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From
Bradbury Township
Mille Lacs County, Minnesota |
Mille Lacs News Since 4/18/07 |
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We need better government. |
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Tuesday July 19, 2011 |
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Onamia Mayor Larry E. Milton Council Members Bill Hill Jr. Robert Mickus Mark Loch Jerome Kryzer Zoning Mickey Carter Clerk Kathleen McCullum
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June 13, 2007 City Council Snubs Citizens by Hannabelle Mille Lacs News staff writer There was tension in the air at the Onamia City Hall on Wednesday, as a handful of citizens gathered to learn the fate of the proposed 38 acre site of Mille Lacs Academy. a juvenile sex offender facility. Would the Bradbury Township property be annexed into the City of Onamia? There really was no question. We all knew the public hearing was nothing but a formality. The City Council had already made up it's mind, after all. Mayor Larry Milton began the proceedings at 5 o'clock. He tried to skip reading the annexation document, but one of the citizens asked that it be read in full. Begrudgingly, the cantankerous mayor mumbled his way through the words, making his contempt clear as people strained to hear the words sliding greasily out of his mouth. He opened the public hearing. Maxine Gingery, Bradbury Township clerk was the first to speak. She asked if the City of Onamia had any intention of paying for the road which the township paved last year at a cost of $15,000. Milton argued that Onamia had already fixed one of the gravel roads and Bradbury never paid. Maxine was surprised, since this was the first she had heard of it. "That's understandable," Milton said. Milton told Maxine that they could discuss this later. Dave Barsody, President of the Onamia Area Citizens for Responsible Growth began to take his turn addressing the city council. "We have heard that Nexus..." "THIS ISN'T ABOUT NEXUS!" shouted the mayor. "THIS IS ABOUT ANNEXATION! YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT ANNEXATION? WE WON'T BE DISCUSSING NEXUS!" Barsody calmly persisted. "Jim D'Angelo has stated that if Nexus doesn't receive property tax exemption, they won't stay in Mille Lacs County. What will happen to the property if Nexus decides to leave?" Larry Milton said that if that happens, everything goes back to the way it was. No purchase, no annexation, no rezoning. (In fact, on the Bye purchase agreement, if the deal falls through for any reason, according to contract the earnest money must be returned to the city, a rather unusual condition. Normally the seller would keep the money if the buyer pulls out.) J.J. Swift stood up to face the city council with a prepared statement which pointed out the mistakes of the annexation document, which she said should be corrected before the flawed annexation by ordinance was voted on. According to Swift, there were several errors, making the current document invalid.
There are clear instructions for annexation, which the council did not follow. They just made up their own, which was incomplete, lacking proper information.
In this day and age, most towns, even the smallest, have city planning. Onamia does not. With a grant from the Initiative Foundation, a group of citizens is receiving training for the development of a creating a city plan. But the city council isn't interested. (They have not attended even one meeting for city planning). Once this institution is built, it cannot be unbuilt. But Onamia officials are putting the needs of one business above the entire future of the town.
With the annexation and rezoning of the Grosslein/Bye property, the city council is breaking it's own ordinances, rules that were created to protect citizens from wrongful and abusive situations such as this.
There is actually an online downloadable form for this petition, which the council and the Byes did not use, even as a model. They just made up their own. The property was not listed on the petition, and on the supplementary sheet, a typographical error listed a property which doesn't exist. The document was not dated. Etc.
There was no buyer's name listed on the purchase agreement and no buyer's signature. An unbelievable oversight.
According to the ordinances, land use must fit in with an area. Industrial stays industrial. Commercial is commercial. You can't put a hog farm downtown main street, and you can't put a sex offender treatment facility in the middle of an R1 single family residential neighborhood!
According to law, you can't zone a parcel of land just to attract a business or entice it to stay in the area.
The recorded Minutes are incomplete, giving a scanty picture of what the council has been up to. Decisions have been made without proper meetings, etc. The Open Meeting Law has been violated. There has been what could be perceived as "a lot of sneaking around" so that Larry can "slip another one through." After Swift finished with her request that the annexation be postponed until the procedure and documents could be corrected, Curt Lukens took the floor to read an email, sent to Swift by Minnesota State Representative Sondra Erickson, which stated that Rep. Erickson hoped that the mayor and city council would listen to our concerns. Right after that, zoning guy Mickey Carter turned to the city council and said that he thought that the institution could be rezoned R2. A motion to accept the annexation was made, and the vote to pass it was unanimous. Although at the beginning of the meeting, the council passed a motion to set the rezoning public hearing for July 5, 2007, they went ahead with rezoning the property R2 on the spot, later cancelling the rezoning meeting altogether. Without a rezoning public hearing, this annexation is illegal. But history indicates that any "public hearing" is just a formality. The mayor and the city council have already made up their minds, and what the people say is totally irrelevant. Such is the method of government in Onamia. |
Hannabelle's Blog: Caution: Not for the politically correct.
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Who actually owns the 38 acres? You may be confused that the 38 acres is sometimes referred to as "The Grosslein Property" and sometimes called "The Bye Property". Here is the story about that: Steve Bye was part owner of the homesteaded farm, along with his parents, Clyde Bye and Grace Bye. When Clyde Bye died, Steve and his mother were co-owners. After Grace died, Steve was the owner. Steve is married to Loretta Mason. Avis Grosslein is Steve's sister. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband Marvin. According to Avis, Steve ran into some financial problems (back in 2000) and she and her husband had to "bail him out". She jokingly referred to her brother and his wife as "S & L - Steve and Loretta; Savings and Loan" Avis and Marvin Grosslein purchased the 38 acre hayfield to help out Steve and Loretta, who needed money. As it stands now, Marvin D. Grosslein and Avis Grosslein are listed as the owners. Stephen C. Bye is listed as the taxpayer. We're still trying to sort this all out, but when you read either Grosslein or Bye, know that it refers to the same property on which Nexus intends to build it's sex offender facility.
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"...Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth." Abraham Lincoln Sorry Mr. President. Unfortunately, it seems to have perished from Onamia, MN. |
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No Annexation
Without Representation |
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The Mille Lacs News Online Bringing you back to reality millelacsnews.com |
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Sorry Bill We shop at
in St. Cloud Lower prices Better selection No Back-stabbing Worth the trip!
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"While democracy must have its organizations and controls, its vital breath is individual liberty." Charles Evans Hughes |
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The day
of individual happiness has passed. Adolf Hitler
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