The Dexter Leader
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Village rescinds library offer amid heated debate
By Sean Dalton, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 1, 2008
After voting 4-3 in favor of making an offer to the Dexter District Library for its current location, the Village Council has decided to back out of the deal.
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The library will be moving to a new location on Alpine Street that will be completed this fall, leaving the existing building vacant and in need of a new owner.
The offer was $435,000 for the 4,312 square foot building.
Village Trustee Paul Cousins was a big proponent of making the offer, and was vehemently opposed to the motion to rescind, even attempting to the have the item removed from the agenda at Monday's meeting.
He argued that the council was violating its own rules by not following the proper order of operations.
"(We have to) rule to reconsider at the next meeting and the next step forward is rescinding, and that motion says you can't rescind if it can be reconsidered," Cousins argued.
Trustee Joe Semifero countered that the motion was to deliver a letter of intent and that is exactly what was done, thus the council can't reconsider an action that was already taken.
Cousins continued to take his colleagues and village staff to task for not giving more notice that the resolution to rescind the offer had been drafted. It was included as a late item Monday at the meeting.
"The question that was asked to me was, did we need a village attorney here, regarding why the letter from (Village Manager Donna Dettling) wasn't received before Thursday," said Village President Shawn Keough.
Dettling's letter contained correspondence with village attorney Daniel Schairbaum.
"The terms of the (library offer) are not binding on the village," Schairbaum stated in the letter. "To the contrary ... (it) sets forth only the general terms and conditions upon which the village currently desires to enter into a transaction."
He concluded that since the letter contained a non-binding clause and a response to the letter would be subject to a future council action anyway, that the motion to rescind was valid.
Ultimately the motion to rescind was approved with a 5 to 2 vote, with Cousins continuing to launch arguments at his fellow council members.
"Members must abide by the decisions of council once a decision has been made," he said.
Keough had opposed the library offer and expressed regret about it after the vote to send it to the library.
"Following our sending of the letter, I've heard more discomfort with this decision than I've ever heard since being a member of this council," he said.
Keough also said that he felt that Cousins had pushed the library offer "without letting any other momentum that we were building (for alternative village hall locations) be considered.
"I think I could have squashed this in March, if I wanted. In fairness to this process, I said no, I'm not going to vote for that. In my mind (there was) no way in hell."
Cousins defended his position.
"I thought we looked at the facts," Cousins said. "I can be accused of driving the issue, but I did it for legitimate reason."
He did explain the costs and benefits of going into the library during the April 14 meeting when the vote was cast to send the offer.
"I indicated that every other option out there was more expensive," Cousins said.
Trustee Donna Fisher, who previously voted to make the offer, reversed herself Monday.
"I didn't want to put (the offer) on the agenda. I pitched for us to sit on it and it didn't work."
Others board members, including James Smith, who like Fisher also reversed his vote, felt like taking a step back and looking at the options again.
"I only voted for the library because I felt it was coming down to an 'either-or' and not because it was the best choice," Smith said.
Trustee Ray Tell voted against the rescind order with Cousins, warning council members to get involved with the facilities committee if they were voting for the order.
"There's been a facilities committee in effect for how long looking at the placement of the new office - well over a year?" Tell asked. "Within two years we haven't moved one inch. If you feel that (the order) is what's best for the village as a whole, then you better get on the committee."
Despite opponents of the library citing the difficulty that the village would face selling the building, Cousins warned that the library probably wouldn't be on the market in a month, and would thus be off the table as a low-cost option.
The order also states that the village will hold a workshop to prioritize the requirements for a Village Hall, as well as identify downtown locations - criteria that several council members see as crucial, but the library building does not meet. A date for the workshop will be set May 12.
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