$95,000 award to Holy Trinity Church recommended for Richmond sewer

The Washington County Compensation Commission will recommend to the county board of supervisors that Holy Trinity Catholic Church of Richmond be awarded $95,000 for property needed for the Richmond sewer improvement project.

According to Washington County Attorney Larry Brock, the county supervisors will either accept or not accept the award at one of their future meetings. If the supervisors accept the award, the process of constructing a lagoon system in Richmond will continue. If the supervisors don?t accept the award, they would need to appeal the award to district court. Persons representing the Holy Trinity Catholic Church also could appeal the decision.

The commission arrived at its decision following a public hearing, a tour of the property in question, a closed session and a return to open session.

?I?ve been hired to help the county acquire this right of way,? said James Graham, the county?s attorney for this action. ?I?ve been in the economic development and eminent domain business for 25 years.?

Graham said the commission was to determine ?just compensation? for a portion of church-owned land. The land has been appraised. As of March 2011, the appraiser estimated the value at $81,650. Graham also said the county offered the church $90,000 before beginning condemnation proceedings.

?What we?re doing is holding a hearing to determine what just compensation is for this property,? Graham said. ?The standard was set out in the instructions ? the difference between the fair market value of the property before and the fair market value of the property after the acquisition has taken place.?

Goetz explained the church?s position. The land in question was bequeathed to the church by the family of B.D. Duwa.

?Holy Trinity Catholic Church of Richmond is not able to sell until 21 years after last member of said church?s congregation living at the date of (Duwa?s) death,? Goetz said. ?The youngest person at his death was 3 months old. She is now 23.?

It was the church?s position that the land cannot be sold because of the terms of Duwa?s will.

Graham said the church does have the authority to sell the property. In the beginning, he said, the church was willing to work with the county. However, as time passed, the matter created conflict between members of the church. He then asked Fincel to go over the history of the project. He said a preliminary engineering report came up with seven alternative parcels for the county supervisors to choose from. In 2010, the seven sites were evaluated and site 6, the church property, was the best site of the seven.

Fincel said that the county supervisors held a public hearing in Richmond in January 2011.

Brock added that the county supervisors voted to condemn the land in an open meeting on Feb. 1, 2011.

Joe TeBockhorst has a lease with the church for use as a pasture for cattle. Graham said the lease will expire in March 2012. TeBockhorst said that he has a lease that is filed with the county recorder. Graham said the lease was for 30 years, but that it is not a valid lease. TeBockhorst was offered $100 to sign the necessary documents, but he did not do so. The commissioners decided that he would not be awarded damages.