Demands sent to Grant County
Moses Lake claims breach of contract
MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake City Council sent a letter of demands to the Grant County Board of Commissioners for an alleged breach of contract last week.
During an Aug. 14 meeting, council entered into a 10-minute executive session to discuss litigation concerning Grant County.
After the executive session Mayor Ron Covey announced Grant County commissioners breached a contract concerning the Boundary Review Board and a Revenue Sharing Agreement.
Covey directed city staff to send a letter to the commissioners demanding the Boundary Review Board be disbanded or to reimburse the city $733,204.93 worth of tax money by Aug. 27.
According to the letter drafted by City Manager Joe Gavinski, if the request is not met the city will file a lawsuit against the county for the funds.
"The City of Moses Lake entered into the Revenue Sharing Agreement with Grant County on Sept. 20, 1999, in good faith with the belief that Grant County was doing the same," Gavinski noted in a letter to the county. "With that in mind, the city reimbursed the county for a part of the county-funded portion of the Wheeler Road improvements at the time Wheeler Road properties were annexed by the city and agreed to reimburse the county to mitigate the impact on the county road fund budget by allowing the county to retain a certain portion of the taxes the city would have received on annexed property."
According to the contract, once there are no more challenges to the Grant County Comprehensive Plan and the plan is implemented, the county would have one year to initiate the disbanding of the Boundary Review Board.
The city claims there are no more challenges to the plan and the last challenge was resolved Aug. 7, 2006.
"The clock hasn't started on that … it's not fully implemented," Grant County Commissioner LeRoy Allison said.
He said the year should not have begun because there are still property sizes and zoning issues to be resolved. The county and the city have yet to identify joint development regulations for the Urban Growth Area surrounding the city.
Commissioner Cindy Carter said a public hearing is set for Sept. 4 to discuss the disbanding of the Boundary Review Board. The hearing initiates the process.
The county's legal council advised them not to disband the review board until the joint development regulations with the city have been determined, Allison said.
The Boundary Review Board is enacted when someone contests an annexation, Carter said.
The review board evaluates the annexation to make sure the property is not a public safety issue and to make sure it complies with regulations, she said.
"I don't know why Moses Lake needs the Boundary Review Board gone," Allison said. "It's the only city that raised the concern."
The review board serves as a facilitator between the city and the county, Carter said.
"We've always tried to work with the City of Moses Lake," Allison said.
"We do represent the City of Moses Lake as well as all citizens in the county," Carter added.
The review board determines if an annexation is contiguous with the city limits, does not confuse responding emergency service units, includes all adjacent roadways and does not deliberately exclude less desirable property.
Commissioner Richard Stevens said the county sent a letter to the city council a year ago stating there were annexations going to the city without meeting qualifications.
As an example, he said the city annexed two vehicle dealerships on North Frontage Road but not another property bearing the road between the annexation and the city.
They are taking in property without a road connecting the new annexation and the city, Stevens said.
The city does not maintain the road, because it is outside of the city, in unincorporated Grant County, he explained.
The dealerships are the reasons for the majority of traffic traveling the road, but the portion of property taxes collected from them to pay for maintenance of the county road are now collected by the city, Stevens said.