GREENWOOD TWP- Residents at the Greenwood Annual Meeting in March 2025 surprised town board members by voting to double the requested levy amount from $300,000 to $600,000, citing the need to be building up reserves to replace aging fire department equipment. This year, the board seeks to continue working towards that goal, and will again ask residents to approve the larger levy. While the town board does set the township’s budget, the tax levy amount is set by voters who attend the annual meeting, which is set by law as the second Tuesday in March, this year falling on March 10, which is also the date for township elections. The annual meeting gets underway at 8:15 p.m. Township election hours are 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. All township registered voters are allowed to vote at the annual meeting, but only those who attend the meeting in person are eligible to vote for the levy and any other business that comes up at the meeting.
There are two open supervisor seats. Paul Skubic is running for the seat he currently holds, and Paul Thompson is running for the seat currently occupied by John Bassing, who is not running for reelection. Absentee voting is now underway. Residents can download an application from the township website or call the township office, or they can vote in person at the town hall during regular office hours (Tuesday through Thursday, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.) or Saturday, March 7 from 10 a.m. – 12 noon.
The township will not be electing a clerk since residents voted last year to change to a hired clerk and treasurer. The township had four applications for the clerk position, and will be conducting interviews Monday, Feb. 23, and Tuesday, Feb. 24 if needed.
Paul Thompson spoke during public input, and he asked the board to consider asking residents to vote on changing the township election from March to November during regular election years. Many area townships have made this change. Thompson said this change would increase participation. Other townships have made the change due to the cost savings, also. The earliest this could come to a vote would be at the March 2027 annual meeting. The change would mean that supervisor terms would increase to four years.
The board approved a revised budget for this year, and a proposed budget for 2027. Both set spending at $713,000. The vote to approve the 2026 budget was 3-1, with Bassing abstaining, and supervisor Craig Gilbert absent. The vote to approve the 2027 budget was 3-0, with Bassing abstaining, noting he would not be a member of the town board at that time.
The board noted that spending in 2025 came in $43,000 over budget, but that the township had $104,000 in unanticipated costs, including replacing roofs on the township buildings, excess legal fees, and putting in electronic lock system at the town hall.

Fire Department
The fire department saw the departure of three members this past month, but the board approved the addition of two new members. Tammy and Dean Dowden both submitted resignations in January. Tammy had been the EMS captain but had been put on leave by the town board, due to an injury which prevented her from temporarily going on calls. Kristal Strong, who had been one of the most active first responders for many years, submitted her resignation on Feb. 3. In a lengthy letter (which is available as part of the Feb. 17 agenda packet online), she detailed her reasons for resigning, after being granted a leave of absence last June, due to trauma she experienced from some difficult EMS calls that involved people she was personally close to. “I love serving my community as an EMR,” she wrote. “However, it is clear to me that my service to the Greenwood community is no longer valued or wanted by the current Greenwood leadership.” She expressed her concerns over the leadership and communication skills of the current fire chief. “I have had absolutely no communication from Brian Trancheff since the meeting in July 2025, until Jan. 6, 2026.” She noted that the current Greenwood EMS staff is “close to obliterated” while at the same time last year “we had the most active and engaged EMS responders on staff during my tenure.”
The board, which discussed the letter, voted to accept the resignation.
“I would personally like to thank her,” said Chairman Lois Roskoski. “She had put in a lot of time.”
Bradach said he thought the town board had addressed her concerns, and said she was more than welcome to reapply to the department in the future.
The board voted to hire two new department members. Paul Williams is being hired as a firefighter and has completed his training. Kathie Hill is an EMR, and she will be completing her required Firefighter I and II training. Both will be hired contingent on passing a background check.
The township approved 2025 PERA service credits for five firefighters who met the required number of meetings, training, and calls: Craig Gilbert, Brianna Lofquist, Eric Milbridge, Makenna Villebrun, and Brian Trancheff. They also approved the 2025 EMR bonus for first responders who met the required number of meetings, trainings, and calls: Tammy Dowden, Brianna Lofquist, and Makenna Villebrun. The 2025 roster for the department included 11 firefighters and 10 EMRs, some serving in dual roles. At least a couple of the firefighters were hired in 2025, so they didn’t have enough time to qualify for a pension that year. The 2025 rosters include members who have resigned or otherwise left the department, including David DeJoode, Dean Dowden, Jeff Maus, Kristal Strong, Tammy Dowden, Rod Politano, and Peg Nelson.
The board held a performance evaluation of fire chief Brian Trancheff the week prior.
“Brian received all superiors and outstandings,” said Roskoski. “He has put a lot of time in, getting things up to code, testing equipment, and has reached out to mutual aid partners.”
Four current department members submitted letters of support for Trancheff, discussing ways he had improved the department, training, and morale.
“Our members care deeply about doing the job correctly. We care about the people we are serving. We are holding ourselves to higher standards and building trust internally. Brian has carried the responsibility quietly…Our department is willing to step into dangerous situations,” said Brianna Lofquist, who is also the department’s administrative assistant. “We are committed to that progress and I fully support where we are going.”
The board approved posting a position for fire department training officer. They also approved some minor revisions/updates to some fire department job descriptions and policies.
The department responded to nine fire calls and seven EMS calls in January. Trancheff thanked the board for their willingness to purchase new tires for all the apparatus.
“They feel like different trucks,” he said. “We didn’t know how bad they were.” He said the trucks have no noticeable vibration when on the road, and also have better traction.

Broadband
The board got some potential good news on broadband. Bassing reported that there is $1.6 million available from the Bois Forte project that hopefully will go towards expanding broadband in areas on Greenwood, including Nelson Rd., Arrowhead Pt. Rd., Echo Point, Sundling Rd., End of Trail, Fectos Rd. and Breezy Pt. Rd. The township also has $100,000 in ARPA funding to use for the project. There should be more grant monies available, Bassing said, as much as three million, and there is no guarantee at this point of how much of the funding will go towards expansion in Greenwood (some may be used in surrounding townships), but Bassing is optimistic. “It’s a lot more positive that it’s ever been,” he said.

Other business
In other business, the board:
• Heard the township application to the IRRR for a recreation grant was approved at $49,500. This money will be used to resurface the walking trail. The township needs to match the funds with $49,500, which it has budgeted for. Skubic said previous quotes for resurfacing the trail came in just under this total amount. This project should be completed this year.
• Supervisor Steve Bradach had challenged billing from Ziegler, who was hired to do repairs on the town hall’s emergency generator. After multiple discussions, he did get the billing reduced from $4,367 to $2,750. The billing included a general service of the generator, which apparently had not been approved by the board. It also included what Bradach said appeared to be excessive hourly time charges. The township decided to work with Allied Generators, which has a service technician based in Ely, for any needed repairs this year, and will be exploring getting an annual maintenance contract.
• Took no action on a request from Bassing to review fire department run reports for the past couple of months. Bassing said he wanted to make sure hourly wages were being recorded properly. Trancheff explained how department members are recording their hours, and noted that their time cards are reviewed before being submitted for payment.
• Agreed to purchase a drinking water dispenser for the town hall, since the water supply from the town hall well has been testing high in arsenic and is not recommended for drinking.
• Heard that an anonymous person had donated two new flags to fly outside the town hall, to replace the old flags.
• Heard that the township website will soon have a new domain name to meet new state requirements.
• Held their annual board of audit after the close of the regular meeting.