A week after it appeared that Wright County and Corinna Township were going to end their long dispute over the authority to do planning and zoning and shoreland management, a pair of decisions made Tuesday, Dec. 21, forced a setback that wasn’t too difficult to predict. At the Dec. 21 meeting of the Wright County Board, the commissioners dealt with a joint powers agreement with the township. A week earlier, the board approved an agreement that it sent to the township for review and approval. A township attorney suggested some language changes to the agreement, including a demand that a paragraph in which the township agrees to indemnify the county in the event of a lawsuit be revised to include language that the county would also indemnify the township. Commissioner Rose Thelen, who helped broker the agreement, said the one remaining hurdle shouldn’t have been too difficult to overcome. "The reason it was brought back to be discussed is that Corinna Township was strenuously advised to have the indemnification go both ways. It seems like it is fair that we would be indemnifying them as well." Yet, when it came time to vote on the changes, the county board rejected the contract addition that would provide mutual indemnification. Instead, the board approved the contract as written, despite Thelen’s contention, supported by the county attorney’s office, that double indemnification is standard practice in such contracts. It came as little surprise that the Corinna Town Board voted Tuesday night to deny the contract in its current form, rendering the joint powers agreement at least temporarily moot. Without the indemnification language, it’s a no-deal from the township standpoint, leaving the contentions between the county and township still in play and taking the contract (at least temporarily) off the table. "There’s a lot of history between the county and the township," Thelen said. "I’ve been working on this since I took office. I don’t believe the township made an outrageous request. I can’t find anyone who doesn’t think that there is no reason not to indemnify both sides. "I’m going to bring this back to the (Tuesday, Dec. 28) board meeting to see if we can’t get something done. It would be a shame to get this close to having an agreement and something as insignificant as contract language being what stands in the way." In other items on the agenda, the board: – Scheduled a parks committee of the whole meeting for 10:30 a.m. following the Tuesday, Jan. 25, board meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss whether the county or Corinna Township has authority over a pair of roads within county park land in the township. – Approved expanding the county’s wireless communication system to eight locations in the county courthouse. A total of $80,000 has been set aside from the expansion of the county’s wireless network. – Authorized starting the hiring process to bring on an assistant county attorney. – Referred discussion of promotions within the sheriff’s department to the negotiation committee. – Approved applying for a $500,000 highway safety grant. It is unclear whether the county will receive the grant, which would be used for rural street lighting projects throughout the county. – Laid over for a week two bids to be the official county newspaper for 2011. The bids will be reviewed and a recommendation will come forward at the Dec. 28 board meeting. – Approved a stipulation agreement between the county and the city of Albertville over a tax increment financing audit that found areas of noncompliance. A similar audit had similar results with the city of St. Michael three years ago. The board authorized the county attorney’s office to work with the city to resolve the noncompliance issues. – Approved payment of $10,146 to Anoka County for Wright County’s share of the operating budget for the regional crime lab located in Anoka County. – Gave its approval to the Wright County Mayors Association nominees to represent the county on the Region 7W Transportation Policy Board. The two selected were Monticello Mayor Clint Herbst and Clearwater Mayor Lee Monk. Monk was recently named the new chairman of the mayor’s association. – Authorized payment of $1,365 to compensate volunteers who assisted the county in conducting last month’s governor’s election recount.
