Hein/WGEZ Radio TowersLakeside County Water & Sewer District
253 Bierney Creek Road, P.O. Box 300, Lakeside, Montana 59922
(406)844-3881 Fax (406)844-3996 jimheim@lcwsd.net
March 3, 2009
Fred Leistiko
C/o City of Kalispell
P.O. Box 1997
Kalispell, Montana 59903
RE: KGEZ Radio Towers
Dear Fred:
The Lakeside County Water & Sewer District Board of Directors discussed the KGEZ radio tower
relocation proposal at their regular monthly Director's meeting yesterday. The consensus was that
they did not want to spend any more of the District's money in further exploration of the
possibility of relocating those towers to District owned land.
We had asked our attorney, Dan Johns, for an opinion about the document of intent regarding the
property purchase option that you presented to me awhile back. As the result of his search and
discovery of the issues, we have incurred $985.00 worth of attorney services to -date. Since the
Board feels it is not proper to use ratepayer funds for such speculative endeavors, they asked me
to forward the results of yesterday's discussion to you. If the District were to be reimbursed for
such costs, the Board may be agreeable to continue the consideration of the proposed tower
relocation.
A second item that has caused the Board to be less than enthusiastic about the whole issue is the
ultimate cost to the District as related to any benefit to the ratepayers of the District. When we
were first approached by the City about the proposed tower relocation, it was surmised that if the
District were to exercise the land option in question, the rent/lease/easement proceeds would
cover the majority of any District cash outlay. With the new information regarding another parcel
of land adjacent to the original parcel being involved, the cost appears to be getting higher; and
that again raises the cost/benefit viability of the proposal from a ratepayer's perspective.
Fred Leistiko
March 3, 2009
",age 2
A third item that may end the discussion anyway is the issue of the radiating tower ground wires
protruding into the District's wastewater disposal field that has a buried irrigation system control
wire around the perimeter of the 160 acre f ield. We have written notes on our engineering
drawings of the center pivot irrigation system that says any other wires nearby should be limited
to not be within twenty five (25] feet of that control wire that is located approximately 100 feet
from the property line and buried 30-36 deep. Verbal inquiries to our irrigation vendor revealed
that he agrees with that restriction. However, field testing of such wires interfering with the
center pivot operational controls, may prove that statement to be unfounded. That would be up to
you to make that determination via a written report of any such f ield testing.
In summary, the District's Board of Directors does not want to spend any money to f urther
investigate the tower relocation proposal. At this time, they do not see any benef it to the
District's operations or its ratepayers regarding the ownership of the land options. Finally, if the
tower ground wires disturb the farm practices of the irrigation system, there is no point to
continue this effort at the currently viewed location.
Our Board also realizes that this relocation scenario may never occur as the City pursues its course
of action with the radio station owner. But to continue with the current proposal knowing there
may be un-resolvable issues, they wanted to convey these thoughts and concerns to you as soon as
possible. If there is a solution here that does not require the District to purchase new land, and
there is no restriction to our farming operations, there may still exist the potential to use this site
for the City's originally intended purpose.
5incerely,
A&mes R. Heim, General Manager
Lakeside County Water & 5ewer District