Commission, attorneys discuss Tanglewood case but make no public comment
- Charlene Sims, Journal staff
- 15 hours ago
- 6 min read
By Charlene Sims, Journal staff
MOUND CITY – The Linn County Commission recessed behind closed doors on Monday, Feb. 23, to discuss with attorneys any subsequent steps that can be taken in the lawsuit filed against the county by the Tanglewood Lake Owners Association (TLOA). The case concerns a judge’s decision last year that the Tanglewood Lakes roads are public.
After emerging from the 15-minute closed-door session, Commission Chair Alison Hamilton announced that the commission would not be making a public comment on the case.
Before the commission went into executive session, Chuck Stevens, president of the TLOA spoke to them.
Stevens told the commissioners he had two thing to discuss. The first was a county sign down
outside of Gate 3 on 1850 Road. Stevens said the sign has been down for approximately six months and is laying on the grass.
Steven then said, “It was my understanding that you all had paperwork from our attorney, your attorney that was going to be on the agenda today, is that not a correct statement?”
County Counselor Jacklyn Paletta answered, “Tanglewood is a lawsuit that is in litigation and so we will be meeting with our attorney in executive session to discuss that lawsuit.”
“So no formal action today?” asked Stevens.
Paletta answered, “We will be meeting in executive session. We won’t take any action in executive session. After they talk to him, they’ll decide if there’s any action to be taken today.”
After going into executive session for 15 minutes for attorney-client privilege for pending litigation with the three commissioners, Paletta and a representative with Foulston Siefkin LLP law firm, the county’s attorney for the Tanglewood case.
On June 6, 2025, the TLOA had filed a lawsuit against the Board of County Commissioners of Linn County, Kansas, to determine whether the roads at Tanglewood Lakes were public or private.
On August 6, 2025, Scott Nehrbass from Foulston Siefkin LLP along with Paletta also asked that the roads at Tanglewood Lake be declared private roads, not owned by Linn County and that it Is not the responsibility of Linn County to maintain and improve those roads.
In a joint motion filed by both attorneys on Nov. 13, 2025, both Domoney and Nehrbass moved the court for an order to change the judge in the case because District Judge Andrea Purvis, who is assigned to the case, cannot afford the parties a fair trial.
Both attorneys requested that Purvis disqualify herself from this action and that the Chief Judge assign another judge to this action.
In affidavits, submitted on Dec. 5, both attorneys referred to the criminal case that Purvis had heard where it was determined that the roads were public.
On Dec. 18, Amy Harth, chief judge of the Sixth Judicial District, denied the motion for a change of judge.
Harth wrote, “At its heart, this motion requests a change of judge as a result of what the parties anticipate Judge Purvis’ actions in the case will be, based on what she’s done in another case. These affidavits have failed to demonstrate personal bias, prejudice or interest by Judge Purvis, nor have they demonstrated the parties cannot receive a fair and impartial trial. What they have shown is they disagree with her previous ruling in a case with completely separate parties.This is insufficient to support a motion to change judge under K.S.A. 20-311d. The motion for change of judge is denied.”
Although the Tanglewood Lakes names the county as the defendant in its case, both parties want the same thing – for the roads in the development to be private. TLOA wants that to be able to exert control on who has access to the development, and the county wants to avoid the extra cost of maintaining roads there.
In other business, the commissioners:
Tabled the handbook decisions to March 15 per County Clerk Chasity Ware’s request.
Learned from Public Works Director Jesse Walton that the culvert replacement at County Road 1077 and 500 Road near Blue Mound had to be pushed back to March 2 due to a problem with rental equipment that the county was going to use. When the equipment came in, it was needing quite a bit of service before being used.
Approved a payment of $11,072 to Caterpillar and Foley Equipment to remove the engine to see what was wrong on grader unit 322. Walton said everything else was in good shape on the grader except for something locking it up. Removing the engine should determine whether it is the engine or the transmission that is locked up. Walton said that the grader had 99,400 hours on it. He said that the machine had no trade-in value and it would only be good for parts or scrapping it if they did nothing to try to get it working. New machines cost about $300,000.
Approved $12,711 for putting a new transmission in a dump truck. The price was higher than what was originally approved by the commission. The original proposed cost was $12,170.
Approved a burial permit for a water line that will run parallel for 3,200 feet along 2100 Road by Parker. The burial will cross Gireau Road and then cross 2100 Road going north.
Approved a burial permit for a water line that’s going to cross by the intersection of Yankee and East 950 roads.
Agreed that Planning and Zoning Director Jenny Cummings could attend a planning and zoning workshop
Entered into a contract with the Secretary of Transportation and the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) for right-of-way and preliminary engineering for the old military bridge north of Mound City.
After much discussion and reviewing job descriptions, agreed to allow Walton to post for jobs for a Public Works office assistant and also for an assistant Public Works director. Commissioner Jim Johnson told Walton to tell the other commissioners what they had talked about. Walton said that he would like to not hire the solid waste coordinator but instead make that part of the assistant director position. Johnson reiterated that they would be taking the job away at the landfill and the new position would be working out of the public works office Walton said that the position would also be over the noxious weed department.
Heard from Walton that he would like to hire another equipment operator at the landfill before the end of the year because some of the other operators are getting close to retirement.
Learned from Walton that the gWorks system that was replacing the PubWorks software in the Public Works Department had turned out to be more for big cities and many things had to be changed on it. He said that was one of the reasons that he needed an assistant in the public works office. Walton said it was turning out to be a big headache. The commission learned from Information Technology Director, Chris Martin, in August of 2025 that gWorks, the parent company of PubWd will be moving all of their PubWorks clients to the gWorks software. PubWorks provided public works software before it was acquired by gWorks. gWorks provides a more comprehensive range of software including accounting, payroll, permitting, and much more.
Learned from Ware that the county will be kicking off a new payroll system. Ware said that there will be training on Tuesday here in the commission room and on Wednesday afternoon the department heads and at least one employee from each department will be able to participate in what they call punching which is time in time out.
Heard from Ware that she had received several calls about the economic development community grant, childcare grant and the youth summer program grant that economic development has provided in the past. Ware said she told the callers she would commissioners how they wanted to handle that moving forward. Commission Chair Alison Hamilton said she would like to discuss that later when they were discussing eCommunity and the economic development committee.
Approved an early distribution of $70,000 to the fair board treasurer, Wade Teagarden. Teagarden had asked for it earlier this year since the fair board was trying to finish a building.
Went into executive session for 10 minutes for attorney client privilege for anticipation of litigation with Ware, three commissioners and County Counselor Jacklyn Paletta.