A writ of Mandamus is a document that is filed when a group believes an agency has a legal obligation to do something and it is not taking the action it should.

In this case, the ìgroup,î officials of the City of Wyoming and Wyoming Township, asked Ramsey District Court to tell the Office of Administrative Hearings to act on their annexation request.

Township Supervisors Roger Elmore and Mark Utecht, Wyoming Mayor Sheldon Anderson, Council Member Tom LaBarre, Administrator Craig Mattson, Fred Weck, and Attorney Tim Sime met in special meeting at 5 p.m., Monday, August 7.

It was determined at that time that the options open to the group are to appeal De Courcyís decision, go into contested hearing with the Office of Administrative Hearings, or to negotiate separately with Chisago City and Stacy. Of those choices, the city and township have chosen to appeal to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

ìThe judge did not deal with the direct legal points of our case,î was Andersonís comment on Monday evening.

Contacted Tuesday morning, Sime said he was disappointed in the courtís order ìbecause we (city and township) donít believe the judge addressed the legal arguments made and in effect turned back the (annexation) decision back to the OAH.î

In his ruling Judge Michael De Courcy ruled there were conflicting statutes.

The statute on which the city and township petitioned is Minn. Stat. 414.0325 subd. 1 which says in part if ìa joint resolution designates an area ófrom Page 1

as in need of orderly annexation and states that no alteration of its stated boundaries appropriate, the director may review and comment, but may not alter the boundaries.î Interpreted this means the OAH could make comment but must act on the petition.

De Courcy referred to a separate statute referenced by attorneys representing Chisago City and Stacy, Minn. Stat. 414.031, subd.3, which says that regarding annexation requests, ìthe director shall designate a time and place for a hearing.î In this interpretation, OAH hears all the petitions and weighs their respective merits.

Sime, an attorney with Rinke-Noonan, prepared the documents for the joint annexation request in November 2005. He will have documents for the appeal prepared in anticipation of the go-ahead from the town and the city.

Both the Wyoming Town board and the Wyoming City Council agree to pursue the appeal.

In Elmoreís absence, Utecht was to present the proposal to Wyoming Supervisors at their board meeting Tuesday, August 8. Anderson is to do the same before the next city council meeting August 15. If both groups agree, Sime is to file the Notice of Appeal document with the Minnesota Court of Appeals on August 16.

The History

A Ramsey County District Court Judge on Thursday, Aug. 3 denied a request by the city of Wyoming and Wyoming Township to order the state Office of Administrative Hearings/Municipal Boundary Adjustment Unit to approve the annexation of all lands described in the city/town joint resolution for annexation.

The ruling by Judge Michael T. De Courcy in St. Paul was a setback to the Wyoming communities that have been moving toward consolidation as one Wyoming for the past year.

The court case was filed by the city and township after the boundary adjustment unit declared it would combine the city and township orderly annexation request with separate hostile annexation cases filed by Chisago City and Stacy.

Chisago City and Stacy are both attempting to annex portions of Wyoming Township. Wyoming Township and the city of Wyoming argued that because their petition was filed prior to the moves by Stacy and Chisago City, it should be acted upon first.

Judge De Courcy, in his ruling, denied the request based in part on ìambiguousî state statutes that refer to joint resolutions for orderly annexation and conflicting petitions.

The decision denies the request for a Writ of Mandamus sought by the city and township.

No dates have been announced for upcoming state hearings into the respective petitions.

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