Rogers officials stopped talks with Hassan over a 2008 merger at the Feb. 12 City Council meeting when Council Member Scott Adams made a motion to end the efforts to merge this year.

“Based upon action in last Thursday’s joint Rogers/Hassan meeting, I motion to instruct staff to suspend all actions and work regarding an early merger or full annexation of Hassan in the near future, or until such time as the Hassan Board, by majority vote, seeks Rogers’ assistance in planning for such, and propose a date for such merger,” Adams motion read. It passed on a 4-0 vote.

The action squarely puts the onus for any early merger on the Hassan board’s shoulders.

Adams’ motion is a sharp turn-around from his earlier position that June 2008 was a good and logical time to merge. It was his research that precipitated talks of that early merger.

According to Hassan Vice Chair Lori Ende, the action that Adams refers to in his motion was the result of more than 30 Hassan residents who attended the Feb. 7, 2008, joint meeting, and voiced their opposition toward the early merger.

“We found out Thursday night (the joint meeting) with the amount of people there and with Jason Grimm (Rogers City Council member) and Mary Beth Schlegel at the caucuses,” Ende says, “that people aren’t ready for a merger. They don’t want it to happen. We heard it loud and clear, so we thought let’s stop working on it and using staff time to get it done.”

Greg Hoseth was one of those Hassan residents present at the joint meeting. He and Rogers City Council Member Jason Grimm both say Ende made a motion to set a revised early merger date at June 23, 2010, but it did not get a second and failed.

Adams says that precipitated his motion to halt talks, and leaves it up to Hassan for further determination.

“What was interesting is yet another assembly was voicing their disapproval of an early merger,” Hoseth says. “It happened at the caucuses, at the merger (joint) meeting and it also happened at the reconvening annual Hassan meeting.”

After Hassan board members expressed a need to study the early merger further, Rogers made the decision to table efforts to merge early, according to Ende. “There are people showing up that are concerned,” Ende concedes, “so I think the Hassan board needs to work a little more diligently at getting it (merger) done, with everybody feeling comfortable about (financial) numbers and the commitments made going into it.”

Whether Ende and a board majority that generally follows her lead will hold true to those statements, or whether it is political double-talk, remains to be seen. Hassan residents, including Hoseth, say the Hassan Town Board has not listened in the past to what they say they want their township leaders to do.

Even in regard to what the early merger date is, Ende insists “2008 was never an option.” However, Grimm says that is not a true statement.

“June 2008 was absolutely talked about in joint meetings,” Grimm claims.

He says the June 2008 date was the focus date for an early merger, and that joint meeting minutes will confirm that.

In minutes from a July 25, 2007, joint meeting, it states: “The committee establishes its goal for annexation to be as early as January, as late as June 2008.”

Ende is listed as one of the joint council members present for the meeting.

Ende says there are issues that need to be addressed, such as ordinances, codes and services like police coverage. She adds that the town board is waiting to hear from Hassan residents for a vote of confidence toward any kind of early merger before moving forward.

In the meantime Ende believes 2010 is a feasible merger date that will work for everyone.

“I believe we need to accelerate the merger,” Rogers City Council Member Jason Grimm says. “I don’t know that we should necessarily accelerate it to next year. I question the motivation as to why next year. What’s the magic of next year? I certainly don’t believe it should go to 2030 by any means, though.”

According to Grimm, Ehlers & Associates Inc. was commissioned by Rogers and Hassan to build a financial model to forecast what Rogers and Hassan would look like in the future as individual communities, and what they would look like if merged. Rogers Financial Director Lisa Weiland says the model is not complete, though, and has many facets that still have to be considered.

“Basically what they are making their decisions on are the assumptions that we have made,” Weiland explains, “and many assumptions are put into that model. Population growth, development, and a number of different budget projections and capital needs are some of the model’s factors.”

Grimm says the model is supposed to reflect real life and how things in a community play out. The financial model is a tool that also predicts a municipality’s expenses, housing starts, new and current property taxes, and tax-increment-financing (TIF) districts and when they expire. Other factors the model looks at include things like purchasing park land and planning for municipal buildings as growth demands the need for additional space. Tax rates for Rogers and Hassan are figured separately and together as well.

But all those factors are unproven, according to Grimm.

