Lake Herman Sanitary District: Don't Just Fix the Map; Expand It!

Faithful readers and sewage devotees will recall the kerfuffle the Lake Herman Sanitary District had over its map a couple months ago. (They will also recall that I am a member of that district's board.) Well, we straightened out the map and the tax rolls. And now we're ready to take the next step. At our December meeting, we drew up new proposed boundaries that would annex about three square miles into the Lake Herman Sanitary District. (Click on the map to see a larger image.)

The district board will meet Wednesday, January 30, 2008, at 6:30 p.m., in the public meeting room at the Madison Public Library, to discuss this proposed annexation and set a schedule for making it happen. If the board approves a formal resolution of annexation, three things have to happen to make the annexation a reality:

1. The Lake County Commission has to approve the proposed boundaries.
2. The LHSD has to publish the resolution twice, in two consecutive weeks, in the Madison Daily Leader for public review.
3. The LHSD board has to hold a public hearing on annexation, at which all residents affected by the annexation may air their views. At that meeting, the board can then vote yea or nay on the annexation. If a majority (there are three of us, so a majority is two guys) of the board vote in favor, the annexation becomes law right then and there.

If we put forward the resolution at our next meeting, we anticipate that the county could act on our request by mid-February, and we could have our formal hearing and vote on the annexation itself by the end of February.

The annexation would bring a few dozen residences onto the tax rolls. It would also encompass a fair amount of ag land where some landowners run cattle. Board member and cattle owner Lawrence Dirks has expressed some concern about this, since the district has an ordinance prohibiting livestock within district boundaries. of course, the board hasn't used that ordinance to prevent the grazing of cattle within the current boundaries or even the wading of cattle in Lake Herman. The ordinance explicitly allows the district board to make exceptions; nonetheless, we might have to take a look at clarifying that ordinance or maybe even changing the proposed annexation boundaries to avoid active pasture land.

What do you think? Should the Lake Herman Sanitary District expand? Weigh in with comments here... or better yet, come to the meeting on January 30 and let us know what you think!