The Alpena County Courthouse is seen in this News file photo.

ALPENA — Officials from Alpena and Alpena Township attended a settlement conference on Monday at the 26th Circuit Court to try to hammer out a deal that would establish water and sewer rates for the years 2018-2024.

Because the two parties were bargaining behind closed doors, it is unknown how close to a deal they could be.

City attorney Bill Pfeifer said the two sides will continue to talk with hopes a deal can be struck.

The township buys water and sewer services from the city to sell to township residents.

The two municipalities reached a partial agreement late last year for the years 2014 through 2017.

The local officials were separated into two rooms, and Judge Lora Greene, Probate Judge of Montmorency County, mediated and exchanged ideas by carrying information back and forth.

After spending a large part of the day negotiating, no deal was reached. If a deal is reached during a session of court, both municipal boards would have to vote to approve it at an open meeting.

The city sued the township in 2014, when the township refused to pay a rate hike, claiming the township is a wholesale customer and entitled to reduced rates.

The township continued to pay the lower rate it paid before the rate increase and city leaders hope to use the court battle to collect the difference between those two amounts.

Since Alpena filed the suit against the township and the dispute moved forward, the two parties continued to bargain on the side but made little to no progress over the years.

In 2017, the circuit court ordered the two sides into mediation. That lasted only one day, however, as city officials didn’t see enough progress to continue.

A settlement appeared likely early in 2018, when both governing boards voted to approve “principle terms” for an agreement. That vote wasn’t for a deal on rates but on seeking a process for establishing rates that could end the dispute.

After continuing negotiations failed to yield a deal, the local court essentially ordered the two sides to adhere to the terms they’d reached earlier in the year.

Shortly after, the township appealed a portion of that ruling to the Michigan Court of Appeals, and the city filed a cross-appeal. The appellate court also ordered mediation, which again yielded no agreement.

The appeals court then ruled that the 2018 proposed agreement was non-binding, which the township appealed to the state Supreme Court. The state’s highest court declined to hear the case and sent it back to the circuit court in Alpena.

The city has paid a touch over $900,000 in attorney and consultant fees while the township has paid about $2.3 million during the litigation that has lasted over a decade.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.