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City Drops Library Bombshell

Date: 11/3/2008

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



SPRINGFIELD City Councilor Timothy Rooke plans to refile his order asking Mayor Domenic Sarno to initiate eminent domain land taking proceedings on the present headquarters of the Springfield Urban League to re-establish the Mason Square branch library in its former location.

Rooke's announcement came just hours after the Springfield Library Foundation meeting on Thursday at which Foundation member and City Councilor Patrick Markey presented a document that "shocked" Foundation President and former Mayor Charles Ryan.

Rooke told Reminder Publications that earlier this year five of the nine city councilors supported the measure and he believed others would join in as well.

Ryan said the revelation of a confidential agreement between the Springfield Urban League and the Attorney General's office that paved the way for the AG to approve the sale of the Mason Square Library to the Urban League in 2003 pushes discussion of other potential library sites "off the table."

The legal counsel for the foundation, John Egan and Paula Trudeau, along with City Solicitor Edward Pikula, analyzed the provisions of the agreement that was obtained by Markey.

Markey said he had heard rumors about an agreement and requested the document through the state's Public Records Law.

The agreement states, "In the event that the Urban League desires to offer the premises for sale to third parties, the Urban League shall first offer the Premises to the SLMA [Springfield Library and Museums Association] (the "Right of the First Offer")."

The agreement continues to state the SLMA "shall have the right to purchase the Premises for the sum of seven hundred thousand dollars," plus the increase in the consumer price index -- about 15 percent of $700,000 -- and reimbursement for any improvements made to the building.

If the city takes over the library functions of the SLMA -- which it did shortly after the sale of the building in 2003 -- the agreement stipulated, "the SLMA's Right of First Offer shall be assignable to the City of Springfield."

Egan explained the agreement establishes a value and puts an "absolute cap on the fair market value" of the Urban League building.

Egan added that in eminent domain issues, the city takes possession of a building on the day of the filing of papers. A check is written to the property owner based on the appraisal of the property. The owners then have three years in which they could file a dispute over the size of the settlement. Egan said that with current court schedules, a lawsuit could then take another three years to settle.

Generally, he added, courts approve the taking of properties for public uses such as police and fire stations, schools and libraries.

Sarno, who attended the meeting, asked repeatedly if anyone in the Ryan Administration or members of the foundation board knew of the existence of this agreement. The answer from everyone at the table was no.

Ryan said he recently spoke with the legal counsel of the Springfield Museums and they were not aware of the agreement.

Ryan said that as mayor he had tried to negotiate a sale price of the building with Urban League President Henry Thomas. The city made offers in excess of a $1 million.

Prior to the discussion on the agreement of the letter, architect Stephen Jablonski presented his findings to the foundation board on the Muhammad's Mosque #13 building as a site for the new library. Sarno had named the mosque as his preferred site for the library earlier this year and had requested the foundation to use funds from the library's endowment to purchase the building for $950,000.

Jablonski said converting the building into a library would cost $4,100,400, which would include alterations to the building including a new heating and cooling system, a new elevator and stairs to satisfy current building codes, as well as landscaping.

He compared that building to the former library building and noted the former library building has more space and the property is larger as well.

Sarno said after the meeting that he was "very shocked" at the existence of the agreement and that "without this information, [taking the building through] eminent domain would have been a difficult situation."

Although he and Ryan have had disagreements on the location of the library, Sarno said the two men concurred, "The whole point is to get the library they need A.S.A.P."