By MaryHelen Swanson

To save the last round barn in the county several months ago, money was donated from a couple of townships to help the countyís historical society purchase land under the pressure of a closing date deadline.

Recently Amador Township saw an opportunity to purchase ball field lighting from JJís Bowl in North Branch and did and two other townships wanted to help cover the costs using their park plat fee funds.

But the issue raised a red flag at the county board meeting last week.

There is confusion about how the townships can spend their dedicated park funds which are generated by platting fees of development.

The county has no written policy regarding the permitted use of the funds although a state law provides for direction on how collected park fees are to be distributed by the county to the townships.

As County Park Director Laird Mork noted last week, the law requires Chisago County to spend 75 percent of funds generated from a township in that township.

The park board, he noted, has prepared a policy that would address the uncertain issue, but it has not yet been adopted.

The policy would include an application process for townships to request their money either for a purchase of their own or to assist another entity with a project from the Park Land Acquisition and Development fund.

When Sunrise and Shafer townships wanted to donate money from their park fee funds to Amador they were told they did not have the authority to reallocate plat fees to another township.

According to Mork, Amador did not have funding available from plats when it purchased the lights.

His concern is that townships will spend money and turn in invoices expecting to be reimbursed by the park funds with no prior arrangements.

He said the park board is advising that no allocations be made until a policy is adopted.

Gene Olson, chairman of the township association, asked what policy was used to save the Moody Barn.

It was pointed out that while there was no policy used, because there is no policy, the request for money to be donated from the townships came to the board first.

Several board members felt flexibility was needed, especially until a policy is approved

The board decided to work with the townships and park board on the issue and scheduled a meeting for all involved for 7 p.m. Oct. 27 at the senior center in North Branch.

Commissioner Rick Olseen thought it was reasonable to ask that townships go to the park board and then the county board before making a decision to spend or reallocate their funds.

In this instance, he said, he felt the townships should be allowed to assist Amador in the cost because when the lighting came up for sale Amador had to act on it. He felt it was a wise purchase.

Commissioner Ben Montzka felt the difference between the Moody Barn property purchase and the lighting was that the barn issue was an emergency.

He said the board had to act on the barn or lose part of history. He also agreed that the lighting purchase was a good idea, but he wanted to wait to approve the township fund transfers until after a policy is made.

The lighting purchase was about $15,000, it was noted.

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