LINN — Dawn and Gary Berhorst confronted Linn aldermen and the mayor at their meeting last Tuesday night about why they were being singled out to pave the parking lot at the apartment buildings they own. 

“There are a lot of properties in Linn that have gravel, and they are not getting notices like we are,” Dawn Berhorst said. “Why is the city selectively enforcing ordinances against a minority-owned business like this?”

Berhorst presented pictures of properties and residences with gravel driveways and parking lots.

“A lot of properties were grandfathered in and were gravel before the ordinance was passed,” Mayor Dwight Massey tried to explain.

“I’m talking about properties since the ordinance was passed, of course,” Dawn Berhorst said. “I’ve done this before and gave you pictures, and nothing was done.”

Dawn Berhorst went on to list properties in the city limits that have gravel driveways and that she believes are not receiving notices to pave their driveways, including the Cedar Park subdivision, Jim Butler Chevrolet, single-residence houses on Lee Street, the back parking lot for Millard Funeral Home, duplexes on Benton Street, Brad Peter’s storage building behind the old Tech School building, Eagle Valley Apartments, and several apartments built by Mark Voss. The Linn Planning and Zoning Commission approved a building permit for Brad Peters, along with rezoning his property behind the former Linn R-2 school in 2019.

“When (the Linn Planning and Zoning Commission) approved your building permit, did they not state in that letter that you had to abide by all ordinances, including paving the parking lot?” City Clerk Carrie Grellner asked. “You then asked for a little more extra time to let (the parking lot) settle, and then you were going to build the second one, so they extended (the time frame to pave the parking lot)?”

“Yes,” Dawn Berhorst responded. “That’s when we came to the meeting and asked if it was a rule for everyone.”

“That was about the same time that Horton Auto Sales was doing construction, and they did pave their parking lot,” Grellner said.

“What about all of these other properties?” Berhorst asked.

“A lot of what we are trying to do is keep rock on people’s properties and not out in the street,” Massey said.

“The entrance to our apartments is paved,” Berhorst pointed out.

“But the agreements that were entered into during construction — that’s what we keep looking at,” Massey said. “Some of these (referring to the pictures that were presented) I was not aware of, and we’ll be talking to folks and see what we can get done.”

“A couple of years ago, I brought you these pictures, and you said you would look into it,” Berhorst said. “Now, we’re the only ones being chastised about the gravel. Why are we the only ones being singled out?”

“Because I don’t have signed agreements with everyone else,” Massey answered.

“You don’t have a signed agreement with us,” Dawn Berhorst said. “My husband signed the agreement, and he doesn’t own the property.”

“Are you saying that you won’t stand behind the agreement because your husband signed it?” City Attorney Kent Brown asked. “You are saying it is not valid because your husband signed it. Is that what you are saying?”

“No, I’m not saying that,” Dawn Berhorst said. “Why should I have to pave (my parking lot) when no one else is being asked to pave theirs?”

“The short answer is the city enforces as it becomes aware and as it has time to enforce, “Brown said.

“No one else is being sent notices,” Berhorst said. “We are being sent notices every month. We’ve gotten an attorney because your attorney keeps sending us notices.”

“The answer to your questions as to why you are getting letters is because you signed an agreement to pave your lot,” Brown said. “That’s the answer to your question.”

“Your permit was approved on the basis you were going to pave the parking lot,” Grellner added.

“Why is our property being singled out?” Dawn Berhorst repeated. “What about all of the other properties?”

“We’ll have to look into them,” Brown said.

“I guess I’ll have to bring my attorney with us to the next meeting,” Dawn Berhorst said.

Massey repeated that he and aldermen would investigate the other properties the Berhorsts pointed out that did not have paved driveways and parking lots. Brown encouraged the Berhorsts to have their attorney contact him.

In related news, city resident Tracie Southerlin is having trouble with her sewer lines and asked the aldermen for help in trying to solve the problem. Southerlin lives at 403 South Ninth Street and moved into the house in April 2021 after the death of her husband. Since moving in, Southerlin has had the sewer backed up into her basement four times.

“I’ve brought in two different plumbers, and they’ve cleaned it out,” Southerlin explained. “There are no tree roots. They put a camera through it, and it doesn’t show anything wrong with the line that goes from outside my house to my neighbor’s where the hub is.”

“It’s been very frustrating and very costly,” Southerlin continued. “I’ve talked to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) about it, and they don’t think it should be my responsibility to replace the whole thing.”

“Somebody got away with hooking all of these houses together from one pipe and only putting one connection in,” Massey said, noting that the city believes the sewer pipe between these houses is four inches in diameter. “The water is the same way; there are multiple houses hooked on one service line, so they didn’t have to pay for more than one connection.”

Southerlin agreed that she believed that there were about seven houses that were attached. One fix that Southerlin and her plumber have come up with is to replace her line and install a backflow diverter where the sewer line connects to the Greer property.

