Turtle Lake negotiations continue

By Bob Williams | The Daily Journal

Published Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Negotiations continue on the final easement holding up construction of the South Turtle Lake Storm Water System. Thirteen Turtle Lake residents attended Tuesday’s meeting of the county board in hopes of hearing word of some progress.

A pipe needs to be installed on Beverly, and son, Steve, Gerhardson property to alleviate high water in both North and South Turtle Lake. Some residents in the area have been forced to abandon homes or are dealing with water levels nearing their residences. With continued heavy rainfall and delays in negotiations holding up construction, the ire of residents, along with the water, continues to rise.

“We can’t take much more,” Lake Improvement District Secretary Chuck Worum said.

Otter Tail County Highway Engineer Rick West and Attorney David Hauser met Monday to develop a counter offer in value to the Gerhardson’s recent appraisal. The counter offer was provided late Monday afternoon and e-mailed to the family through counsel.

The difference in terms of dollars between the county’s offer and the owner’s asking price remains around $12,000.

Local residents have offered to put up the money themselves but local officials fear setting a bad precedent for future negotiations.

Dollar consideration, as it pertains to land rights purchased by the county, gives land a certain value and to buy right-of-way from other property owners the county has to stay somewhat in the realm of reality.

According to West, some other conditions in the correspondence between the Gerhardson’s legal counsel and the county are being contested. The Gerhardson’s had requested no work be done until after Labor Day.

The timelines of the project are not negotiable, West said.

“When we attain the easement we need to start the work,” he said. “We want to work with the landowner to minimize any inconvenience, but we aren’t agreeable to the timelines.”

Negotiations with the property owners must be done for a 60 day period following the presentation of the last appraisal, which sets a deadline of about July 7. On the advice of Attorney Hauser, the board passed a resolution authorizing using condemnation in accordance to law.

Easements may be acquired by the government using its power of eminent domain via condemnation proceedings in court.

“Hopefully, we’ll come to an understanding with them in the near term,” Hauser said. “The worst case scenario, were we to have to do condemnation proceedings, the soonest we could attain easement to the property in a contested situation would be October 7, which would still be this construction season.”

If the county and the property owners cannot agree on a price and to other conditions, another option is they could agree to an earlier possession by the county. The board continued to note the delay in negotiations and the fact they are doing every possible action to get construction under way.

“We’ve taken more action today and continue to negotiate and we’ll keep everybody posted,” Chairman Dennis Mosher said. “I don’t know what else to say about it. I’ve vented my frustration and that doesn’t do any