City takes steps to replace commissioner

Talk about it

Upon acceptance, former City Commissioner Joe Frenzel may replace Rod Landblom on the Dickinson City Commission. A motion to appoint Frenzel was passed by the Commission at its Monday evening meeting at City Hall.

Mayor Dennis Johnson said if Frenzel accepts the appointment, he will be sworn in at the next Commission meeting May 2. If Frenzel declines, the Commission will again have to look at ways to fill the vacancy.

Commissioner Klayton Oltmanns pointed out that by filling the vacancy by appointment instead of special election there will be four seats on the Commission up for grabs at the next official election.

Landblom resigned due to a perceived conflict of interest because he is Roosevelt-Custer Regional Council for Development executive director and at the time was a commissioner, according to a previous Press article.

The conflict of interest came about after two entities applied for Community Development Block Grants, according to a previous Press article.

The second annexation of 325 acres of land in north Dickinson was another hot topic during the meeting.

City Attorney Matt Kolling presented the Commission with the number of protests he received from landowners. He calculated the protests make up about 19 percent of the area to be annexed.

Kolling said he was surprised at the protests because some of the landowners who opposed the first annexation did not oppose the second.

He said just to be on the safe side, he did a separate calculation of protests, this time including those he thought might not be happy about the annexation. He said the number came out to 22 percent, which is still under the 25-percent mark the city had discussed.

At a March meeting, city officials said if 25 percent of the landowners opposed the annexation the area may not be annexed.

Bill Gion, who was speaking on behalf of some of the landowners said he also calculated protests, but his figures were different from the city’s. He said his calculations came just under the necessary 25 percent.

“If I am wrong, point me out, I will be the first to admit it, but if I am not can we talk about it?” Gion said.

Gion asked the Commission if they could explain the difference in calculations and also why they chose to draw the annexation line where they did because it excludes one of the property owners in a subdivision.

City Commissioners explained they have the right to draw the annexation lines at their discretion, but added they would like to look at both calculations and then recalculate. They would like to meet with Gion to explain their reasoning on the annexation.

The second annexation is being conducted because more than a dozen businesses and landowners in the annexed area filed suit against the city Jan. 5, and a second annexation would keep the property in city limits, according to previous Press articles.

• A recent request by the landowners for temporary injunctive relief at a hearing held April 5 was denied a few days later.

•The annexation of Koch’s Meadow Hills Subdivision First Edition in northwest Dickinson was approved.

Two landowners who live between the city limits and Mike Koch’s property were not in favor of the platting that the Commission approved, according to meeting documents, but did not protest the annexation at the Commission meeting.

According to city documents, when combined they, too, would make up less than 25 percent of the area to be annexed.

Tags: news, local, government