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Councilors cautious on taking library

Date: 11/11/2008

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



SPRINGFIELD Although urged by dozens of residents to unanimously pass a resolve asking Mayor Domenic Sarno to begin eminent domain proceedings to take the former Mason Square Library building from the Urban League, only five City Councilors voted in favor of the motion at Monday's meeting.

While five votes was enough to send the resolve to the mayor, the lengthy discussion and adamant opposition to taking the building show that future approval by the City Council might not happen. City Solicitor Edward Pikula said at the meeting that approval of such an action must come from both the mayor and six of the nine councilors.

Sarno told Reminder Publications the morning after the meeting that he is waiting for a legal opinion from Pikula in order to decide whether or not to proceed with that option.

"My goal is to get a library in Mason Square A.S.A.P.," he said. "There is more than meets the eye [with eminent domain]," he added. "It could expend millions of dollars."

Concilors James Ferrera, William Foley, Kateri Walsh and Bruce Stebbins all voted against the resolve with varying reasons. Ferrera noted that he wanted all of the financial facts concerning the taking in order to support it. He said, though, "[There is] nothing more I'd want to do than to bring a library to that community." His remarks were greeted with catcalls from the audience composed almost entirely of neighborhood residents and library advocates.

Walsh said she was concerned about the litigation that might come as a result of the action and could delay a full service library from coming back to the Square.

Stebbins wanted to amend the resolve so the city, after taking the property, could offer a lease to the Urban League so it wouldn't have to move and construct an addition to the building for a new library. He believed his plan would add needed investment dollars to the area.

Foley was the most ardent critic of the resolve saying eminent domain "would put all the eggs in one basket" and is a "vicious and device option."

"Don't expect to see the mayor get involved [with eminent domain]," Foley asserted. "He's angry. He's mad that he wasn't told anything about that agreement."

The agreement Foley mentioned is the one between the Urban League and the Attorney General's office that has been interpreted as having set a value for the building that would make an eminent domain action less risky. City Councilor Patrick Markey revealed it at a meeting of the Library Foundation two weeks ago.

Sarno admitted, "There is a little frustration and aggravation."

He explained that since taking office earlier this year, he had several conversations with former City Councilor Morris Jones in which Jones said that former Mayor Charles Ryan "had some paperwork from the attorney general that was going to blow [the issue] out of the water."

Ryan said that he "has never had a discussion [on this topic] with Mo Jones."

He added he has never heard of any allegations concerning his knowledge of an attorney general agreement and that until Markey requested the documents he didn't know they existed.

Sarno said that he had a meeting with members of the Library Foundation the non-profit group that controls donations and trusts for the library system at which he asked Ryan that if the Mason Square Library trust fund could be used to finance an eminent domain action why Ryan hadn't undertaken that action when he was in office.

Sarno said Ryan had no answer.

"If the paperwork [the agreement with the attorney general] was around, why wasn't this looked into two years ago?" Sarno asked.

"Am I a little aggravated at this 11th hour material? Yes, I am," he added.

Sarno said he didn't want the library issue to be " a continual political football." He expressed concern, though, the legal action might not be settled for five or six years.

"If you lose, where's the library?" he asked. "The Urban League will fight this tooth and nail."

City Council President Bud Williams supported the resolve, proposed by Councilor Timothy Rooke, stating it was a first step in order to look at eminent domain. Williams, who has been involved in the search process for a new location, added, "All the other sites don't work."

Those locations include a former funeral home, the former Mason Square fire station and sharing space at American International College or the Dunbar Community Center.

Councilor Rosemarie Mazza Moriarty noted that five years have gone by since the closing of the full service library "without action."

Henry Thomas, president of the Urban League, declined commenting on the agreement with the attorney general to this newspaper, referring questions to his attorney Craig Brown. Brown did not return a phone call asking for comment.