“The numbers do look good for a merger, but my hesitancy is that it’s a model, and we just got the information as to what it looks like,” Grimm says. “There’s no track record that proves this model will work accurately. I would like to give the model a couple years to see how it works, and once we get that track record built, we can make a better decision on if this earlier merger makes sense.”

Rogers City Council Member Jamie Davis agrees. He is a financial analyst and says he has been burned in the past by financial models that have not produced the results they predicted. He wants to proceed cautiously with the Ehlers model.

“Based on my professional work experience, models are only as good as the assumptions used to create them,” Davis explains. “However,  I have not yet seen financial data to convince me that there is a benefit to the residents of Rogers. There are too many unknowns not incorporated into the model. I cannot rationalize the rush to merge.”

Davis says he would like to see how actual figures compare to the predictions made by the model for a set period of time, preferably a year or two, to prove that the model is accurate.

Weiland says the model is a financial footprint of what might occur in a real merger. But the financial numbers cannot  factor in the direction future city councils might take. Subsequent council majorities could  create TIF districts, for example, that would greatly affect the city’s tax base and future projections. The results in just that one area could skew what the model initially predicted.

If the financial numbers are as the model has suggested, though, Grimm says he has no problem with accelerating the merger down to 2010 or 2012. And he points out that the numbers will be even better in a few years when Rogers’ main TIF districts expire.

It remains to be seen if early annexation proponents will be willing to test Ehlers’ model for a period of time as Davis and Grimm suggest is needed. Adams says he is willing to wait if the numbers do not support the earlier 2008 annexation, but the problem may be in what numbers are used in the model and how accurate they are. Weiland indicates too many variables are still unknown.

But even a 2010 or 2012 merger is too early for some Hassan residents, who say they have concerns but are afraid to speak publicly. These residents say that when Hassan filed to incorporate as a city in 2003, a judge ordered Hassan and Rogers to enter into an Orderly Annexation Agreement that would effect a merger in 2030. Hassan citizens who have called and emailed Star News are concerned, though, over possible high taxes, losing autonomy and the township’s rural makeup, and paying for Rogers’ debt when the township is currently debt-free under a 2008 merger.

The only benefit to a 2008 merger, according to Hassan Town Board Member Bob Ivey, is long-term, and he says Rogers stands to gain a lot from the merger.

“I see no reason whatsoever to accelerate the annexation,” Ivey says.

Ivey wonders if Rogers is pushing for the earlier annexation because it has a high deficit, largely from the city’s lack of forecasted funding for its new activity center and ice arena. Rogers had a 2007 budget deficit of $70,000, and figured to have a 2008 shortfall of $400,000, according to city estimates.

Hassan residents are aware of Rogers’s financial troubles, too.

Lynn and Robin Sahr of Hassan say they are in favor of annexation, but not as early as 2008. Robin Sahr, a former Hassan Town Board member, says caution should temper a merger.

“I don’t think we should merge until 2020 when Rogers has most of its TIF districts paid off,” Sahr says. “This would also give Rogers 12 years to get out of debt and get their water and sewer capacity up and ready to handle the rest of Hassan. Otherwise, we should wait until the full time of the annexation agreement is up in 2030. This is what is most responsible and fair to the Hassan citizens. We are the group who wanted to become one community with our Rogers neighbors. We just want to make sure that we don’t hurt our own Hassan citizens in the process.”

Adams sent the first e-mail to Ende and Rogers Mayor Paul Przybilla Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007, at 10:24 a.m. In the entry Adams talks about annexing Hassan so Stone’s Throw developer Tom Gump will have to deal with Rogers exclusively. Stone’s Throw, a 619-acre development proposed for Hassan, includes commercial and residential housing for the area.

“Willis (interim city and town administrator) is recommending that all of Stone’s Throw, via an Orderly Annexation Amendment, be annexed into Rogers so that one entity, Rogers, can negotiate with the Beard Group. This is, of course, to prevent them from playing us against each other as is somewhat happening now.” Adams continues. “I am concerned about getting Joe (Hassan town chair Scherber) too upset, but on the other hand we now have Jolene (Hassan town board member Havel), Lori (Ende) and Roger (town board member Rosenquist), so maybe we should just send a clear message to XXXX (Gump) that he will be dealing with Rogers exclusively and be done with it.”

