Esko approves levy increase, rec funds at annual meeting

The Town of Thomson — popularly known as “Esko” — held its annual meeting Tuesday night. About 15 residents plus Thomson Township officials and employees reviewed the annual financial statement, heard from department heads, and discussed town business at the one-hour meeting at the Thomson Town Hall.

The most significant vote was approving the 2020 tax levy, which increased by 3.35 percent to $1.6 million, which is a similar increase from recent years. Although the voters asked some questions of township officials, the levy increase passed unanimously. According to utility clerk Leah Pykkonen, 19 new homes were constructed in Esko during the past year, which should continue as some of the vacant lots in area housing developments get sold.

Fire chief Kyle Gustafson updated the town on his department activities.

“We have 26 firefighters on the staff,” he told the crowd. “We can have up to 32. Sure, five more volunteers would be great, but I’m real happy with the team we have now. We work well together,” Gustafson said. The department responded to 243 calls in 2018; 176 were medical calls.

Esko contracts with the Carlton County sheriff’s department for police services, and Deputy Rob Lucas is assigned to the town. He reported 2,252 calls for activity in 2018, which included two overdoses where Narcan was administered as an antidote to the opioids. Both survived. He also reported a rash of burglaries in the area. Responding to a citizen tip, he said he arrested a burglary suspect.

“Once this gentleman was incarcerated, the burglaries stopped,” Lucas said. “We were unable to link the suspect to the other crimes, so I can’t say if it’s related.”

The biggest discussion of the evening was when Esko Community Education director Michelle Carlson addressed the meeting about how her organization used the $4,000 donated by the township in 2018. Traditionally, the township budgets $2,000 towards community activities, which are administered by Community Ed, which is a part of the Esko School District. In Carlson’s first year as director, she neglected to ask the town for its annual donation, so at last year’s annual meeting, the town agreed to budget twice its normal amount.

Carlson explained how that increased budget helped fund community events such as National Night Out, Santa’s Workshop, and open gym; the extra funds last year allowed her to add activities at the Esko Fun Days, like a street dance — which was very well received by the community — and an outdoor movie night. Members of the audience spoke positively about the new street dance, saying Carlson had done a good job of creating this popular community event and encouraged the township board to increase the annual allocation to $4,000. That motion passed unanimously.

Township Board Chair Terry Hill reported on the Esko Business Park, which has only 11 lots left to sell, out of 36.

“Kane Transport is building this spring, and we have high hopes for Camping World, which bought the lots Coates RV owned. We’re hopeful that they build in the Park,” Hill said.