“Then the problem is going to become Travis’s (Greer) because it will then back up onto him,” Southerlin said. “I’m trying to fix it as cheap as possible because I’m on a fixed income, but this is really not going to fix the problem.”

Southerlin believes that her service line goes from her house to where it hooks up at Greer’s house but asked the city for its definition of a service line.

“Your service line goes until you hit the city’s main (sewer line),” Brown said.

“But that picks up everyone else’s houses,” Southerlin argued.

“Which is why we don’t let people do that if we have a choice,” Brown replied.

“The house was built in either 1974 or 1975, and because I’m the last one, it’s all backing up into my house,” Southerlin said. “I can’t even sell my house until I do something about this. I’d really like to work with the city to see if there is something we can do.”

Southerlin apologized to Grellner for being unpleasant when she called the city over the holidays to report the backed-up sewer into her finished basement.

“I totally understand,” Grellner said.

Southerlin is not aware if this is a problem for the other houses that are all linking into this sewer line.

“Anything that can be done to help me out is appreciated,” Southerlin said. “This is going to cost me $2,000, and (the plumber) is hoping to give me enough slope that it doesn’t back up.”

“Do we know why it is backing up?” Alderman Steve Boeckmann asked.

“No, I have no idea,” Southerlin said. “I’m not even putting anything in there now, and that’s not the most sanitary thing to do, but I don’t want to put anything down there that might cause a problem.”

“That’s not good at all,” Massey said.

“You’ve got a ‘belly’ in your line,” Utilities Superintendent Larry Fredrich said. “It’s letting soap and grease hang up. Once you get the ‘belly’ out, even if everyone else’s is still connected, it should help. This is why we’ve been so adamant about separate connections for everything. The same with water because if not, someone else can be backing up on you.”

Massey and Fredrich plan to meet with Southerlin at her property and see what can be done to fix or at least help the situation.

“We’ll take a look at it, but I’m not making any promises,” Massey said.

“As long as we’re trying to work together,” Southerlin said. “That’s all I’m asking.”

A design-build project recently completed by Bartlett & West that ran wastewater lines to the new Stone Gate Subdivision and Osage Country Club has been completed under budget by $3,359.16. Per the agreement with Bartlett & West, savings of $1,679.58 will be shared by the engineering company and the city.

Bartlett & West Project Engineer Hope Drennan also presented another project to add to the design-build that would extend the city’s wastewater line to the Community Christian Church on the west side of the city. The project is estimated to cost $351,904.11. 

“If you want to move forward with that, Aplex could start construction in February, and that would be wrapped up in three months,” Drennan explained. “If that were to be pushed back, they would not be able to start until the summer.”

“I don’t see where we can sign a contract for something when we don’t have the cash on hand unless we’re going to draw down on all of our reserves, and I’m not ready to do that,” Massey said.

Massey noted that aldermen are currently working on the budget for the next fiscal year and will see how the sewer projects fit.

• Condemnation procedures are continuing for the easement for the Jaegers Wastewater Regionalization project. Brown and Bartlett & West are working closely on the procedures, and both believe things are progressing.

Drennan, Bartlett & West Project Manager Gary Davis, Mayor Massey, and Grellner met with DNR about the sewer extension to the Lemar Hills Subdivision. The hope was that the city could apply for another Regionalization Grant to fund the sewer extension, like the Jaegers Wastewater Regionalization grant, which is 100% funded.

“We had a discussion with DNR and explained we are just trying to help the environment,” Drennan said. “Let’s get rid of all the shenanigans and get down to business. It was a good conversation.”

“I think we finally got through to them,” Massey agreed.

“There were a lot of revelations in that meeting, and I think that was great,” Drennan said.

Drennan and Davis hope to have two grant applications prepared by the February meeting for the Board of Aldermen to consider. One would be the Regionalization Grant, which allows 100% funding of projects, and the other would be the State Revolving Fund, which requires a 50% cost match. Drennan noted that neither application commits the city to the project, but since both are due on March 1, it might be in the city’s best interest to apply for both.

The Lemar Hills Subdivision Wastewater Project was estimated to cost about $1.5 million when an estimate was put together in 2022.

• Stone Gate Subdivision owner Matt Lee requested that the city take over the maintenance responsibilities.

Grellner and Utilities Superintendent Larry Fredrich noted that most of the mapping and paperwork have been completed.

“The sewer passed Jefferson City standards,” Fredrich said. “The manholes are above ground and visible. It plowed nicely. He (Lee) has started a really good subdivision. He went above and beyond on a couple of things that he didn’t have to do.”

Grellner noted that the only thing left to finalize should be to sign the easements over to the city. Brown promised to look over everything.

Lee noted that there are currently six residents in the subdivision besides his office.

“Larry’s been great to work with,” Lee said. “I think we’ve got a really great subdivision.”

He thanked the city for everything they had done to help.

Remaining business will be presented next week.