OWENS TWP – The Owens Township annual town meeting ended in fireworks Tuesday as the town clerk Shirley Woods and town board chair Wally Refsdahl resigned and Woods abruptly ended the meeting by ordering attendees to leave her property. On hand was a St. Louis County Sheriff’s deputy who calmly advised the crowd to do as Woods demanded.
The actions were the exclamation points to a lengthy and often heated debate about the status of Derusha Rd., a long-simmering dispute highlighted in the Nov. 10 Timberjay.
Woods’ announcement of her resignation was met with scattered cheers and applause from the crowd of nearly 30 people who packed the small meeting room on David and Shirley Woods’ property.
“I leave because I no longer can tolerate the misuse of power and the abuse of two supervisors who believe they have the right to harass and intimidate to get their way,” said Woods in referencing town supervisors Mike Christensen and Doyle Svedberg, who have been arguing against the closure and narrowing of 125 feet of Derusha Rd. leading to Dorothy Easterday’s home at 9175 Derusha Rd.
Woods read Refsdal’s letter of resignation as he did not attend the meeting due to health issues that Woods claimed have been exacerbated by Christensen’s and Svedberg’s disruptions to the board.
“He has become a total physical and emotional wreck from what has been going on in this township for the past year,” Woods said early in the meeting, then followed up later. “I want to remind you that our township chairman is not here tonight because of what has happened in meetings for the past year, ever since these two guys have gotten on the board.” Woods was momentarily drowned out by negative reactions from the crowd, but she tried to continue. “You have not been here, those of you who have not attended do not know this. Just please listen. That’s why I have had to have deputy sheriffs at my home and he’s sitting back there right now because of what these two guys have done. And Dennis (Carlson) and Kit (Olson). You guys did not come to the board except to be upset and whatever.”
The controversial meeting illustrated the polarizing nature of the dispute between those who believe, like Woods, that the road issue should be considered a private property matter because the town never owned the land upon which the disputed portion of the road is located, and those who believe that the road has existed since a township road order in 1925 created it and that Easterday should have full access restored.
Background
The dispute over the status of Derusha Rd. came about after Jerald “J.R” Koenck purchased the property on the south side of the road in 2015. Koenck had a survey done which reportedly established that his property line ran down the middle of the road, and he erected a fence along that line. Easterday tore out the fence, which prompted Koenck to call the sheriff. Deputies advised Easterday to contact an attorney and when she did, he advised her to go to the town board for a resolution.
Woods clearly related the belief of the board expressed to the parties involved in 2019 that the matter was not their responsibility.
“We did not decide anything as a board back in 2016, that this road was closed,” Woods said. “Our obligation as a township board when a situation like this comes up is to notify the Minnesota Association of Townships. We did that. We were told by all of the authorities that we were not to get involved with this because it is not a township road. We’ve got to stay out of this because we believe this is a dispute between neighbors. We have followed what we have been told by the authorities we are under. Do not blame us for this situation.”
Woods also invoked the name of former popular county commissioner Tommy Rukavina.
“We have been told by all of the attorneys and all of the public people including our commissioner, this goes back to when Tommy Rukavina was in office, and Tommy Rukavina was brought this information and he said by no means is this a township situation. This is between neighbors.”
Woods appeared to attempt to limit the opportunity for Christensen and Svedberg to talk by referencing the article in the Nov. 10 Timberjay.
“Mike and Doyle have already given their statements in the paper,” Woods said. “This is what they had to say.”
“Well, there’s more – lots more,” Christensen said.
“You go ahead and make your statement, five minutes apiece, That’s it, OK? Make those statements,” Woods said.
Christensen commented on the need for legal intervention.
“In my talking with people this has come to a point where a lawyer is needed,” he said. “Otherwise, we’re going to just keep on kicking this can down the road forever.”
Christensen said he contacted Couri and Ruppe, a law firm in St. Micheal that specializes in city and township government. He laid out for them the situation and the 1925 road order establishing Derusha Rd., and described the certificate of awards and damages naming the affected landowners.
“When I told him that, this is simple – he said there’s a road, period,” Christensen said. “There is a road there, that’s what they said. The township in obligated to maintain that road, at least as far as Dorothy’s, because they have been, right up until the last couple of years.”
Christensen said that the position of the former town board also puts the township in violation of state law by landlocking the properties beyond Easterday’s house, with the owners having no way to access them.
Based on his assertion that the segment of road leading to Easterday’s house is in fact a township road, Christensen said that a motion to reopen the road was necessary, including declaring the portion beyond Easterday’s house a minimum maintenance road, and that the town board should set a date for Koenck to remove the “obstructions” in the road.
“If the obstructions are not moved by the date that we set then Couri and Ruppe come with a court order, which the township is not paying for, and after that, that’s the way it is,” Christensen said.
Svedberg reiterated that no action to close the road is on file with the county recorder, and that the road exists because of the road order. And Svedberg decried the action of not providing full road access to Easterday and the undeveloped property owners.
