“What the City of Blaine is asking for – around a legal framework and clarity of ownership and access – is something that elected officials and adults should be able to sit around a table and figure out. But, to this point we haven’t been able to so we’re really leaning into that third party,” said Mayor Tim Sanders. For Sanders, he says this suit is first about ownership of and access to the water system.. “We’re not suing over damages or anything like that we’re just saying we really need to get to the bottom of this. We’ve been having this argument for decades, and the status quo is just not acceptable anymore,” said Sanders. And in addition to the access, Sanders says that Blaine just simply does not want Lexington’s water mixing with theirs. “This is about keeping our community safe. The City of Lexington knowingly is pumping water that does not meet federal and state environmental standards and they’re pumping it directly into their water system and they’re pumping it into the Blaine water system which we don’t consent to.” He says that they hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible, and that he welcomes and looks forward to Lexington’s response. “If the City of Lexington wanted to sit down and work towards a resolution that offer remains open,” said Sanders. In a written statement, Lexington Mayor Mike Murphy says that he is dissapointed in Blaine decision to bring this to court. I strongly reject any claim made by the City of Blaine that Lexington’s water is unsafe due to a positive test of gross alpha at the source of our water well system. Lexington and our city engineers have been working with the State of Minnesota on solutions and a long-term plan to lower the numbers within state standards, and we have been successful in doing so. Lexington is currently looking at several options for our water system, including building a treatment plant. We were hoping our request for state assistance for infrastructure would have made the bonding bill for 2021, but unfortunately, those requests were not considered due to an impasse with the House, Senate, and Governor. We will try again when the session starts in 2023. Unfortunately, our two communities are at an impasse, and Blaine has asked the court to determine ownership of the water system and if the Joint Powers Agreement is still enforceable. I am confident that our two cities will come to an agreement that mutually benefits both communities without having a long, drawn-out legal battle. Our two cities have always been good neighbors, and I would hate to see this situation ruin decades of working relationships between our two cities. I will have a more extensive update after the City Council meets at our October 6th meeting.”
THE CITY OF BLAINE SUES THE CITY OF LEXINGTON OVER SHARED WATER SYSTEM
BLAINE – (Sept. 23, 2022) – A lawsuit filed last week in district court by the city of Blaine alleges that the city of Lexington won’t give Blaine access to part of the Blaine water main that runs through the Lexington. Mayor Tim Sanders says that he and city staff have been trying to work through the ownership of this water main for years, and now, the city is asking the court to act as a third party to help solve the dispute.
“The City of Lexington has extended several olive branches to resolve this matter. I have requested on two occasions that our two city councils meet to discuss the issue. Lexington also offered to turn our water system over to the City of Blaine. This option would have been a big win for both of our communities and brought an immediate resolution to the issue. Blaine would have saved their taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in construction costs to separate our joint water system. Blaine would have picked up 5000 new billable water users overnight, and Lexington residents would have received treated water year around versus only six months of the year and at a lower cost.
