County puts annexation agreement on hold

The International Falls City Council Aug. 5 unanimously agreed to seek annexation of the multimodal district property into the city limits. The property is located east of the existing city limits and is owned by the city’s Economic Development Authority.

“I’ve stated my support for this,” Commissioner Wade Pavleck said of the annexation process, of which discussions about began last September. “The things we were looking for...a buffer zone and rock blasting issue were two of the things we felt that the county needed to move forward. To date, there has been no motion...that that was ever adopted by the city council or Boise (Inc.), who was part of that discussion.”

Pavleck said a committee of involved parties was established and an agreement from Boise and city officials gave confirmation that official motions would be put in place.

“We need something for our records for the future,” he said. “There are three parties to protect here – the neighbors, the city of Ranier and the environment.”

International Falls City Attorney Steve Shermoen said once the city and the county both sign the contract of orderly annexation agreement, “it is actually binding. It’s in that document that all the things Commissioner Pavleck mentioned...would be addressed.”

“We’ve been told that shovel ready is the key,” Shermoen said, adding that getting to that point has been delayed for a number of reasons in the past. “One of the first steps in that would be the annexation.”

Pavleck said he recalled a time when land owners who own property adjacent to the buffer zone were willing to buy land to protect that property.

“Boise at the time said they were never going to sell that land,” he said.

The commissioner added that property owners turned to the county to make sure their “future was ensured.”

“If we can get that buffer zone established, as we agreed to, we think we can bring money in from outside sources to restore (Second Creek),” Pavleck continued. “To me, it is part of the annexation process is to have everyone on board. I would like to see everyone get together and get something written up and agreed to.”

“Commissioner Pavleck is absolutely right,” said Koochiching County Land Commissioner Dennis Hummitzsch. “The big issue here is water quality. I’m one of the neighbors who offered to buy that land...there is two erosion problems already. Once that land you’re annexing becomes clear...there’s going to be a tremendous surge of water coming into that watershed and possibly creating environmental issues.”

Falls Mayor Bob Anderson assured the board necessary meetings will be held to establish an agreement.

Commissioner Rob Ecklund stressed a meeting needed to happen sooner than later.

“It’s imperative to the city who needs to act on this,” he said of a timely meeting.

In other business Tuesday, the board took no action on providing financial assistance to the city of Ranier to replace a dock until the land the dock sits on is surveyed by the county.

Ranier City Clerk Kim Nuthak told commissioners that a dock located on County Road 21 is in poor condition and needs to be replaced to keep it open to the public.

“It also came to my attention that after the alley (on County Road 21) was vacated, it is located on Tony Cole and Terry Wood’s property,” Nuthak said. “It is on their shoreline so we are going to have to move (the dock) over a little bit.”

Pavleck said after the dock was built “several years ago” the county board decided that it was public property.

“We were under the assumption it was on county property,” he said. “Has that been surveyed?”

Nuthak had a plat sketch of the area, but not an official survey.

Commissioners agreed to have county surveyor Matt Gouin survey the property before any financial contribution is decided.