A frustrating situation
Laurium annexation process stalled
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LAURIUM - At the regular August Laurium Village Council meeting Tuesday, Village Manager Ian Lewis expressed frustration with the Houghton County Board of Commissioners' decision regarding an annexation request of two properties to the village from Calumet Township. The George Gipp Recreational Area currently occupies the properties. Until earlier this year, it was believed the annexation process had been completed and filed with Houghton County in 1975.
In April, Lewis said while searching through old village files for an unrelated project, he found official documents from 1970 to 1975 showing the property had been annexed, but it was not properly recorded by either the county or the township.
In June, he emailed Houghton County Clerk Jennifer Kelly to request the county board of commissioners add the village’s request for a Final Order regarding the annexation to their monthly meeting agenda. The item was subsequently placed on the agenda for the regular August meeting.
At that meeting, County Commissioner Glenn Anderson said Laurium will have to start the legal process over again. “Since 1895, MCL (Michigan Compiled Law) lays out what legal process that the village and the county - and sure enough, the county, but ultimately the county board is the deciding agent,” Anderson said.
He said neither the county nor the village seems to know if the annexation referred to by Laurium actually was filed beyond the village or the township level.
Anderson advised asking the village to provide the county a copy of the resolution that started the process within the 1970s, including the legal description, the reason and a copy of the village council’s resolution.
“Then the county clerk can go back to the minutes of this board in the 1970s and determine whether in fact the county board even received it, and if they did, what month they would have approved it.”
Lewis said the county clerk already has those documents. "She actually emailed me the county board minutes, stating that they approved it back in 1975," he said, adding that records from a public hearing conducted in 1975 show the annexation process was done inappropriately in 1975.
Lewis told the council he will resend the documents to the county board, but he is not optimistic.
"I do think that more likely than not, to speed the process up, we're likely going to have to just redo it, because otherwise it will take longer," he said. "I can start drafting the paperwork."
Lewis said the issue he has with having to restart the process is the properties will need to be surveyed again, and the village should not have to pay for it.
"I really think that if the county can't find the final order of annexation, we shouldn't be on the hook for whatever the survey (will cost), because it should have been finalized back in 1975," he said.
Lewis continued, saying he will send the documents to the county and let them discuss the matter with their attorney, hoping they can resolve it quickly. Still, he remains pessimistic. "If they can't, I'll just start the process, because there may be no other way," he said.
Trustee Jeff Erickson asked about potential ramifications if the council did nothing. Lewis replied the village will have to accede to township zoning ordinances.
Trustee Krista Carlson asked if that would impact the village obtaining grants for future projects.
Lewis said the village would have to demonstrate the project complies with township zoning regarding grant requests and advised the council to continue the annexation process.
"It's just frustrating," said Lewis, "because it should have happened 51 years ago."