“ I’m not usually in favor of eminent domain, but this is an issue of public safety. Commissioner Bruce Martinson ”
With state funding in the wake of the 2007 Ham Lake fire, a 180-foot tower in Hovland stands ready to take over for an old 80-foot fire tower, ready to fill in the dead spots that render emergency pagers and radios useless. If only the county could get power to the tower.
A December 14 memo from Sheriff Mark Falk to the Cook County Board of Commissioners states, “We have been unable to get the new tower on the power grid because of easement issues with adjacent property owners. Because of this, everything remains on the old tower. With everything on the old tower, there remain many ‘dead spots’ for both radio and paging coverage in Hovland. It is a public safety issue and it is imperative that this issue be resolved immediately.”
Sheriff Falk declined to share the names of the two property owners who have not granted easement for electric wires, likely underground, to cross their properties, but he said Arrowhead Electric Cooperative Inc. is the entity that would need to obtain it. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has an easement that leads across the private property to the tower site, but when the paperwork was filled out, a box marked “utility easement” was not checked. The old tower has also been used by the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
Just before the paper went to press, one of the property owners called the News-Herald
to explain that they had not been contacted personally to discuss the request for an easement. According to the caller, they received a document informing them of the goal of bringing electric lines to the tower and asking them to sign their assent to the easement. When they moved to the area, they were told the county’s plan was to keep the area along their road, which is not plowed by the county and was last graded two years ago, more primitive. Bringing electric lines to the tower would present opportunities for property owners to light up the hillside and change the nature of the area, the owner said.
The issue came to light last summer when the state agreed to pay for power to the site so that its Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response (ARMER) communications system could be implemented. ARMER is intended to allow a host of governmental agencies to communicate easily and would be used extensively during public emergencies such as forest fires. When the state started the process of installing ARMER equipment at this tower site, the lack of easement was discovered.
The old tower has been running on solar-powered batteries, but according to Sheriff Falk, being on the power grid would be more reliable and require less maintenance. Moving the antennas to the taller tower would allow better reception, filling in the dead spots caused by the surrounding terrain with its steep elevation change. This would improve the service provided by the Hovland Fire Department and First Responders as well as other emergency personnel in the area.
At the Tuesday, December 14, 2010 county board meeting, Sheriff Falk requested authorization to spend $5,000 from a mileage account to move the equipment to the new tower. “It’s a communication issue,” Falk told the board. “It’s a problem, and we need to resolve it immediately.”
Commissioner Bruce Martinson advocated for the county to start the process of asserting eminent domain, which would force the property owners to allow easement across their property. “I’m not usually in favor of eminent domain,” he said, “but this is an issue of public safety.”
Having power to the property would actually increase its value, Commissioner Jan Hall said, but Arrowhead Electric could route the lines around the property owners’ land if they needed to.
Commissioner Fritz Sobanja made a point on behalf of the property owners, saying he assumed public safety needs
” have been adequately served up to this point by the system that has been in place. Sheriff Falk said he had a “gut feeling” that a solution could be worked out with the property owners.
Commissioner Bob Fenwick said that as the ARMER system goes into place throughout the county, he expects many other communication issues to arise. He suggested that an employee be assigned this project. County Attorney Tim Scannell agreed. He has worked with Sheriff Falk, Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers, and Radio Systems Coordinator Duane Ege on these issues.
Personnel Director Janet Simonen said Information Systems Director Danna MacKenzie had put a communication specialist position into her preliminary budget about four years ago, but it did not make it into the final budget.
The board passed a motion authorizing the use of up to $5,000 to move the equipment to the new tower, which will be battery powered for now. They also agreed with the sheriff ’suggestion to hold a work session to discuss communication issues further.
In other news:
The board approved a loan of $75,000 from the Revolving Loan Fund to dentist Alyssa Hedstrom of Grand Marais Family Dentistry. The 10-year loan, which is pending proof of collateral and will be payable at 1.5% interest over the 10-year T-bond rate, will be used to help pay for dental chairs as part of a remodeling and expansion project.
Commissioner Hall stated that she was displeased that the county agreed to accept $27,500 from Clearwater Lodge as payment on its Revolving Loan Fund loan—half of what it owed—as it negotiates to sell the business. Janet Simonen reminded her that she had seconded the motion on November 16 to forgive half of the loan.
Auditor-Treasurer Powers said the county might not get anything if they had demanded full repayment. This is one of only two Revolving Loan Fund loans that have not been repaid in full, he said. The other was a 2007 loan to Naomi Hart in the amount of $3,192.33, which the Revolving Loan Fund Committee voted to write off at its meeting on November 4.
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