According to the Orderly Annexation Agreement, part of the original intent was to protect Hassan interests. That included protecting prime real estate from being plucked from under the township’s feet by Rogers or any of the other surrounding cities. Under the agreement, Hassan was to have the exclusive ability to develop its own land, under its own ordinances, that would assure Hassan interests would be protected.

Hassan residents who are afraid to speak publicly feel they no longer have a voice in the township’s affairs. They also say their ability to negotiate a merger, with Hassan interests in mind, has been compromised by a town board majority led by Ende.

Ende and Havel represent Hassan in joint meetings each month with Adams and Przybilla from Rogers. Rogers City Council members Jason Grimm and Jamie Davis, as well as Hassan Town Board Member Bob Ivey, contend the foursome are pushing a political agenda they want in place in 2008.

Grimm suggests a 2008 annexation is a political maneuver to gain control over the Stone’s Throw development, and says he is against it. He says Hassan should work out any development agreement between the township and the developer. That would give Hassan citizens more of a chance to have a voice in the development close to them.

Lynn Sahr, a former Hassan Park Commission member, also received a copy of the e-mails. She feels the town board is ready to give Hassan “away to Rogers at our (residents’) expense.” Sahr claims that even though the citizens of Hassan voted against an early annexation at the township’s annual Reconvening Town Meeting in September, a town board majority including Ende, Havel and Rosenquist have ignored the direction Hassan residents have given them, and seem ready to push for the early annexation anyway.

“I want to be a part of Rogers within the next 20 to 30 years,” Sahr says, “but under the Orderly Annexation Agreement. That is the only fair and responsible way that will not hurt Hassan citizens.”

But Stone’s Throw is not the only source of tension in Adams and Ende’s e-mail chats. Ende’s political future could be tied to the 2008 annexation as well.

In a Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007, e-mail sent at 8:17 p.m. from Adams to Ende, Adams makes a reference to a lawsuit former Hassan Township Administrator Danny Nadeau brought against the township in 2007 over his dismissal.

“We need to work very hard to terminate the lawsuit preferably before filing for offices closes, but definitely before election,” Adams writes, “otherwise his firing will be used against you.”

Ende’s term on the Hassan board is not up until 2010. Davis says the implication is clear. He also received the e-mails.

“This implies to me that the merger between Hassan and Rogers is a foregone conclusion and that Ende will be a candidate for the Rogers City Council—most likely being run against Jason Grimm this year,” Davis says.

When Ende responds to Adams’ first e-mail on Dec. 1 at 1:35 p.m., she is the first one to bring up the lawsuit.

“Scott, first of all, thanks for all your help with your research into the Nadeau issue … I like your suggestion of going to the media with this,” Ende writes, “but after speaking with Jeff Carson (Hassan and Rogers attorney), he said we cannot open anything up while Danny has a lawsuit against the township for fear of his using it as a discredit to his (Nadeau) character.”

When the Star News asked Ende about this passage, she denied it was about Nadeau, and says the research involved transportation issues with seniors in Rogers. However, after reading her own passage to Adams, her response was, “I don’t know what research he did. I don’t remember.”

Adams says he was only giving help to a friend.

“Lori Ende and I are friends, and based on a friendship, asked me for my assistance and my opinion in how some things should be looked at,” Adams says. “I was simply offering my opinion as a friend.”

Grimm says he wonders why Adams is involved in the internal affairs of Hassan, and he can only deduce that it is to support a plan for Ende to run against him (Grimm) if a 2008 merger goes through. That seems to raise further suspicion with Adams’ response that the lawsuit has to be finished before filing Ende’s intent to run for political office in Rogers, and before the election takes place.

Ende claims she has no interest in running for any position in 2008, and that she “absolutely does not” want to run against Grimm for his seat that is open this year.

“I like Jason Grimm very much, and I prefer he stay on City Council,” Ende says.

Laying aside possible political ambitions, though, it comes down to issues residents of both communities must face if a 2008 merger succeeds, and Davis, for one, is greatly concerned that a 2008 merger is a foregone conclusion.

“I have not seen financial data to prove to me that this is beneficial to the taxpayers of Rogers, there are too many unanswered questions,” Davis says. “At this time, I am against an accelerated merger with Hassan. I believe the residents of Rogers and Hassan need to have a say, and a referendum in 2009 or 2010 should provide the answer as to whether we should truly accelerate the merger. Unfortunately, the decision has already been made and neither I nor the residents of either community will have any say in what transpires.”