County

offers dredge to

Sleepy Eye

Price is $85,000

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- In a move that many anticipated, Brown County commissioners decided Tuesday to sell its dredge equipment to the City of Sleepy Eye.

The decision helps resolve a three-year snag that officials say is caused by a lack of communication between Sleepy Eye city officials and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Until Tuesday morning's board meeting, the dredge equipment was another issue that made commissioners increasingly irate because of the money the county had to spend to maintain the equipment.

Brown County bought the dredge equipment in 1990 for a similar project on Lake Hanska.

The agreement was reached late last week during a session among Brown County Administrator Charles Enter, Brown County Planning and Zoning Administrator Jane Starz and Sleepy Eye City Manager Mark Kober. It outlines what could happen if the project moves forward as anticipated.

While Sleepy Eye now has a green light to either accept the county's offer or make one of its own, Kober said he's still frustrated with the DNR.

"I'm sure there's a resolution to this one way or another," Kober said.

The new agreement will end the one that Sleepy Eye made with Brown County on Oct. 24, 2000.

In that deal, the county agreed to pay half of the costs for the project and lend Sleepy Eye the dredge equipment. The Sleepy Eye Lake project was supposed to start after the county finished Lake Hanska in 2001. But the project stalled when communication between Sleepy Eye city officials and the DNR ceased.

Commissioners named their price for all the equipment needed to dredge a lake Tuesday morning. Commissioners originally considered action on the project in December, but decided to wait and give the city more time.

Brown County held off selling the equipment hoping the DNR would grant the city a dredging permit, where members of the Sleepy Eye Lake Improvement Committee hopes to dredge 150,000 cubic yards of sediment.

The county previously received two general estimates on the value of the equipment, which were between $60,000 and $97,000.

The county will send Sleepy Eye a $85,000 proposal soon, which the Sleepy Eye city council will discuss on March 5.

The council has the option to either accept the county's proposal, make a new offer or reject the proposal completely.

Sleepy Eye will also need to get an answer from the DNR on the amount of cubic feet it can dredge without harming the lake's ecosystem and then apply for a dredging permit before the project can proceed.

Kober said the council hasn't formally discussed the project yet, but has been talking about "fundamentally whether we want to own a dredge."

While Tuesday morning's vote helps the project along, it doesn't completely resolve the issue.

"We don't want to pull the rug out from under them," said Commissioner Andrew Lochner, who represents the Sleepy Eye area. "But three years down the road, we don't want to be in the same situation."

If the agreement is approved, the county will also agree to set aside $70,000 in its park fund to give to the city in the event that the project proceeds as it is currently anticipated with the understanding that the money will be given out as a 50 percent match of the money needed by Sleepy Eye to fund the dredge operation.