"I’m disappointed they didn’t acquire all the easements they will need," Richard P.

Wednesday, July 26, 2000

"I’m disappointed they didn’t acquire all the easements they will need," Richard P. Cummings, First District Mower County commissioner, said.

"Alliance had all their easements and I don’t know why Great River Energy couldn’t have done that," he said.

After hearing from citizens at two different meetings that GRE did not have easements on the land they hope to build 70-foot tall utility poles and connect a 161-kilovolt transmission line from near Sargeant to Austin, Cummings was concerned.

That concern led him to attempt to deny GRE’s request for a conditional use permit at Tuesday’s county board meeting.

However, Cummings remained hopeful after the meeting that two additional conditions attached to the permit will offer protection.

"I’m hopeful the conditions will protect the citizens in this matter," he said after Tuesday’s hearing. "Requiring them to have the easements or proof of the easements before they start construction on the land only makes good sense."

Ray Tucker, Second District county commissioner and county board chairman, said the county’s stake in the project has been protected every step of the way.

Tucker also responded to inquiries about his role in the negotiations and two other sources on the county board verified his account.

Tucker, David Hillier, Third District, and County Coordinator Craig Oscarson successfully negotiated a $2.5 million bonus from GRE for Mower County.

"That’s much better than any other county has ever gotten in something like this," Tucker said.

The money will be paid to Mower County next spring or early summer when the Pleasant Valley Township electrical generation plant is operational.

GRE also agreed to pay all expenses incurred by the county board, when the county officials agreed to endorse the electric cooperative’s request to the Minnesota Legislature for a personal property tax exemption.

When James Hartson of rural Waltham pointed out Tuesday that GRE has not yet paid the bill as required by state statute to be paid within 15 days of the close of the Legislature, Tucker was nonplussed.

After the county board approved GRE’s request to endorse the personal property tax exemption, Tucker went to St. Paul to testify on behalf of the electric cooperative what the Mower County Board of Commissioners had done.

"The reason there is no bill is because I haven’t submitted my own bill and I don’t intend to," Tucker said. "It was only gas and a few other expenses like meals and, besides, I was going up there on other business anyway."

Tucker also said his tiling firm did do site work in Pleasant Valley Township, where GRE is building its new $190 million electrical generation facilities.

However, it was done at the request of an earth-moving contractor and not GRE. Tucker’s firm was paid $2,200 for its work, according to the county commissioner.

"We were never on GRE’s payroll," he said.

Two other county commissioners, Hillier and Cummings, said the county board’s and staff’s actions were carefully scrutinized throughout the process to eliminate any hint of a conflict of interest. Also, Mower County Attorney Patrick A. Oman and his chief deputy prosecutor provided legal counsel to the commissioners along the way.

Tucker said, "The welfare of the citizens of the county was always uppermost in the minds of the county board and has been protected all the way."

Tucker said he does not personally expect Hartson and the other opponents to the GRE project to file suit against the county

Tucker, a Dexter businessman, is a former business associate of Jerry Lee, the owner of the land that GRE purchased for its generation plant in Pleasant Valley Township.

He said the pair do not now have a business relationship and that he purchased all of Lee’s tiling equipment when he went into business for himself.

Tucker’s Second District includes 12 townships – Pleasant Valley Township is one of them – and eight communities in the eastern half of Mower County.