Despite months of resistance and despite accusations by Shawnee City Commissioner James Harrod that Gov. Brad Henry and Commissioners of the Land Office were “bullying” the city, the city commission voted 5-2 Monday to relinquish their lease agreement with the CLO and to allow 28 lessees to lease directly from the state.
City Commissioners Carl Holt, Billy Collier, John Winterringer and Frank Sims were joined by Mayor Linda Peterson in their vote to approve relinquishment. Vice Mayor Pam Stephens, along with Harrod, voted against the motion.
“I’m ecstatic,” Annette Stuckey, one of 28 current lessees of state-owned property around Shawnee Twin Lakes, said. “I came tonight not expecting a resolution and expecting it could continue again. The CLO was very persuasive and gave a great presentation, which I think had a lot to do with it. But in my mind, I was prepared to be here again at the next meeting.”
The presentation to which Stuckey referred was one given by governor-appointed Mike Hunter, CLO secretary. The presentation was objected, at first, by Harrod who asked City Attorney John Canavan, “Have you ever seen a state office bully around a city like this?”
Canavan did not respond to the question, which was followed by another from Sims, who asked, “Have you seen the negotiations by the CLO to be in good faith?” Canavan replied “Yes” to Sims’ question.
Harrod disagreed with Canavan’s opinion that lease negotiations offered by the CLO were given in “good faith.”
“Well, that’s questionable and I don’t think they are in good faith,” Harrod said. “We asked to be on their agenda and they wouldn’t let us and now here they are on ours. I object to them presenting.”
City Manager Brian McDougal provided his support of Hunter’s presentation and after more heated discussions between Harrod and Sims, Hunter shared the CLO’s position.
“The CLO is submitting itself to the ordinances of Shawnee ... to determine future uses of the property,” Hunter said. “The future is the future and we can’t control the future, but we are hopeful the city will take note of the resolution offered.”
The presentation was given because, for several months, many of the lessees shared with Shawnee city staff, McDougal, Sims, CLO members and others their desires to lease directly from the state. But questions soon arose regarding how much land the city actually leased — and sublet to the lessees — from the CLO and how the city might continue to protect the watershed around that area of the lake if they no longer held the role of middleman in the lease agreements.
Hunter said he hoped his presentation would help clarify the CLO’s intent and said, “It may be there are no future development opportunities” on the property in question.
Still, Harrod openly objected numerous times, often interrupting Hunter and other commissioners to offer his opinion regarding the leases, the CLO and the governor.
“I’m really, really upset with our governor,” Harrod said. “This is his hometown and several of us have tried to make contact with him to no avail ... I can’t believe the governor would send representatives of a state organization down here to bully us.”
Linda Agee, who referred to herself as a citizen concerned for the city’s water supply and the quality of the property in question if the state were to lease directly to lessees, approached the commission numerous times in the past months. During each of those times, Agee suggested commissioners retain their role in the leasing of the lots and painted a grim picture of the future of the watershed if they did not.
Agee’s concerns were echoed for months by Harrod, and were joined by additional concerns from Peterson, Stephens and others, who said they were uncomfortable with what could happen if the city did not maintain control of the lease agreements.
Justin Erickson, community development director, said during several commission meetings that the staff’s recommendation was to allow the lessees to lease directly from the state. Clarification of how much land was in question was requested of city staff and was later presented to commissioners, along with a Memorandum of Understanding from the CLO that suggested, as the lots are in city limits, Shawnee would maintain control through its city ordinances regarding any development of the land.
The memorandum failed to provide some commissioners with the security they believed was necessary for them to grant the lessees’ request. But, following a meeting between Peterson and the governor last week, and the submittal of Resolution 09-001, which states in part that the CLO will “Plat and zone the property under the guidelines of the city’s ordinances,” the mayor and several commissioners decided to relax their opposition and grant the lessees’ request Monday.
“Mayor Peterson has always been willing to listen and as a citizen, that’s all we want is for them to listen to us,” Stuckey said.
Although the decision to relinquish the city’s position in the lease agreements was approved, Harrod said he will ask for estimates of conducting a title search to the land, as he believes the city purchased it years ago.
Canavan said it would take him a couple days to review the abstract once received. He also advised previously that although minutes from a city meeting held more than 60 years ago did make it appear that the city had purchased the land, it currently looks as though they only acquired the easement to build the lake.
In other business regarding land around the lake, Harrod later suggested that commissioners address the issue of possibly increasing current leases around the lake, which are not owned by CLO, from 5-year contracts to 30-year contracts. Sims and Peterson each agreed that this item should be added to the next commissioners meeting.
Watch for updates to this issue and others addressed by commissioners in future editions of the News-Star.
