Board passes resolution regarding landowners’ dispute with the DNR

Landowners facing a claim of roadway ownership by the Minnesota DNR brought their case to the Clearwater County Board of Commissioners on April 18 seeking a resolution of support for their case.

The field road in question progresses north off of 340th Street and runs between Mark Titera’s and Bob O’Dier’s properties. The DNR is claiming a right of way belongs to them through the property, and is needed to access nearby public lands, though there is no record of an easement ever existing there.

“Popple Township has never owned or maintained the road, and no public money has gone into it,” stated property owners Mark Titera and Bob O’Dier. George Titera was also in attendance.

They brought a notarized statement signed by the Popple Township Board, which says in part, “The field road has never been recorded with the County or maintained by the Township in any way. No Popple Township funds have ever been spent on this field road.” It also stated that the field road has been maintained by the seven private property owners whose properties border it. 

“It is the position of the Popple Town Board that this field road is not a public road in any manner,” was also in the Popple Township statement. 

They brought a similarly worded resolution to the Clearwater County Board to sustain evidence that the County does not own the property on which the field road is located either, nor have any county funds been used to maintain the road.

Engineer Dan Sauvé and Land Commissioner Bruce Cox both confirmed this to be true, and Cox said no tax-forfeited funds have ever been used to his knowledge. 

Sauvé said, “A 1996 survey shows some kind of a road there, but that it is not a county road, and no county funds have been spent on it.”

“There is an access to the public land on First Lake, and you can get there by boat on Second Lake,” said Commissioner Arlen Syverson. Another access to public property lies near Highway 2 as well, it was stated, showing clear availability to the land the DNR was attempting to access by way of the Titera, O’Dier and other property owners’ road.

“The DNR suing private land owners is an over-stepping of their bounds,” stated Board Chairman Dean Newland. 

“The county neither owns nor maintains the described field road” was included in the resolution, as suggested by Engineer Sauvé. The motion to adopt the resolution was made by Commissioner Syverson, seconded by Commissioner John Nelson, and passed unanimously by the commissioners.

County Engineer Dan Sauvé explained the low bid tie-breaking procedure he used of negotiations allowing each contractor to submit a new bid. He brought newly submitted bids from the contractors who recently tied at $117,040 for the rubberized crackseal project. The new bid from Astech Corp. of St. Cloud was at $103,576; and the new bid from All Things Asphalt of Sauk Centre, Minn. was at $114,312. Astech was awarded the bid.

Other bids awarded were to Mark Sand & Gravel of Fergus Falls for bituminous milling, surfacing, aggregate shouldering and culvert replacement in the amount of $2,086,564; Traffic Marking Services, Inc. of Maple Lake. MN for pavement markings in the amount of $99,777; and William D. Scepaniak, Inc. of Holdingford, MN for re-graveling in the amount of $248,466. Projects are in various locations throughout the county.

County Veterans Service Officer and Safety Controls Coordinator Hutch Hutchens III brought his quarterly report for the period of Jan. 1 to March 31, 2017. 

Included were details of over 400 telephone calls, 42 office visits, 252 emails, plus many other duties.

He attended the Minnesota Dept. of Veterans Affairs 2017 Spring Conference and Training at Walker, MN on March 21-23; Minnesota Safety Council NW Region Safety Meetings at Sanford Bemidji on Jan. 24, and at Polaris Industries on April 4; and facilitated the Clearwater County Safety Committee meetings for January and March. 

The 2017 AWAIR and Safety Update training is tentatively scheduled for June 8 and 9.

County Auditor Allen Paulson received approval to enter into an agreement with Prime Health to provide health insurance for Clearwater County Non Union employees in 2018. The County will pay $900 per month towards single health coverage, and $1,200 per month towards family insurance.

“Other unions can change to Prime Health Insurance in the future since this is passed, if they choose to,” Commissioner Nelson stated.

The Auditor-Treasurer was authorized to pay submitted invoices of $73,942 for the County Revenue Fund and $24,949 for the Nursing Service Fund.

All five commissioners were present: Daniel Stenseng, Dean Newland, John Nelson, Neal Illies and Arlen Syverson.