- By the Central Minnesota News Network
- November 2, 2018
Stewart resident Delvin Bethke has been contending with what he considers a corrupt city for many decades. Bethke says city officials have harassed him for cooking wieners, have tried to take his land, and most recently, have filed charges on him for an alleged zoning violation. However, Bethke says city zoning does not require a permit for a transient structure.
Here are Bethke's statements.
HARASSED FOR COOKING HOT DOGS
I was cooking wieners in a fire pit. I was done so I put the lid on and went into the house. The fires department came out and then charged me $300 because they had a fire call. I went round and round with the city attorney, Ronda, and Kevin. And then I turned it over to my insurance company. They refused to pay, and the city has left me alone about that.
ATTEMPTED LAND GRAB BY CITY OFFICIALS
The mayor and the city clerk Ronda Huls said there was an alley behind my house and that my fence was in the alley and I had to tear it down. So I paid thousands of dollars to have a survey done. The survey proves there's no alley, there's no easement. The were trying to force me to tear down my fence and take my land. Right about that same time the back window in my pickup was broken out.
Above: Survey showing fence within property lines.
ALLEGED LEGAL HARASSMENT: FALSELY CHARGED
I have a shed on the front of my property that I was building to sell. They're taking me to court since I didn't get a zoning permit for my shed. According to the zoning laws, if you're going to sell it or move it you don't need a zoning permit.
I had a pile of materials in my front yard. I was going to build the shed on another property, but I couldn't move the materials from my front yard because the city roads were blocked since last spring. They had excuses all summer long -- there was a cable in the way, there was an 8 foot hole in the street and they left it there. I couldn't get to my property. I was waiting for them to get the street done.
They were going to give me a ticket for the materials in my yard, so I just started building the shed on my property in front of my house. This is the fourth shed I built in front of my house.
Then I was getting these letters that I needed a zoning permit. I spoke to Jason Pierce, the mayor, and he said it was okay to have the shed there, "our town has way too many rules."
I applied for a permit anyway. Council member Kevin Klucas is on the zoning board, and they rejected it. So I gave them another permit, and it never made it to the zoning board. Jason said they never had a meeting on the second permit.
Once I had it partially built, they gave me a ticket. They said it was an order by the city council, but when I called the other city council members, they didn't know anything about it. Only Kevin knew about it.
I had another shed where someone took a crowbar and damaged siding and the roof, so the city blighted me. Then I called the building inspector and I asked him what I can do to repair it. He said just nail it back on, and that for a roof you can replace 100 Square feet and you don't need a building permit.
But then the city says I need a building permit. And they said I need to have a meeting with the building inspector. I called him up and he said, "Your doing what I told you to." He called the city and straightened them out. But they fined me.
ALLEGED POLICE HARASSMENT
I have been pulled over repeatedly by sheriff. The city of Stewart contracts police service to the McLeod County sheriff for $10,000 a month. If the city pays for the sheriff's service, they can tell them who they think are the bad people to harass.
ALLEGED CORRUPTION
In 2012 the city put new sewer and water in the county road in the city of Stewart. Given that I have a few properties, I wrote them a letter that there were certain things I needed done for each property, such as which ones needed water and sewer hookups, which didn't. They ignored it, and The city put in water and sewer in some places anyway, and charged me.
- On my house, they put in a water line I didn't need and charged me.
- On a different lot, they said they put water and sewer, but they never put water in but charged me for water.
- On a different property, they put water and sewer lines in, but they never hooked them up. And they charged me. This is an old school I was going to fix up. The sewer doesn't work to drain the water from the property. Then over winter the city pushes snow on my property, there was a pile about 30 feet high, and my building had about 4 feet of water.
The city changed my property lines around so there would be the minimum lot size so I would be required to pay for water and sewer to be put in. What is now a 50-foot lot has an assessment of $8,000. The 100-foot lot where my house is has an assessment of $2700. The 50 foot lot should have no assessments because it's unbuildable.
When the city changed my property lines, they had made two 50-foot lots over my house instead of house instead of one 100-foot lot. I made copies at the courthouse in 2014 of the lot lines.
[gallery ids="272,274,273" type="square"]
2014 Printouts showing lot lines changed.
Lot 330: Had an assessment of $2712 in 2014.
Lot 340: In the middle, with no structures at all and in unbuildable, had a 2014 assessment of $8020.
Lot 350: On the right with a house, assessed lower than the lot with no buildings.
In this letter from the city, Ronda Huls admits they moved around my property lines.
And on page 2 Ronda says that if I am to move it, I have to obtain a permit. But twice they refused to hear my application.
CITY ADMITS WRONGDOING
They finally admitted to their wrongdoing about overcharging me for putting in utilities. They mailed me a letter, "Yeah we made a big mistake" and sent me a $900 check. But they only admitted to a very small part of it. This shows that they are doing fraud.
