RANIER — The Ranier City Council voted unanimously Monday to adopt the joint resolution and annexation agreement made with Koochiching County that could lead to the annexation of the Jameson and French additions into the city of Ranier.
The Koochiching County board will meet today to consider the same proposal. If passed through that group as well, the agreement will be heard by a chief administrative law judge with the Office of Administrative Hearings. Residents at that time will again be recognized for comment before the judge makes the final ruling.
About two dozen residents of Ranier, Jameson and French were on hand Monday at the special council meeting to discuss the annexation proposal with the city councilors.
The council accepted a petition, signed by 55 Ranier residents, that asked the council to allow the citizens to vote on the issue. Ranier resident Laurie Hedlund, who said during the meeting that she circulated the petition, asked the council to refrain from passing the agreement until the residents had a chance to make an informed decision and vote on the issue.
It was stated during the meeting that there were 107 registered voters in Ranier, so the 55 signatures indicated a majority who favored a vote. According to Hedlund, only 19 residents declined to sign the petition. She said the rest of the residents were unavailable.
That sentiment was echoed several times during the meeting by multiple Ranier residents who said that they did not have the time or resources to learn about the issue and would like time to prepare for a vote.
Councilor Fred Woods disagreed that the community was not able to access information. He said that he had ample information on the annexation and would have been willing to discuss the issue had anyone approached him.
The issue is multi-faceted, according to the comments made during the meeting.
Those in favor of annexation spoke of ailing water lines that could be fixed if Ranier owned the lines and got grant money to fix them. Currently Ranier does not have jurisdiction over the water lines that run water through the Jameson and French additions and into Ranier. The reported cost of repairing the water lines is $1.9 million.
Several Jameson residents, including Robert Plasky, said that they supported annexation because it ensured they would not be annexed by the city of International Falls. Plasky said that, for him, it was not a water issue, but a protection from being annexed by the larger city.
International Falls city councilors have indicated they are not now pursing annexation of that area.
Residents of Jameson and French had previously filed a petition for annexation. According to Ranier Mayor Ed Oerichbauer the petition from the additions is one of two reasons, along with the water line grant, that the orderly annexation was initiated. Councilor John Walls also mentioned those two items as his motivating factors for considering annexation.
An overwhelming majority of the members of the community who spoke at the meeting were opposed to the annexation. They cited reasons such as increased costs of services to the annexed areas, uncertainty over the grant money for water line repair, their reported lack of information on the issue and time to consider the proposal, and sharing profits from the Ranier Municipal Liquor Store with the new residents.
Ranier resident and former mayor David Trompeter discussed many of those issues and asked the council, “Have you really looked ahead at what might happen?”
The annexation would increase the population of Ranier from 188 residents as of the 2000 census, to nearly 500 people.
Ranier resident Bernie “Spike” Woods said, “I want to see Ranier maintain its independence. We elected these people [the council] to take care of Ranier and we’re giving it away.”
He agreed with the petitioners that there should be an advisory vote on the matter before anything was decided by the council.
When asked about re-districting Ranier and the annexed communities to ensure fair representation, Oerichbauer said that if the annexation went through, that would be addressed. There are currently no districts in Ranier, but Oerichbauer said that it was an option that could be considered in the future if necessary.
Councilor Fred Woods summed up his vote for annexation by saying, “Based on all of the information, it is in the best interest of the community to go ahead with it.”
Mayor Oerichbauer closed the public comment section of the meeting by acknowledging the members of the community who spoke and reiterating how challenging and important the decision was. The council was then asked to make a motion and vote on the resolution. After the vote was taken, the meeting was adjourned.
