To the Editor,

I am writing regarding the problems we are encountering with the maintenance of Valley View Road and the lack of supervision by Burlington Township. There are over 20 property owners in this development paying taxes to Becker County and Burlington Township and this one-mile stretch of road is in terrible condition. It is also the road used to reach the public access to Acorn Lake and has numerous people launching their boats and fish houses on the lake.

My biggest concerns were brought up at the monthly meeting, which was held at the Town Hall on April 5. Monthly meetings are now held the first Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. at the Town Hall, which is a change from the previous meeting schedule. 

I was informed at the meeting that Valley View Road is on the schedule this year for upgrading with gravel and dust control, but that cannot be done until frost is out and conditions improve.

In the meantime, we have to put up with potholes and tearing up of our automobile suspension systems because of the negligence of the township’s supervision.

I may sound pretty negative about this road and also about the communication problems we have with the board of supervisors for the township, but as a former employee of the township, I am appalled at the leadership and lack of transparency to the township residents.

There used to be a newsletter that came to the residents informing them of what was happening at the meetings and to inform them of upcoming events. This was dropped because the board thought it too expensive to send out a newsletter to inform the residents of what’s going on with the township. They believe if you want to  know what’s happening that you show up at the meetings.

I have also inquired to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and have found they have a program to help townships improve county/township roads to public access recreational facilities. They would help with the costs of construction up to 100 percent for the paving of the road to the public access. Less engineering costs, this could be a way to provide paving up to the public access, which is about six-tenths of the mile long road.

I believe this was presented to this board, while Dave Green was still a supervisor of the township. To pay out approximately $10,000 for gravel and more for dust control, plus the yearly grading of the road, doesn’t make sense to me when these programs are available.

Wallace Fatland

Frazee