We have received the City of Bemidji’s motion asking the court to reconsider last week’s incorporation ruling, and we are reviewing it with our legal team. To provide some context: on February 13th, now that the border dispute had been resolved, the Township proactively reached out to the City to explore a cooperative wastewater service agreement. We believe connecting to the City’s existing system would be a good joint venture and would provide sewer service to Township residents. It would also generate substantial ongoing user fee revenue for the City. The City’s only response was to file this motion, citing our letter as grounds for reconsideration. Both the motion and our February 13th letter are posted on the Township’s incorporation page at our website so residents can read both documents for themselves.
We are disappointed by the City’s decision. Both communities have already spent significant public dollars on this process and continued litigation only adds to that burden. We believe Judge Palmer-Denig’s decision was well-supported by the record. Our wastewater project continues to move forward, our engineering plans are in the final stages of MPCA review, and we are fully prepared to build our own facility.
At the same time, a cooperative service agreement between two cities makes sense. Other cities in Minnesota have utilized similar service agreements for sewer because it benefits both communities. In our case, the City of Bemidji will not receive any user fee revenue if we build our own facility. We think that’s still worth a conversation, and our door remains open.
We will keep residents informed as this develops.