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Politics & Government

Goetz, Gehrke to Try and Hash Out Border Disagreement

Village of Sussex leaders want to know what border issues the Town of Lisbon has and find a way to reach an agreement moving forward.

Sussex Village President Greg Goetz and Town of Lisbon Chairman Matt Gehrke will meet in the near future in order to settle some differences their border agreement.

“With the boundary agreement there are things that can and can’t be done,” Gehrke said. “It has been in place for about 10 years or so … but they’ve gone against our incorporation process, which violates the agreement.”

The Lisbon Board of Supervisors recently agreed to send notice to Sussex letting leaders know the village has violated the boarder agreement during the process of the town seeking to incorporate as a village. The effort is under review by the state Department of Administration’s Incorporation Review Board.

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If the board gives Lisbon its blessing, the town will hold a binding referendum, which if approved would turn it into a village. Unlike most incorporation pushes, the Lisbon effort has been forwarded and funded by a private group of citizens and only verbally supported by the Town Board.

However, Village Administrator Jeremy Smith said Sussex officials believe the town doesn’t meet the requirements necessary to incorporate and attorneys have voiced their concerns to the incorporation board.

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The board is expected to rule on Lisbon's request in the next two weeks.

Smith said if Goetz and Gehrke are unable to reach an agreement the boundary issue could go into mediation.

“We just need to sit down and find out what their real concerns are and try to understand what those concerns are about,” Smith said.

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