Edgerton Township ordered to pay landowner over assessment dispute

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ALEXANDRIA — Edgerton Township has been ordered to pay $3,100 in damages to an absentee landowner.

A judge ruled Donald Nebelsick was denied due process when he wasn’t provided timely notice of an assessment made against his property.

Nebelsick, of Abilene, Kan., appealed the township board’s assessment in late January after learning of a $3,100 assessment for the removal of grass, brush and trees from the right-of-way near his property. Edgerton Township is located in a mostly rural area of Hanson County.

Nebelsick was assessed the $3,100 after trees were removed at the township’s expense from the right-of-way on his property. The township had already resolved to charge landowners who fail to clear the right-of-way on their property with the cost of maintenance

Nebelsick, who was represented by Mitchell attorney Doug Papendick, claimed in his appeal he was not given proper notice, as he was unaware of the $3,100 assessment on his property until he received a letter from the Hanson County auditor Jan. 11

Information in the judgment verified Nebelsick’s claim.

A hearing was held in March in Alexandria to allow both parties to argue their case.

Because the township board failed to notify Nebelsick when it determined he was in violation of the resolution, did not warn him the trees were going to be cut down, never notified him when the trees were cut down and failed to tell him he was going to be assessed for the removal of the trees, the court ruled Nebelsick was denied his due process.

After the judgment ruling in Nebelsick’s favor was issued in late June, the township initially pursued an appeal to the state Supreme Court. The township has since decided not to appeal.

“All they would have had to do was send me a letter or make a phone call,” Nebelsick said in an interview with The Daily Republic. “I just hope that they use the outcome to become a better governing body.”

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