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| By G. Michael Dobbs Managing Editor SPRINGFIELD City Solicitor Patrick Markey told the Springfield Library Commissioners on Wednesday that the lawsuit against the Springfield Museum Association (SMA) over the sale of the Mason Square Branch Library City is moving forward. Markey explained to Reminder Publications on Thursday that he is currently in the midst of the discovery process and has taken depositions from Springfield Museum Association officials Donald D'Amour, David Starr and Joseph Carvalho, III. The Springfield Museum Association, which ran the city library system until 2003 when the city took the system over, sold the Mason Square branch to the Springfield Urban League in 2002. The library had undergone a substantial renovation that was finished in 2001 that was paid for by a $575,000 bond taken by the city in 1998. The SMA sold the newly renovated building for $700,000, a "fire sale price" according to Markey. Over the life of the 20-year-old bond, taxpayers will have to pay back $900,000 for those renovations, Markey explained. The SMA has never paid back any portion of the bond to the city. The Mason Square Branch is the only branch library with an endowment for its operation. After the sale, the Urban League had pledged to continue library operations, which was moved to one small part of the building. According to information previously released by Reggie Wilson, the branch's supervisor, before the sale in February 2003, there were 3,000 visits to the branch. In February 2004, there were 300 visits. Markey said the SMA and the city were partners concerning the library issue. For over a century, the SMA ran the libraries, to which the city provided "the lion's share" of the operational budget. Although according to the Registry of Deeds, the SMA owned the main libraries and the branches, Markey said it could be alleged there was a partnership between the two entities to provide library services. Markey said, as part of his investigation, he is trying to determine who in the city government at that time the final Albano administration was aware of the sale prior to its announcement. The sale should have been approved by the City Council, but it was not. He said the biggest question is why the SMA thought it was necessary to sell the Mason Square branch at that time. Markey said a reason he had been told is the SMA was concerned about the financial status of the city and the organization had closed the Forest Park and Liberty Heights branches as a reaction to a decrease in funding. The sale of the Mason Square branch was also due to this lack of funding. The endowment created by Annie Curran for the Mason Square branch put that library in a unique position, Markey explained. The $3 million endowment would have allowed the library to continue operating the branch for years. "[That] raises all sorts of suspicions," Markey said. "It didn't need a nickel from the city." The fact that Carvalho is a member of the Urban League Board also raises a question of a conflict of interest, but Markey was quick to add that he has not seen any evidence to indicate how involved Carvalho was with the Board at the time of the sale negotiations. Markey said attorneys for the city and the SMA have sorted through various trusts to determine which were intended to benefit one of the museums or the library and he said that a handful were "ambiguous." While that process has gone smoothly, Markey said he is not hopeful a settlement for the Mason Square branch can be reached. The city wants the SMA to finance the construction of a new branch library and Markey said the Association could not give the city the $2 million the project would require. He said the SMA could have paid the city back for the bond when it had the money from the sale of the branch, but it didn't. He did note that money taken from the Curran Trust had been restored. Other recent Springfield stories can be read online at www.reminderpublications.com |