Two weeks ago, Belleville City Council approved a tentative agreement outlining the creation of a district library in what was considered a victory for an issue that has languished for more than a year.
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On Monday night, however, City Council collided into another bump in the very rocky road that has become the district library flap.
Recently appointed City Attorney John Day aired several concerns about a revised contract, the same agreement that was OK'd during the Council's Dec. 1 meeting on the condition of attorney review and approval by neighboring municipalities. Day said he took issue with mainly three sections of the new agreement, with the principal concern focusing on the absence of language governing the transfer of the building and real estate of the present library site.
Language surrounding transfer of property was one of the top concerns city officials had when the original agreements was first presented. That provision was removed for the modified document, but Day said it should have been kept.
"I am concerned about the lack of reference to real property, which is of course the land and the building," Day said.
There also was the exclusion of a sunset provision that would help the city avoid a potentially expensive 5 percent increase in annual operating budget for a number of years. The sunset provision, like the real property language, was something that was removed from the previous contract.
A third area Day raised concerns about was lack of language concerning the current employees at the Fred C. Fischer Library. He said there is nothing in the agreement that stipulates preference of current employees in order to maintain continuity when the district is created.
Councilman George Chedraue, who drafted the modified contract, took issue with the concerns that Day raised saying there were a number of attorneys and different committee personnel who reviewed the contract and they did not raise similar issues.
"The state library (board's) attorney looked at it, the library commission looked at it, a lot of people looked (at the document) and saw nothing wrong. They all said it was a good agreement.
Chedraue, however, confused the previous agreement - which had been rejected by Council - with the modified document. The issues the city attorney raised dealt with the new agreement that was OK'd by Council two weeks ago. Day said that he was provided a copy of the modified agreement only, and it was with that document only that he had concerns with.
"I did take a look at the original document, and that was fine. (From the previous document to the new one) the sunset provision was removed and the transfer of property language was removed, that is what I have concerns about," Day said.
Chedraue then apologized because he said that he did not mean to remove the sunset provision.
There were additional concerns raised from the audience about whether the city would try to pass a millage for a new library facility and increased operating costs.
Resident Mike Richendollar asked if an additional library millage, tri-community areas already contributed some monies to library operation, would he see a savings on his city taxes.
"Considering we just passed a millage for the school, I think the city should be concerned with trying to pass a new millage especially with what's going on nowadays," Richendollar said.
Council members decided to form a committee at the Council level, which would work with the already established library committee and the city attorney to come up with an agreement that will be acceptable by the city of Belleville, Van Buren and Sumpter townships.
Mayor Richard Smith said that he has had talks with newly elected Van Buren Supervisor Paul White, and two of the board trustees will be working with the city to get something agreeable on the table. Smith then appointed Council members James Shrove and Rick Dawson to serve on the committee and represent the city's interests.
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