Family objects to irrigation district's handling of lease
Board considers lease extension
MOSES LAKE - After two family members objected to the Moses Lake Irrigation District's handling of their late father's gravel pit lease, the irrigation district board decided Wednesday to consider a lease extension.
The lease will be extended to Aug. 1 if the state auditor's office accepts the extension, irrigation district board Director Norm Benson said.
Mitchell Delabarre, the irrigation district's attorney, and irrigation district board Director Richard Teals both said they don't want the case to go to court. Teals said he didn't want to be in a situation where he's accused of being negligent in his actions.
The irrigation district claims a question remains over who owns the stockpiled gravel on its land, and doesn't want to be accused of gifting public funds, said Delabarre.
A gravel pile with a market value of about $150,000 sitting on district land is considered public funds. Family members of the late Marc Marchand want to sell the gravel and gift 1,000 tons to the irrigation district.
The irrigation district took possession of Marchand's equipment and rock inventory in February while family was trying to deal with his Jan. 15 death, according to Marchand's daughter, Chris Hansen, and son-in-law former state Rep. Mick Hansen.
The action happened while the irrigation district was enforcing the terms of a contract.
Eight days after Marchand's death, the irrigation district's board reportedly asked Chris Hansen for a signature on the termination notice, she wrote in a letter to the board.
The Hansens were reportedly told by district staff if they wanted the equipment, they should remove it from district property immediately, the Hansens claimed. The equipment was previously used to crush gravel on the district's property for Marchand's company Sunbelt Construction.
The Hansens also allege they were given a deadline of 10 days to remove 42,000 tons of rock from the site. Chris Hansen called the deadline "close to impossible."
"I am surprised that the board has taken the position of launching an attack at a time when I was still in the throes of dealing with family issues and burying my dad," Chris Hansen said.
Delabarre's Feb. 21 letter to Chris Hansen states the crusher, scales and equipment were not removed by Feb. 2 and were deemed abandoned and property of the irrigation district. The letter says the deadline was part of the license agreement and lease termination notice between Marchand and the irrigation district.
About two months before Marchand's death, he received a lease termination notice from the board, Chris Hansen said. The notice stated that Marchand would have 10 days from Jan. 23 to remove his equipment and inventory from the land.
Chris Hansen said she reportedly agreed to signing a 90-day lease extension during a Jan. 19 meeting with irrigation district Manager Curt Carpenter. She claimed the extension was approved at the board's Jan. 8 meeting.
The board apparently took the position the contract lapsed because the extension wasn't signed and returned by Jan. 23, she said. She said even if the extension was signed by Jan. 23, it wouldn't have taken effect until the next board meeting.
The Hansens also take issue with how another irrigation district contract was handled with Moses Lake Travel Plaza, LLC which used the same general area for stockpiling gravel.
The contract allows Moses Lake Travel Plaza one-year notice before termination, but Marchand's contract from 2005 didn't contain the "90-day minimum notice" wording, the Hansens claim.