Church threatens lawsuit

At the April 2 City Council meeting in Airway Heights during citizens comments, the West Plains Community Seventh-Day Adventist Church threatened to sue the city if they aren’t given money they thought they were owed.

Larry Belknap, the church board chair, read the council a lengthy letter explaining how the city owed the church $51,033.92 due to a “Latecomers Agreement” that was signed in December 2016.

The agreement was due to the fact that the church paid for design and construction of approximately 1,400 feet of a 12-inch water main that “benefited the city and surrounding properties,” according to the letter. The signed document indicated that the city should be collecting fees from the properties that benefited from the water main.

The church noted that the Basalt Ridge Apartments and the Galena Apartments were built, but they never received fees from the properties for use of their water main. In the letter, the church explained that they did the math to see how much money they were owed and that is how they came up with the $51,033.92.

At the end of the letter, Belknap said that they want the full amount within 30 days or they would make the next steps to sue the city.

Due to the threat of litigation, city attorney Stanley Schwartz called for an executive session, meeting with the council for 15 minutes to discuss the issue.

After their session, Schwartz came back and told the church that he “didn’t think it is possible to pay the money right now.” Schwartz believed that the properties owed the church the money, not necessarily the city. So in order to get the money, the city would have to sue the two properties for the latecomers fee.

“The city wants a solution for you,” Schwartz said. “It is a difficult situation we are in. We get your frustration and we do not want this to continue.”

Mayor Kevin Richey also assured the church that he was sincerely apologetic and that he and the council wants to the issue settled, even if it may not be within 30 days.

In the end, Schwartz advised that the city, church and developers should sit down immediately and figure something out together.

“The best way is to get both parties together and figure something out and reach a settlement,” he said.

In other agenda items, the transportation circulation plan was finally approved after being discussed at four study sessions. The council also agreed to continue discussion about the road width in Highland Village to the next study session due to not everyone being on board yet.

Grace Pohl can be reached at grace@cheneyfreepress.com.