NB mayor's residency upheld

By Barbara Brown
The North Branch City Council voted last week that Mayor Roger Elseís residency was valid at the time the council voted to change the zoning of 160 acres on the western side of the city.
Council member Amy Oehlers voted that she did not believe Elseís residency was valid, but the other council members disagreed and the zoning change and all other council decision in which Else voted since the date of the sale of his home.
The issue had been researched by City Attorney Tom Miller who presented his opinion that the residency probably was valid, but that the council had to make the decision.
With only about three weeks left to his term, Else was confronted during a public comment at a Dec. 9 meeting by former mayoral candidate Theresa Furman.
Furman claimed Else had sold his house and moved his belongings during the last weeks of November to Finlayson.
Furman submitted a letter to Miller which she copied to several county and state agencies including the county attorney and the stateís attorney asking for an investigation and claiming that the majority vote that passed a zoning amendment in November should be voided because Else was not a North Branch resident at the time of the vote.
The Nov. 25 re-zoning vote added 160 acres on the west side of the city to the cityís urban service area, making it available to receive city water and sewer services and changed the zoning area from rural residential to a zone that allows for smaller lots.
The re-zoning question passed with a 4-1 vote with Oehlers voting against the changes.
Else kept residency at his brotherís house and had a North Branch phone number that he answered during the remainder of his term.
Also at the Dec. 30 meeting, the council:
ï Approved a $4,000 per year tax abatement for Olson Power and Equipment for the next 10 years. Olson owners faced additional costs to reconstruct its building after a fire last year.
The old building style was not acceptable by building code for a reconstruction because it was a pole building. The new building had to be made of concrete block. and curb, gutter and sewer and water access charges were applied.
ï Approved a bid from Bauerly Bros. to pay 400th Street at a cost of $149,468.
ï Approved a zoning change request by G & K Developers from rural residential to single-family homes to build 25 houses on 12 acres on Hemingway Avenue.
ï Approved adding a $4,000 stipend to the pay for the school liaison officer due to the increased workload there, contingent upon agreement with the police union.
Also at the meeting, Oehlers questioned two expenditures the council overall approved.
She questioned whether the city should spend $111,000 on a new street sweeper and $21,000 on a new police cruiser when the city is teetering on the edge of losing state aid this year.
Although buying the new street sweeper would cut the $12,000 annual budget for contracted service, Oehlers thought the purchase negated the councilís aim to decrease spending.

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