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~j <br />Elk River <br />Municipal Utilities <br />13069 Orono Parkway • P.O. Box 430 <br />Elk River, MN 55330-0430 <br />January 7, 2008 <br />To: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission <br />Jerry Takle <br />Jerry Gumphrey <br />Jim Tralle <br />From: Bryan Adams <br />Subject: Elk River United Methodist Church <br />Phone: 763.441.2020 <br />Fax: 763.441.8099 <br />At the December 11, 2007 Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission meeting we discussed the <br />abandonment of water services by Elk River United Methodist Church. Staff was directed to <br />draft an agreement reflecting our discussion. <br />Staff drafted a proposed agreement which was reviewed by Ron Black, our attorney. The <br />attached agreement is a result of this discussion. In reviewing the notes from our December 11, <br />2007 board discussion, it was not clear if the affected lots are the three the church already <br />purchased (colored yellow on drawing) or all of the lots in that block the church intend to <br />purchase at a later date. The proposed agreement reflects only the three lots the church now <br />own. The reason is we should not be granted exceptions to our policy when the event has not yet <br />occurred. The Church has not yet purchased the other lots. <br />I would caution the commission on further expanding the exception to this policy for it <br />established a dangerous precedence for future properties. For the case in hand, the purchase <br />price of the future lots can reflect the cost of properly abandoning the water services. <br />The real danger of leaving abandoned services in place is high probability of being damaged by <br />contractors unaware of their presence. These water services are typically not located although <br />state regulations require water services constructed after January 1, 2007 be located in street <br />right-of--way. There are no homes on the lot to alert the contractor of a potential water or sewer <br />service. We have had two instances with contractors hitting improperly abandoned water <br />services on Main Street that created unnecessary conflict and unexpected expense for both the <br />property owner and contractor. <br />