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On Tuesday, March 28, Cook County Highway Engineer Robbie Hass spent the better part of an hour explaining to Cook County Commissioners why the Cook County Highway Department was recommending the commissioners vote to dissolve the Kelly’s Hill Subordinate Governmental Service District (SGSD) Private Roadway Maintenance Policy.
To summarize the situation, Hass said, “It’s been threeand one-half years of policy and contract violations,” adding, “This relationship isn’t working anymore.”
Hass said Cook County is the only county in Minnesota that provides an SGSD for residents/owners of private roadways. And while the county had “eight or nine other private roadway SGSD contracts,” this is the only one that hasn’t worked,” he noted.
The goal of an SGDS is to allow landholders of a private road to maintain their route and to spread the cost equitably to the owners when a homeowners association isn’t in place or “when the association is unable to cohesively and equitably maintain the private roadway.”
The county bids on the plowing for the SGSD road and accepts the lowest qualified bidder. If there are questions about the plowing, the SGSD roadway representative will contact the highway department, and Hass will send out one of his crew to inspect the job.
The SGSD contract states, “the SGSD relies on the best professional judgment of the Cook County Highway Department.” Hass said some folks on Kelly’s Hill weren’t doing that. After an early heavy snow that dumped more than 30 inches, the contracted plow operator came and made one pass up and down the road. One of the residents, Kim Dunsmoor, who is also the Kelly’s Hill SGSD Roadway Alternate, said after the first plowing, residents pushed the snow out to widen the road. She said the contractor was new and might have yet to learn where the ditches were.
Dunsmoor spoke during public comments with one other woman who asked the county board to delay making any decision about the SGSD contract with the county at the March 28 board meeting.
Next, after a two-inch snowfall– not the three inches stated in the contract to plow snow–the contractor came and made one pass in and one pass out– but, according to Dunsmoor, more work needed to be done to complete the job. So, the county highway department was contacted. Hass sent Maintenance Superintendent Matt Nesheim to look at the work and he deemed it okay. But, said Dunsmoor, “Matt came out and didn’t look to see Kelly Ridge hadn’t been plowed. We would have seen his tire tracks.” Another part of the road was only five feet wide, added Dunsmoor.
Communication, said Dunsmoor, could have been better between the highway department and the Kelly’s Hill subordinate district. “If they would have spent a fraction of time talking to us instead of hiding behind policy, this wouldn’t have happened. But, unfortunately, “you can hide behind your policy and ask us to live with unsafe conditions,” said Dunsmoor.
She also said the county should have explained to the contractor what was expected to maintain the road.
However, Hass countered that the subordinate districts could only work by having one Roadway Representative communicate with his department, noting there was barely time for that. He added over the years, “There have been a lot of soft conversations and a long leash” given to Kelly’s Hill SGSD, but those exceptions had run their course.
After a second complaint, the county highway department sent another employee to inspect the plowed road, who found the work up to standards.
However, that led to the folks living there to get someone else to plow for the rest of the winter, a clear violation of the contract, Hass said, who outlined the violations in a letter to the county board.
A recent attempt was to elect a new representative to Kelly’s Road Hill Association. The Roadway Representative elected must serve at least two (2) years in establishing the SGSD policy. According to minutes provided to the Cook County Highway Department (SSHD), Hilary Freeman was elected on June 16, 2022. Unless Hilary resigns, she is the representative until June 2024.
District members have contacted and continue to contact Cook County Highway Department directly instead of directing communication through the Roadway Representative. Under the Establishment section of the policy, the Roadway Representative is supposed to contact CCHD and vice versa. If comments are received from someone other than the Roadway Representative, they will be forwarded to the Roadway Representative first.
Someone other than the contractor has been plowing the roadway. The contractor has not been charging but certainly would be within their right to do so, said Hass.
Additionally, concerns have been voiced regarding the current plowing services provided by the contractor. However, CCHD visited the road on two separate occasions and determined the level of service to be satisfactory.
Hass told commissioners he sent a letter to the Kelly’s Hill Service District residents outlining his concerns. In that letter, he stated that he would “recommend that the board dissolves the Kelly’s Hill SGDS unless we receive notification from the Roadway Representative by 12 p.m. Tuesday, March 21, that the following conditions be met:
*The current representative will serve the duration of their term or until they resign.
*All future communications about service levels will be directed to the Roadway Representative.
* Plowing by anyone other than the contractor will cease.
Kelly’s Hill Road Representative Hilary Freeman, received the document on March 15 and notified the highway department that she had gotten it. Matt Nesheim replied 30 minutes later.
However, by the noon March 21 deadline, the conditions had yet to be met. However, it was noted that the Kelly’s Hill subordinate district had met the day before the county board meeting on March 27 and elected a new Road Representative.
Too late, said Hass, who said the folks living there could hire someone to plow the road and manage the payment for the work to maintain the road amongst themselves. The county board agreed with Hass and voted 5-0 to dissolve the subordinate district.
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