Where The Rubber Meets The Road!

As a citizen in Eureka Township, do you at times wonder how your tax money is spent? For those who have concerns or questions, are unable to attend Township meetings, or have not had access to the Budget,
allow me to offer you "food for thought" regarding $'s spent on the Township roads above and beyond the road contractor's budget.

Eureka Township has two Board-appointed road supervisors: Mark Ceminsky and Board Chair, Peter Storlie. To the best of my knowledge there is no Policy adopted
which would define the responsibilities of a road supervisor. The Township also has a contract with Mark Henry, a State-Certified Road Contractor.

I have concerns regarding the 2013 road-related mileage and meeting charges which have been submitted to the Township per our road supervisors. The Town Board supervisors engage in a road review trip
every year to determine what road work needs to be done regarding culverts, road conditions, ditch issues etc.  The Planning Commission members also conduct a road review trip once every year after which they make recommendations to the Board. If citizens have a complaint regarding the road or road right-of-way, they contact a road supervisor who will then contact the road contractor.

My concerns are the following charges submitted for payment in 2013:

• First Quarter 2013 - Supervisor Ceminsky submitted 414 miles for payment at the Federal rate. Supervisor Storlie submitted 20 miles for payment and Supervisor Madden requested 20.4 miles for payment.
• Second Quarter 2013 - Supervisor Ceminsky submitted 921 miles for payment; no one else claimed mileage.
• Third Quarter 2013 - Supervisor Ceminsky submitted 1,112 miles for payment for road miles and "mileage supervisor." Supervisor Storlie submitted 20 miles for payment. Ninety-one additional miles were submitted pertaining to CAPX which should be reimbursed by the CAPX escrow.
• Fourth Quarter 2013 - Supervisor Ceminsky submitted payment for 20 "road-related" meetings = $1, 400.00 with no mileage shown.  An additional twenty-three meeting charges were submitted by Supervisor Ceminsky which should also be reimbursed by CAPX.

Charges like these, other than similar ones made by Supervisor Ceminsky in 2012, have been unprecedented.

The recent Eureka Newsletter stated that "with the hard work of our road contractor, the roads have improved "tremendously." Do you agree with this? Most would think that the State-Certified Road Contractor is quite competent in completing the road work in Eureka. Are the Township road supervisors, logging 2,487 miles and a multitude of "road-related" meetings in 2013, micro-managing the road contractor at the expense of the taxpayers? Who has oversight regarding the

actions of the road supervisors? Are all road expenditures preapproved by a roll call of the Town Board supervisors or only after the fact on the claims list?

Keep in mind, Eureka is a Township of only approximately 35.9 square miles containing County roads maintained by Dakota County as well as road maintenance shared with Castle Rock Township.