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Stevensville resident tells council town sided with neighbors in years-long dispute
Summary
During public comment at a Stevensville Town Council meeting, Sarah Murphy of Vertus Farm accused neighbors of a longstanding harassment campaign and questioned the town's use of taxpayer-funded legal work to support those neighbors while water and sewer problems remain unresolved.
Sarah Murphy, owner of Vertus Farm at 523 East Third Street in Stevensville, told the Town Council during public comment that a years-long dispute with neighbors has escalated and that she objects to the town’s decision to spend taxpayer money on legal fees that she says have been used to support private citizens in that dispute.
Murphy said she has repeatedly offered to work with the town at no cost to address any legitimate code or safety concerns but that the town instead “bought into” her neighbors’ complaints. She told the council she was denied an agenda item and said inspections and citations brought by the town were later dropped by the town attorney. “Why the town has just decided that you spend thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on legal fees in order to assist a set of private citizens in what for me has been a lifelong harassment campaign,” Murphy said.
Murphy described multiple incidents she said demonstrate the scope of the conflict: neighbors urging the town to act, alleged disparaging comments during a previous council meeting in 2010, claims that the town could not find permit records while her family retained the original permit and sign-offs, and three alleged ordinance violations that were dropped. She said the property has been a family farm since the early 1900s and said the family fears damage to crops and animals and intrusion on the property.
Murphy told the council that drone operators hired by neighbors filmed the property while a 7-year-old child was playing and that a trespasser filmed a minor on the land this year; she said police responded but the trespasser was not located. She also described serious recent medical care for her father and said the family’s stress and safety concerns are affecting their ability to recover. “Why us? Why this way?” Murphy asked the council.
James Deetz, a Stevensville resident who spoke after Murphy, expressed support for the family and criticized neighbors and the town’s involvement. Deetz said longtime community ties have broken down and that he finds the town’s actions against the family “unjust.”
The council did not respond with a formal action during the public-comment segment recorded in the transcript excerpt. Murphy said she has supporting documentation she will provide to the council on request.
