Washington County: It’s time for township annual meetings and two township elections

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press
·6 min read

Residents of townships in Minnesota will gather in mid-March in an annual rite of grass-roots democracy: the annual meeting.

Two of the six Washington County townships — May and West Lakeland — also are holding elections on March 14; Baytown, Denmark, Grey Cloud Island and Stillwater townships hold November elections.

Absentee voting is underway. Voters can request an absentee ballot by mail or vote in person at the Washington County Government Center in Stillwater.

Polls will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. March 14 at May Town Hall, and the annual meeting will be at 8:15 p.m. Polls will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at West Lakeland Town Hall, with the annual meeting at 8:30 p.m.

May Township

Town Board Chairman John Adams has decided not to run for re-election. Adams, who has served on the board since 1996, took over as chairman when Bill Voedisch retired in 2021.

“I decided that it’s time to move on after 27 years on the board,” said Adams, 69. “It’s time to do other things. I think the township is in good hands, so it was a pretty simple decision.”

Don Rolf, who serves as vice chairman of the township’s planning commission, is running unopposed for the open seat. Rolf, 58, a member of the planning commission for the past 20 years, is a senior project manager with Pope Design Group in St. Paul. He and his wife, Katie Rolf, have three children.

“My platform is to continue to preserve the township’s true rural character, effectively manage our roads and services provided to the residents, and operate within sensible spending practices,” Rolf said.

West Lakeland Township Seat A

Town board supervisor Marian Appelt, who was appointed to the board in November 2019 and elected to the board in March 2022, is running for re-election. Appelt, 65, is a retired 3M Co. chemist.

Also running for Seat A on the board is John Buelow, the owner of Buelow Excavating in West Lakeland Township.

Buelow, 74, said he believes his “technical expertise,” particularly in road building, would serve the township well.

He noted that many of the township roads – which were built when housing developments went in in the 1980s and 1990s – are aging and need improvement. The township has 45 miles of road and 71 cul de sacs; about 60 percent of the township’s annual $1.2 million budget is spent on roads, according to township officials.

“It’s sad to see the roads have not been taken care of,” Buelow said. “We’ve got some terrific people on the town board, but they don’t seem to be interested in the roads. I think I have more knowledge about roads since I have designed them, built them and repaired them.”

The necessary road repairs come with a hefty price tag – one that could have been avoided, Buelow said.

“The board should have been spending more on repairing the roads in the previous years instead of waiting until they are in such bad condition then we wouldn’t be in this predicament,” he said. “Some are in such bad condition that they have to be rebuilt, not repaired.”

Buelow and his wife, Christine Buelow, have nine children and 17 grandchildren.

During her tenure on the town board, Appelt said she is proud of having supported and participated in the acquisition of the new West Lakeland Town Hall; implementing an open process for filling vacancies on the township’s planning commission and the town board; organizing the first township-sponsored Ice Cream Social at the Town Hall, and working closely with Washington County and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials to help control the spread of noxious weeds, especially wild parsnips, in the road rights of ways.

She, like Buelow, said roads are one of the biggest issues that the township faces.

“A lot of the roads were built around the same time, and given the lifespan of a road, many of them are going to be due for a redo in the next few years,” she said. “That’s going to be a financial drain on the township.”

According to Appelt, West Lakeland Township has always operated on a “a levy-as-you-go and fix-as-needed” basis when it comes to roads and bridges.

The township levied nearly $500,000 in 2022 for roads and bridges – the biggest budget item in the township, she said. Funding for ditch mowing, tree trimming, tree removal and plowing comes out of that fund as well, she said.

“Even though that sounds like that’s a lot, when you count that all of our road, culvert and bridge maintenance comes out of that, it’s not a lot of money,” she said.

In addition, the township has prior commitments with Washington County and the Metropolitan Airports Commission regarding road projects, including the turnover of 22nd Street, the 30th Street redo and the Manning Avenue and 30th Street intersection upgrade, she said.

“We’re committed to these things, which will limit the budget to repair,” she said.

The removal of ash trees from road rights-of-way also will be a significant budget item, she said. “We have some 300 trees that have to be taken out,” she said.

Township officials and residents will have to “seriously discuss the options or combinations of options, including increased levies, bonding, and/or pursue grant options, in order to address the need for increased funding for roads and bridges,” Appelt said. “This is issue more than just a board decision and will require engagement from the residents.”

West Lakeland Township Seat B

Philip Moosbrugger, who was appointed to the West Lakeland Township board in November 2022, is running unopposed. Moosbrugger, 68, was appointed to fill former town board chairman Dan Kyllo’s seat on the board. Kyllo resigned in September.

Moosbrugger worked for the state of Minnesota from 2000 until his retirement in 2022. At the Minnesota Department of Commerce, he held the positions of manager of workers compensation self-insurance and manager of the Minnesota Workers Compensation Assigned Risk Plan. At the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, his positions included mediator, special compensation fund director, workers’ compensation ombudsman, and assistant commissioner of the workers’ compensation division. He also has served as chairman of the St. Agnes Schools Advisory Board and chairman of the St. Croix Catholic School Board of Education.

“I want to make sure that the township is managed responsibly and prudently, and I wasn’t sure anyone else was going to step forward to assume that position,” Moosbrugger said. “I wanted to make sure that someone was in that position who could responsibly guide the township affairs. I just felt an obligation to step forward and do that.”

Moosbrugger and his wife, Karen Moosbrugger, have three children and 13 grandchildren.

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