McCullough and Sons, Inc. v. City of Vadnais Heights, 868 N.W.2d 721

McCullough & Sons owned commercial property in Vadnais Heights that would benefit from a proposed road improvement; city proposed special assessments and held hearings in 2013–2014.
Respondent’s representative, James McCullough, attended the July 17, 2014 assessment hearing, spoke against the assessment, gave his name/address for the record, and signed a “yellow pad” at the mayor’s direction, but did not file a signed written objection before or at the hearing.
The city adopted the assessment (~$158,000 for respondent’s parcel); McCullough appealed to district court within statutory time.
City moved for summary judgment arguing the appeal was precluded because respondent failed to file the written, signed objection required by Minn. Stat. §§ 429.061 and 429.081.
The district court denied summary judgment, found a factual dispute about whether an oral objection was lodged and concluded in any event there was substantial compliance (minutes reduced oral objection to writing and McCullough signed yellow pad).
The court of appeals reversed: it held the statutes require a written, signed objection filed prior to or presented at the assessment hearing and that strict (not substantial) compliance is required.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Minn. Stat. §§ 429.061 and 429.081 require a written, signed objection prior to or at the assessment hearing to preserve district-court appeal	McCullough: oral objection at hearing suffices because § 429.081 does not expressly require a written objection	City: read §§ 429.061 and 429.081 together to require a written, signed objection filed before or presented at the hearing	Held: The statutes read together require a written, signed objection filed prior to or presented at the hearing to preserve appeal rights
Whether substantial compliance (oral objection reduced to minutes + signing a yellow pad) suffices when statute requires a written objection	McCullough: substantial compliance (minutes and signature on pad) preserved appeal	City: statutory prerequisites must be strictly complied with; substantial compliance insufficient	Held: Statutory conditions for assessment appeals must be strictly complied with; substantial compliance did not suffice, so appeal was not perfected

Peterson v. City of Inver Grove Heights, 345 N.W.2d 274 (Minn. App. 1984) (recognizes written objections or reasonable cause required to preserve right to appeal)
Sievert v. City of Lakefield, 319 N.W.2d 43 (Minn. 1982) (discusses amendment requiring written objection at legislative level)
City of Chisago City v. Poulter, 342 N.W.2d 167 (Minn. App. 1984) (addresses written-objection requirement and strict construction of assessment statutes)
Wessen v. Village of Deephaven, 170 N.W.2d 126 (Minn. 1969) (statutory assessment-appeal conditions must be strictly complied with)
Septran, Inc. v. Independent School Dist. No. 271, 555 N.W.2d 915 (Minn. App. 1996) (rules favor harmonizing seemingly conflicting statutes)
Hebert v. City of Fifty Lakes, 784 N.W.2d 848 (Minn. App. 2010) (dicta can have persuasive value)