05.02 - Jenkins Township Annexation

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City of Jenkins 218-568-4637 Office of the City Clerk P. O.Box 63 Jenkins,Minnesota 56456 July 14, 2008 • `-- Dear Jenkins Township Resident and Land Owner: We are sending you this letter to inform you of recent actions and the thoughts of the Jenkins City Council. In March of this year,the Jenkins City Council learned of the decision your Township Board made to begin the process of Orderly Annexation to the City of Pequot Lakes. This caught us by surprise since the Jenkins Township Comprehensive Plan speaks clearly of the participation you wanted to have with the City of Jenkins and the surrounding communities. Please refer to the attached pages 34 and 35 from your Comprehensive Plan. We were shocked by this action as we thought it was the intent of the Jenkins Township Board to include all adjoining parties in any annexation discussions as stated in your Comprehensive Plan. However, the Jenkins City'Council was not contacted by the Township Board with their intent. • At the time the Jenkins Township Board's decision was made public,Jenkins City Officials received many phone calls and visits. Some of our citizens expressed concerns and wanted to know what role the City of Jenkins would play in this situation. Many of our citizens thought sometime in the future,when the time was right, all three communities would be involved in this discussion. We felt that this could be a lost opportunity to the City of Jenkins and its citizens if we did not get involved. Calls and visits were also received from some Jenkins Township Citizens. The majority seemed to be against any change at this time without more information. Since March,Jenkins Township citizens have attended many meetings to voice their objection to the annexation. The Township citizens have repeatedly asked that this be postponed to allow more time to consider all options. To this date,the Township Board is continuing discussions for Orderly Annexation with the City of Pequot Lakes. The Jenkins City Council is greatly concerned for the welfare of our city. We are also concerned for the surrounding area. The people of Jenkins Township, Pequot Lakes, Ideal, and the City of Jenkins are all part of a large community. We all must work together. We will accomplish much more by building on our strengths rather than pointing out our weaknesses.The action being taken by the Township Board is causing a divide in this area. It is not by design that the City of Jenkins filed our intent to annex Jenkins Township with the Municipal Board of Adjustments. It was out of necessity by the action the Township Board took last March. We Af el we are taking the necessary steps to protect the best interest of our entire area. City of Jenkins boarders Jenkins Township for 5'/2 miles and Pequot Lakes boarders the Township r 'h miles. Picture if you will the situation back in 2002 when the then Sibley Township would have red into Orderly Annexation with the City of Nisswa instead of Pequot Lakes. What would the • n of the City of Pequot Lakes been? We believe the reaction would have been much the same as the ity of Jenkins is dealing with now. L. pg. 1