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Plan to control deer damage with bow hunting nixed BAXTER CITY COUNCIL Staff Writer BAXTER - A Baxter city council member motioned Tuesday to amend the hunting ordinance to allow for bow hunting near Camp Vanasek but the rest of the council did not support the change.
City Council member Jim Klein said he's received complaints from neighboring residents about deer getting into their feeders and believed that area was rural enough to support bow hunting. His motion to amend the ordinance died for a lack of second.
City Council member Todd Holman, who said he's a bow hunter himself, said the commission that looked at the hunting ordinance felt the area bordered a high densely populated area and Camp Vanasek itself has too many visitors to warrant the change. He said the risks would outweigh the benefits.
Mayor Darrel Olson agreed, adding that there are many bicyclists and walkers who use that area.
"I'll just tell the people who call me to call you guys," Klein told the council.
In other council action, the council voted 4-1, with Klein opposed, to approve a payment of $12,472.44 to Brainerd Community Education to balance the 2008 recreation program budget. Klein said he would not support the move until he heard from Todd Lyscio, community education director, about how many Baxter children participate in the programs, versus those from neighboring communities. Bill Deblon, Baxter community development director, told Klein that Lyscio has said he will provide those numbers but it would take some time.
"He makes good money, he can certainly get that done," Klein said of Lyscio. "If we're paying an extra $12,000 of Baxter residents' money to pay for kids from Pillager, Pequot or Fort Ripley, that's not fair. Make them pay a non-residents' fee."
Holman said he shares the same concerns about a new fee structure but said it's a community program run by community education, not the city.
"We get hung up on community and who's paying their fare share but to kids playing ball, it's their friends," said Holman.
The payment helped balance the community education Baxter Recreation Program budget for 2008. Fees were increased by the council last month by $15 for baseball and softball programs and $5 for the rest of the programs for 2009. The city's 2008 Recreation Fund budget included a $15,000 property tax levy to support a combination of the community education program shortfall and the continual reduction of the program's 2007 ending fund balance deficit of about $27,700. That fund deficit is projected to decrease to a negative balance of $25,300.
The council accepted donations for the police K9 program of $500 each from Infinity Plus Bank and Grand Casino Mille Lacs.
JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.
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