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<br />. <br />. <br /> <br />f <br /> <br />October _, 2005 <br /> <br />John Goerger <br />Mayor City of Horace <br />313 E Park Drive <br />Horace, ND 58047 <br /> <br />Draft <br /> <br />SUBJECT: Cass County Highways 14 and 17 <br /> <br />Dear Mayor Goerger: <br /> <br />I'm writing to seek your input on a matter currently under consideration by the County <br />Commission. The County is considering turning County Highway 17 over to the City of Horace. <br />We'd appreciate the benefit of your Council's input into this matter. <br /> <br />Cass County has historically constructed and maintained the designated county highways that run <br />through the small communities of the County. This arrangement has been financially beneficial <br />to the communities since the communities have not been burdened with the expense of building <br />and maintaining the highway(s) through their communities. This has also been good from an <br />overall County perspective, in that it has allowed for a seamless and contiguous County Highway <br />System. <br /> <br />Recent events have presented an opportunity to examine the County's practices and policies <br />regarding highways through cities. It appears that North Dakota law gives the authority over city <br />streets to the city regardless of a County highway designation. This raises questions about the <br />County's current practice of funding County highways within cities. An argument can be made <br />that, if the statutes give the authority over County highways within the City limits to the Cities, <br />then the funding obligations for those highway segments should also rest with the City. <br /> <br />It may be difficult for the County to continue fund the construction, reconstruction, and ongoing <br />maintenance of highways that it has no authority over. For these reasons, the County <br />Commission is currently considering removing the 2 ~ mile segment of Cass County Highway <br />17 that is within the city limits of Horace from the County highway system. This would mean <br />that the City of Horace would own and be responsible for any future improvements and <br />maintenance of the 2 ~ mile segment of Cass 17 within Horace as well as any added mileage <br />created by future annexations. <br />