February 20, 2023 at 11:40 a.m.
Council directs city attorney to draft ordinance language to address Ohlson Lane assessment issue
The controversy erupted at the Jan. 23 council meeting when residents of Ohlson Lane showed up en masse to protest the proposed special assessment totaling approximately $24,000. This is in addition to the approximately $10,000 cost of connecting to the city utilities.
In particular, the residents took the city to task for what they said was extremely poor communication regarding the installation of the utilities last summer.
"We were never even told about the construction," Ohlson Lane resident Richard Ottman said during the Jan. 23 meeting. "(We) never got any kind of notification on it. We didn't even know it was going on until after it had started and still didn't know what was going on until after I went out and talked some of the construction people and they said they were putting in the sewer and water. We didn't know anything about having to pay for anything until after the fact when we got that letter from the city saying that this is how much we're going to have to pay for getting that put in."
Several of the residents also stressed that they specifically purchased property on Ohlson Lane because they did not want city water and sewer.
The outcry, as well as concern and confusion among the council members as to the history of the Ohlson Lane project, prompted the alderpersons to direct city attorney Steve Sorenson to research the matter.
During the Feb. 13 council meeting, Sorenson reported that one option would be to amend city ordinances so that the Ohlson Lane residents do not have to immediately connect to the city utilities.
Under the current code, immediate connection is required, he noted.
He also noted that an ordinance amendment would also be needed to address the potential deferment of the assessment until a particular property owner connects to the city system.
"It's up to you but I wanted you to know that I did do the research and this is available to you as an alternative to assessing everything right now," he said, adding that the residents would be required to connect to the city utilities if their current private systems fail.
"Just so there's no misunderstanding, if your system did fail or if your well was declared to be not safe, you can't fix it. You've got to hook up," he said. "There's no question about that."
City council president Eileen Daniel asked if there is a record that the homeowners were notified of the project as the residents have repeatedly stated that they were unaware until the installation work was underway.
"We've already checked, there is a paper trail," Sorenson responded. "They were informed. they did have knowledge of it."
"Now, I would say that communications could have been clearer. I would say that communications (could have been) 'this is how this is going to impact you' rather than simply a bigger sheet of paper that you had to interpret," he said. "That's the water that's gone over the dam and we're now looking at how do we change the procedure and that's what I'm asking your permission to do is write an ordinance that will cover not only this matter but also clean up our ordinances (to allow for the deferral). If you give me permission, I'm going to go ahead and clean everything up."
The council also discussed the notification procedure for any future projects that will involve a special assessment to include a 30-day notice.
As the discussion wound down, Ottman asked to address the council.
He reiterated that the residents of Ohlson Lane were "never given any information about this going on until the day that it started and then we still didn't know that we were going to end up paying anything."
He also stated many of the residents, including himself, will not be able to pay the $24,000 even if they aren't required to start making payments until several years from now.
"I can't afford another $24,000 even 10 years, 20 years down the road," he said. "I'm on a fixed income. I'm a disabled vet and I can't afford that. If we would have known about this prior to, we could have come in here and said what we needed to say before you even voted on it..." he said.
"You did all this stuff behind our backs until it came time for us to pay for something that we never knew we had to pay for," he added.
No one responded to his remarks.
The discussion ended with Sorenson advising that he will have the necessary ordinance language ready for discussion at the next council meeting.
Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.