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Regular City Council Meeting <br />June 5, 2003 <br />Page 20 <br />attorney prepared and the engineer approved and which they had gotten a <br />couple of weeks ago. He and the owner had met for two hours this morning <br />and made progress and she finally put a price on the easement. Mr. Ross said <br />that she had been told that the City of Paris cannot condemn the property. <br />Councilman Plata stated that he disagreed with that and discussed a similar <br />situation in Ft. Worth that he found on the internet. City Attorney Schenk <br />then referred to a recent case regarding condemnation, which stated, "Taking <br />property for private use rather than public use violates due process and <br />constitutes an illegal fraud on property owners, even if there is not fraudulent <br />intent." City Attorney Schenk said the point being, in his view, Mr. Ross has <br />approached this woman and it is not a proj ect that the city has been involved <br />in. The right-of-way on either side of this lady would be obtained or go across <br />the developers property. It would be very difficult to prove this is truly a public <br />consideration rather than furthering a private subdivision. <br />Councilman Bell said that if Mr. Ross is unable to obtain the easement, you did <br />mention the alternate was a lift station. The City Engineer said that was true. <br />Councilman Bell wanted to know where on this plat a lift station would go and <br />what would it cost the city to maintain this lift station. Mr Napier said that Mr. <br />Ross would maintain it for one year until the city accepts the lift station. <br />Councilman Bell said it then becomes a public situation and at that point in <br />time, the city could say they did not want a lift station because is will cost the <br />taxpayers. The City then goes back in and condemns the property and puts in <br />a gravity flow line. Councilman Bell asked where would it go and what would <br />it cost to put it in and which way would they go with a lift station. Mr. Napier <br />said basically you put the lift station in the low point and that is where he <br />shows a manhole before it goes south. <br />Councilwoman Neeley wanted to know if all avenues with the lady been <br />exhausted. Mr. Ross said she had been trying to meet with him for several <br />