Residents of rural areas in Minnesota will gather next week for the township annual meeting, a time-honored rite of grass-roots democracy.

Two of the six Washington County townships — May and West Lakeland — also are holding elections on Tuesday.

Baytown, Denmark, Grey Cloud Island and Stillwater townships held their elections in November.

Polls will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at both town halls, and the annual meetings will be at 8:30 p.m.

May Township

In May Township, Town Board Supervisor Don Rolf Jr. is running for re-election, and is facing a challenge from Monti Moreno.

Don Rolf (Courtesy of the candidate)

Rolf, 61, was elected to the board in 2023 after serving for more than 20 years on the township’s planning commission, where he had most recently served as vice chairman.

Rolf is the director of St. Paul-based Pope Design Group’s health care practice. He and his wife, Katie Rolf, have three children.

Rolf said he would continue to work to preserve the township’s rural character. “There’s a lot of outside pressure coming in for development,” he said. “There’s a lot of large farms that are for sale, and the residents want to keep May Township rural, so that’s still our main focus. That’s really what we are trying to do.”

A former bison farmer, hair salon owner and U.S. Senate candidate, Moreno, 65, now raises black angus cattle and manages and teaches at a cosmetology school in Bloomington. He and his wife, Nancy, have four children; they have lived in the township for 35 years.

“My main issue is property rights,” Moreno said Thursday. “People are having a lot of trouble with the May Town Board, and they’re making things really ridiculous for people. They own the land, they purchased the property, they built a house, or whatever the case may be, and now they want to build a barn, and May Township is saying, ‘You can’t do it.’ They’re just being really restrictive on property rights. It doesn’t affect me, but enough people came to me and asked me to run that I’m like, ‘Fine, I’ll run.’ I’m just looking to serve the people. … If you own the property, you should be able to do what you want to do with the property.”

If elected, Moreno said he also would work to lower taxes and reduce spending.

In 2013, he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in the U.S. Senate campaign against Democratic Sen. Al Franken.

Thirty years ago, Moreno was among the Republican candidates vying to take on Sen. Paul Wellstone in 1996, but the party couldn’t coalesce at the state convention and withheld an endorsement. Eventually former GOP Sen. Rudy Boschwitz won a primary and lost to Wellstone in what was a rematch race.

Julie Andrich (Courtesy of the candidate)

Town Board Supervisor Julie Andrich was appointed to the board in September to complete the term vacated when former supervisor Steve Magner resigned. Andrich, 55, is the CEO of Autumn Transport in Woodbury. She has been a resident of May Township for more than 10 years.

Andrich is running unopposed in a special election to fill the vacancy in term expiring March 9, 2027.

One item of note on the agenda for the annual meeting: the setting of the gopher bounty. The town board is proposing a bounty of $1.50 per pair of front paws and that $100 be budgeted for that line item.

No bounty was collected in 2025 or so far this year, said John Pazlar, board chairman. “We continue to fund that balance each year due to strong local demand,” he said. “Long-time residents of May Township prefer that we maintain it.”

Farmers and others have had a vested interest in gopher control because mounds made by the animals can damage farm machinery and injure animals.

West Lakeland Township

Town board supervisor John Buelow decided not to run for re-election. Two people, John Evans and Monica Augustine, have filed for the seat.

Monica Augustine (Courtesy of the candidate)

Augustine is a licensed trainer of neuro-linguistic programming and a certified trainer of hypnosis. She is the owner of Rivertown Event Center in Hastings and volunteers with 4-H and FFA  Alumni.

“My focus is on keeping local government within manageable limits to hold our taxes down,” Augustine said. “The core functions of government are at the local township level: road and culvert maintenance, conservation of natural resources in decision-making, and being a good steward to the land.”

If elected, Augustine said she hopes to encourage outreach in programs offered by the township for local residents to utilize, including programs relating to PFAS filtering and composting and recycling programs.

She and her husband, John, have two children. They have lived in the township since 2008.

John Evans (Courtesy of the candidate)

Evans retired in 2020 after a career in marketing management within the building products industry, including positions at Andersen Corp., Anchor Block, Infinity from Marvin, and Tennant Co. He served on the building committee for the new township hall from 2022 through 2024.

“I believe in and practice responsible budget management, and I am committed to working with the board and staff to maintain the same financial best practices with the township,” said Evans, 68.

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“I’m also committed to maintaining the township’s rural/residential values,” He said. “I want to ensure that our unique character remains intact for current and future generations.”

Another key priority is improving accessibility and communication in the township, he said, adding that he wants to work on investing in technological improvements and updating the township website for enhanced communication and accessibility.

“I want to ensure that important information is more readily available and that residents have easier access to township documents, information and resources,” he said.

Evans and his wife, Laurie, have four children and four grandchildren; they have lived in the township since 1990.