Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By TOM LAVENTURE
Hurley — Iron County will soon consider building its own access road or updating its arrangement with a private landowner to reach a communication tower on Germania Hill in Hurley.
At its Thursday meeting the Iron County Finance Committee recommended that the county board approve a process of negotiating a working road maintenance agreement with Charles Ouimette, the property owner with the access road on Germania Street. If an agreement on shared responsibilities to plow and maintain the road cannot be reached then the county should consider building its own road on two lots purchased in April as an alternative access to the tower.
Ouimette, the property owner with the easement, was present at the meeting to inform the committee that he is asking $4,600 for an annual access agreement in order to conduct the plowing and road maintenance on his own. He said that the county has not improved the road over five years and that more frequent use has occurred from a private company with a county contract.
The city of Hurley also has an easement with Ouimette on the same road. He said there is not a maintenance agreement with the city but that the relationship has been good.
Ouimette contends the county has accessed the hill via his gate and road with an easement for the past five years but that he could never get a clear answer on the conditions of the maintenance agreement. He consulted an attorney regarding the situation and has decided the only way forward is to enter into the fee agreement or to close access.
The committee recommended approval of the sale of two lots on Maple Street and 6th Avenue in Hurley back to the original owners without canceling the deed for $2,000. The lots went into forfeiture when the out-of-state owners did not pay property taxes.
The county had the property sale price at $2,500 until the realtor recommended $2,000, said Mike Saari, county clerk. By selling the property back to the owners who had accrued $1,988 in taxes, interest and penalties the county avoids more costly legal costs associated with suing the owners to award a sale to a new owner.
Scott Erickson, committee member, said he was concerned about a precedent that might encourage property owners with back taxes to forfeit in order to repurchase. Saari said that this situation occurred when the owners were not able to be found and that moving forward the county would not allow the situation where a sale price is reduced.
“In the future we will set the price at the full amount,” Saari said.
In his report, Saari said the county will receive $1.1 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding. The first payment is due immediately and the second will come in six months.
There do not appear to be limitations on the funds, he said. The funds need to be used by 2026.
The committee recommended approval of blacktopping repair work at Saxon Harbor.
Eric Peterson, county forestry department administrator, said the work involves areas that were not improved with the harbor reconstruction project. There are areas where blacktop is crumbling completely on the main drive in front of the boat launches and was partly due to the heavy truck traffic over the past five years including the reconstruction.
With the committee recommendation Peterson said he will seek a second bid in time to present at the full county board meeting. The alternative to repairing the surface this year would be to remove it and gravel the road until it can be revisited in 2022.
The committee recommended support of a resolution that would exempt the 10 county Northwest Regional Planning Commission from property taxes. The issue arose after a member county attempted to assess the commission office with a property tax.
The committee was introduced to Danny Gardner, the new director of information technology for the county. Committee chair Opal Roberts asked Gardner to provide an overview of his office once his system is in place.
