LETTER: Neighbor responds to story about Polebridge park

This is written in response to the front page article written by Samuel Wilson in the Sept. 24 Inter Lake. After reading this article I felt the need to tell the other side of the story.

I was told in late August and again in early September that Will Hammerquist, owner of the Polebridge Mercantile, was pursuing leasing the three acres of land known as the “Community Park.” So, I, personally, called Mr. Will Hammerquist on Sept. 4 and asked if he was trying to lease the Polebridge park to use as a horse corral. He told me that he had not pursued this and had no interest in leasing the park.

After talking with Will, I decided to confirm his statement. This led to several conversations and emails to Mr. Jed Fisher, director of parks; Ms. Michelle Haarr, administrative assistant, parks; and Mr. David Randall, deputy county attorney. The following is fact, not conjecture, as stated by the above named individuals.

—“The agreement is still under review by the county attorney.”

—“The county attorney has not completed a review of the draft lease. When this is done, we will send a copy to you.”

—“I am not aware of a written proposal from Will. I believe it was a conversation because I know Will came into the office and I have not seen anything. I’ll confirm with Jed.” (This was said by the same person that had told me the agreement was still under review by the attorney on an earlier date).

—“Originally, after an inquiry from Mr. Hammerquist, Parks formulated a lease and the reviewing of the document began.”

As anyone can plainly see, there WAS a lease agreement on the county attorney’s desk that was being considered.

I was told that the lease process is as follows. A verbal request is given to the county parks department to lease county land (Community Park in this instance). Parks draws up the paperwork for the lease. This lease is then looked over by the legal department, tweeked, and returned to the parks department, which, at that time either approves or does not approve said lease.  

I was also told that NO NOTICE WOULD BE MAILED TO THE SURROUNDING NEIGHBORS. The only requirement would be to put a legal notice in the paper.

Mr. Hammerquist’s statements in Samuel Wilson’s article seem to indicate he (Hammerquist) is the only resident of Polebridge that has any interest in this park. What about the 30 or more neighbors Wilson mentioned that wrote email letters or made the calls? —Carol Dolan-Groebe, Polebridge