Sumpter Board hears report on proposed district library pact

By Rosemary K. Otzman

Independent Editor

   At the Nov. 24, 2009 meeting of the Sumpter Township Board of Trustees, township attorney Rob Young gave a lengthy report on ongoing discussions between him and lawyers for the City of Belleville and Van Buren Township that is leading to a district library proposal.

   He said there has been talk about forming a district library for 20 years and it finally is coming to a form that they can bring to the communities for consideration. Young said he hoped to have an agreement for them to consider at the Dec. 8 meeting.

   Two parts of the agreement have kept the communities apart for the last year, he said, namely the makeup of the interim board and the ownership of the land beneath the current Fred C. Fischer Library.

   Young said representatives of the three communities have agreed to the makeup of the seven-member interim district library board: four from Van Buren Township, two from Sumpter Township, and one from Belleville.

   In the past there have been disputes over these numbers. The interim board would be in effect just a few months until voters would elect an official board at large in the three communities.

   Also, it is agreed that Belleville owns the property and the city will agree to let the current library stay on it to 2012. There has been talk about a new library, but that would be up to the elected district library board to decide upon, he said.

   The library district may purchase new property on Belleville Lake, Young said referring to the DNR property just north of the Belleville Bridge.

   Sumpter Township wants some input into the idea of where the new library would be, Young said, adding that Sumpter has no desire to have its residents having to go into northern Van Buren Township to get to a library, a 10-mile or more trek for some.

   The representatives of the three communities have agreed to support location of the library in the City of Belleville or Van Buren Township, but in no event north of I-94. The desired location is in the general location of where it is now, but would be subject to availability of property, he said.

   The agreement being proposed would put a deadline of Dec. 31, 2012 for the City of Belleville and Van Buren Township voters to pass a tax of .7 mill for the operation of the library. The amount was selected because Sumpter Township taxpayers pay that amount now to support library service.

   Currently, the Fred C. Fischer Library is part of the Wayne County Library Network and the local library is assessed hefty sums for administration, which would be cut in half if a local district library was in place.

   The representatives of the three communities have discussed putting a satellite library in Sumpter Township, possibly at the site of the newly acquired medical center on Sumpter Road.

   Young said the satellite would not have the same services as the main library, but would have best-selling books and a procedure to order books from the main library for pick up at the satellite. They even discussed shuttling people from the satellite to the main library.

   Sumpter Treasurer John Morgan, long a critic of the library located in Belleville, asked if the library board would be elected at large and Young replied the seven members would have to be elected at large, as required by state law.

   “Conceivably, we would have no Sumpter Township person on the board,” Morgan said and Young replied that was possible.

   “If and when they do develop a satellite, who supports it? We already support the library with the millage,” Morgan said.

   Young said the Sumpter is asking that money be built into the district library budget for build out and renovations to the medical center in the amount of $150,000 to $200,000.

   Young said the proposed agreement states if the district library is not established by voters by 2012, the library will go back to the county.

   Also, if no new location is approved by 2012, the lease on the property ends, he said.

   “These are the two ways it could get abolished,” Young said of the district library proposal.

   He said all operations would be provided by the district library and Sumpter Township would be responsible to provide the building.

   Young said another meeting of the community representatives and their attorneys was scheduled for Dec. 1.

   Trustee Alan Bates, who has been on the negotiating committee, said Sumpter conceded to let VBT have the four members on the interim board, since VBT contributes the most to library operation.

   He said they hope to get an elected board in 2010 and it will be up to the new board to pass a millage to build a new library. This is in addition to the .7 -mill for operation.

   Trustee Bates said discussions around the cost of a new library building noted if they wanted from $1 million to $1.5 million, in VBT one mill brings about $1 million and in Sumpter Township, one mill brings $360,000.

   “We wanted to get Wayne County out,” Bates explained. “They charge the library $100,000 and we don’t know what for. We can save $50,000 without them.

   “Their system is collapsing and they’d like us to leave,” Bates said, adding that many other communities have left the county system and set up their own districts.

   Young said the agreement will be ready for the board to study, hopefully at the next meeting, and it is kind of complicated.

   “There’s always a problem when there’s change,” Young said. “…We don’t have to be part of this district library, but we have to provide services for the citizens.”

   Later in the meeting, resident Mary Ban said she has always been against the proposed library site north of the bridge since it is too dangerous because of the Belleville Road traffic at the curve.

   “Why not buy property at Sumpter and Bemis, which is up for sale?” Ban asked. “Or, Bemis and Rawsonville where 72 acres just went up for sale… The corridor needs to come south not north.

   “To put something down there on Belleville Lake is ridiculous … We wouldn’t need to use the medical center building for a library is the library was put south. We’d have it.

   “Use some common sense, Mr. Bates and Mr. Hamm,” she said to the township’s representatives on the library committee.

   “The district library agreement says they cannot go north of 94, but doesn’t say you can’t go south … It’s up to the district board,” Bates said.

   Attorney Young said, “I said if you put it by the fire hall on Hull, you wouldn’t need a satellite.”

   “Sumpter Township gets the short shrift all the time,” Ban said. “The rest of the communities around us laugh at us … They think we’re a bunch of country hicks… You know what it’s like going through that town [Belleville]. It’s unbelievable.”