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Despite months of resistance and despite accusations by Shawnee City Commissioner James Harrod that Gov. Brad Henry and Commissioners of the Land Office were “bullying” the city, the city commission voted 5-2 Monday to relinquish their lease agreement with the CLO and to allow 28 lessees to lease directly from the state.
City Commissioners Carl Holt, Billy Collier, John Winterringer and Frank Sims were joined by Mayor Linda Peterson in their vote to approve relinquishment. Vice Mayor Pam Stephens, along with Harrod, voted against the motion.
“I’m ecstatic,” Annette Stuckey, one of 28 current lessees of state-owned property around Shawnee Twin Lakes, said. “I came tonight not expecting a resolution and expecting it could continue again. The CLO was very persuasive and gave a great presentation, which I think had a lot to do with it. But in my mind, I was prepared to be here again at the next meeting.”
The presentation to which Stuckey referred was one given by governor-appointed Mike Hunter, CLO secretary. The presentation was objected, at first, by Harrod who asked City Attorney John Canavan, “Have you ever seen a state office bully around a city like this?”
Canavan did not respond to the question, which was followed by another from Sims, who asked, “Have you seen the negotiations by the CLO to be in good faith?” Canavan replied “Yes” to Sims’ question.
Harrod disagreed with Canavan’s opinion that lease negotiations offered by the CLO were given in “good faith.”
“Well, that’s questionable and I don’t think they are in good faith,” Harrod said. “We asked to be on their agenda and they wouldn’t let us and now here they are on ours. I object to them presenting.”
City Manager Brian McDougal provided his support of Hunter’s presentation and after more heated discussions between Harrod and Sims, Hunter shared the CLO’s position.
“The CLO is submitting itself to the ordinances of Shawnee ... to determine future uses of the property,” Hunter said. “The future is the future and we can’t control the future, but we are hopeful the city will take note of the resolution offered.”
The presentation was given because, for several months, many of the lessees shared with Shawnee city staff, McDougal, Sims, CLO members and others their desires to lease directly from the state. But questions soon arose regarding how much land the city actually leased — and sublet to the lessees — from the CLO and how the city might continue to protect the watershed around that area of the lake if they no longer held the role of middleman in the lease agreements.
Hunter said he hoped his presentation would help clarify the CLO’s intent and said, “It may be there are no future development opportunities” on the property in question.
Still, Harrod openly objected numerous times, often interrupting Hunter and other commissioners to offer his opinion regarding the leases, the CLO and the governor.
“I’m really, really upset with our governor,” Harrod said. “This is his hometown and several of us have tried to make contact with him to no avail ... I can’t believe the governor would send representatives of a state organization down here to bully us.”
Linda Agee, who referred to herself as a citizen concerned for the city’s water supply and the quality of the property in question if the state were to lease directly to lessees, approached the commission numerous times in the past months. During each of those times, Agee suggested commissioners retain their role in the leasing of the lots and painted a grim picture of the future of the watershed if they did not.
Agee’s concerns were echoed for months by Harrod, and were joined by additional concerns from Peterson, Stephens and others, who said they were uncomfortable with what could happen if the city did not maintain control of the lease agreements.
Justin Erickson, community development director, said during several commission meetings that the staff’s recommendation was to allow the lessees to lease directly from the state. Clarification of how much land was in question was requested of city staff and was later presented to commissioners, along with a Memorandum of Understanding from the CLO that suggested, as the lots are in city limits, Shawnee would maintain control through its city ordinances regarding any development of the land.
The memorandum failed to provide some commissioners with the security they believed was necessary for them to grant the lessees’ request. But, following a meeting between Peterson and the governor last week, and the submittal of Resolution 09-001, which states in part that the CLO will “Plat and zone the property under the guidelines of the city’s ordinances,” the mayor and several commissioners decided to relax their opposition and grant the lessees’ request Monday.
“Mayor Peterson has always been willing to listen and as a citizen, that’s all we want is for them to listen to us,” Stuckey said.
Although the decision to relinquish the city’s position in the lease agreements was approved, Harrod said he will ask for estimates of conducting a title search to the land, as he believes the city purchased it years ago.
Canavan said it would take him a couple days to review the abstract once received. He also advised previously that although minutes from a city meeting held more than 60 years ago did make it appear that the city had purchased the land, it currently looks as though they only acquired the easement to build the lake.
In other business regarding land around the lake, Harrod later suggested that commissioners address the issue of possibly increasing current leases around the lake, which are not owned by CLO, from 5-year contracts to 30-year contracts. Sims and Peterson each agreed that this item should be added to the next commissioners meeting.
Watch for updates to this issue and others addressed by commissioners in future editions of the News-Star.
