the road or closing certain roads to ATV traffic.
Applications are being taken for the town clerk position. Visit the town website,
or the
Town of Gordon, Douglas County Facebook page,
to view the job posting and description. As of Tuesday, no one had applied for the position, which would run through April 2025.
The following numbers were reported for July:
* Gordon-Wascott EMS had 21 runs — 12 to Gordon, seven to Wascott and two were mutual aid to other departments.
* The public safety officer responded to 11 calls for service.
* The Gordon Volunteer Fire Department responded to one ATV crash, 10 medical calls, one mutual aid call and one power line call.