“Is that what Owens Township is all about?” he said. “We might as well abandon our township if that’s the way we treat our people.”
Woods restated comments about consulting attorneys and the road not being a township road, prompting a comment from the audience.
“I’d like to know what your vested interest in this is, why are you so against it,” the commenter said. “We have an entire township here and you have been nothing but disrespectful to everybody here tonight because you’ve been literally yelling at everybody.”
“Okay, I will talk very quietly, and I’m sorry if the people in the back of the room do not hear me. I apologize,” Woods said.
J.R. and Kim Koenck spoke next, describing the situation with the road as they experienced it when they first moved to their property in 2015. The road was obstructed at that time, they said, not by them, but by those living in Easterday’s house. Koenck noted that Easterday was not living there at the time.
“When we bought the house originally, they had cars parked on their property where their driveway is now, there were junk cars parked there,” J.R. Koenck said. “They were driving around them onto our property, which we didn’t have an issue with. In fact, Kit (Olson) came over and complained to us within the first week we were there and said this is an access road, and then went on to complain about the junk cars they had to drive around, the trash, the piled-up stuff on the south side of the garage that they were driving around.”
After noting a few incidents of conflict, Koenck suggested Easterday could take action to solve the road issue herself.
“If Dorothy would clear her brush that has overgrown because of all the cars there, her driveway could be opened up another ten feet wider, just by clearing a little bit of brush on her side which she has not tried to do at all,” he said.
Lisa Ollikkala, Easterday’s daughter who owns the property next to hers, commented on the long-standing nature of the dispute and misunderstandings that have occurred.
“I just wanted to like maybe see where we can go from here because a lot of stuff that they’re talking about is like six years old,” she said. “I actually would love to know what J.R. wants to do to move forward.”
Kim Koenck said that there has never been a discussion about easements with any of the affected parties.
Svedberg disagreed, addressing J.R. Koenck.
“You stood right here (after a meeting) and told me you would give me an easement of 15 feet but Dennis Carlson and Kit Olson were not allowed on it,” Svedberg said. “They’re my cousins and if I have an easement they’re going to go there.”
“You told me that you wanted access to that field but you were going to gate it and be the only one that allowed anybody in that same situation,” Koenck said. “I don’t know what you were thinking but you wanted to gate my property and control who could go in and out. If you consider that one meeting in 2019 that we actually discussed it, you have not sat down and tried to discuss anything with me.”
Woods claimed that Svedberg’s involvement was compromised due to his financial interest in the haying fields.
“Doyle, you got on this board with one of the main decisions was to get this road,” Woods said. “You have been on this board with a conflict of interest. It is against the law.”
Svedberg countered by referencing information in the Minnesota Townships Association manual.
“If there’s two people or more on the same subject it’s not conflict of interest,” he said. “Read it in the manual.”
Lois Pajari reinforced prior comments about getting an attorney involved.
“My suggestion, I would make a motion that our township pay for an attorney to sort this out,” she said. “Whatever it is, it’s not going to happen here. It’s the same thing as the Protestants and the Catholics all reading the same book and coming up with a different story. But my suggestion is to get a lawyer that can follow the procedure the whole way through because we go back to it’s either a road or it’s not a road. It doesn’t matter who lives on it.”
Travis Smith also sought to take personal conflicts out of the equation.
“This is a township deal, period,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s your junk cars making a fence, or Lisa six years ago, or Dorothy’s garage being built. It doesn’t matter. The fact of the matter is there’s people out there that have landlocked places. That was a road and still is a road. The township board decided amongst themselves to close the road without contacting anybody. Did anybody here get contacted about anything being closed? There is nothing in the minutes. The township got together and said ‘We’re going to close it.’ That is why we’re here today. This is a new era, there is no more neighborly niceness anymore. It seems like everybody’s out for themselves. It doesn’t matter. The law is the law. This isn’t just Dorothy, Doyle and whoever else is landlocked. This is about everyone else in Owens Township, because if it happens to them, it’ll happen to you. We are citizens of a township that deserve the right and the respect of the people representing the residents of said township to right the wrong, period.”
Shortly thereafter, Woods announced hers and Refsal’s resignations and ended the meeting.
“I’m telling you right now so everyone can hear I will turn over all records all equipment at the January meeting,” Woods said. “This meeting is done. Please leave my property.”
Christensen stepped in.
“No, we’re not done. We’ve got one more thing that we’ve got to deal with, and maybe a couple of things, but in the first place we’ve got to move our meeting place,” he said.
“No, this meeting is closed,” Woods said. “You can’t officially run this meeting and not have a clerk. It’s over and you cannot legally run a meeting.”
“You can’t close it,” Christensen said.
“Out, this is my property,” Woods said.
At that point the deputy stepped in.
“The owner says she wants everyone off the property,” he said. “I’m not causing anybody any trouble, I’m just asking you to leave the property.”