The Leland Township board voted 4-1 to approve the deed transfer of the Munnecke room to Leland Township Library at its regular meeting on Oct. 14.
Review of the deed has been ongoing for the last few months. While documents for the transfer were originally handed out by library representatives to board members in August, the board voted 3-1 to move forward with reviewing the paperwork to pursue the transfer of deed at its September regular meeting. On Oct. 10, the board met for a workshop meeting to further discuss the terms of the transfer, and came to a final decision last week.
“I think this is a good thing for the library, the community, and for the township. We’re excited about the prospect of getting the seawall actually done in the foreseeable future,” said Leland Library Board President Berkley Duck. “We have work to do to raise the funds to pay for it, but we’re confident that we can achieve that goal.”
Susan Och, Leland Township supervisor, was the one opposing vote against the approval of the transfer, citing again that she did not want to jump into the agreement. She added that not only did she want more time for the public to review the transfer, but had other concerns regarding things like ensuring the permit to repair the seawall would be transferable to the library and the fact that the township would have to deliver $200,000 from its capital improvement funds upon closing.
“We’ve (the township) been working towards this, but that construction money is much too big of a hunk for Leland Township,” Och said. “So I do think that the library could raise enough money to do that wall… The next board is going to have to define how much money should be in our capital improvement fund.”
Lisa Brookfield, township clerk, said she believes the transfer is a good move for the library, community, and taxpayers. She continued, explaining how it relieves the taxpayers of a significant burden immediately because the library can tap into private funds and grants that the township can’t access.
“I think the library is better placed to take advantage of some of those funds that are outside of property tax funded repairs and maintenance,” Brookfield said. “And for that reason, I think we’re protecting and being good stewards of a public resource that’s very important.”
The transfer will allow library staff to take over the replacement project of the Leland river seawall, with library personnel previously noting that they were concerned about “the lack of progress in repairing the seawall” and that it is “at risk of collapse and, in that event, it cannot be reconstructed under current environmental laws and regulations.” In the intergovernmental agreement, the library will have “sole authority over and responsibility for the maintenance of the seawall and the design and implementation of the project” and that it would “use its best efforts to secure, by means of a capital agreement, the funds required for those purposes…” The agreement continues, noting that the library will use its best efforts to secure by capital campaign the funds required to complete the repair project, utilizing not only the $200,000 provided by the township at closing, but also the funds donated to the library or to the Friends of the Leland Township Library for the “express purpose of maintenance and/or reconstruction of the seawall.”
According to Duck, the estimated cost to repair the seawall from a year ago was nearly $800,000, adding that the price may have “very well gone up” since then, so the library is anticipating to raise at least a million as they move forward in the process.
In January 2023, the township took steps to work with a dam engineer to help them apply and prepare for a state department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) permit to replace the seawall protecting township property off Cedar Street. At the time, the estimated cost of repairing the failing seawall was $500,000. That EGLE permit is anticipated to be approved and come back as soon as November. Duck said the next steps after receiving a permit would be transferring the name of the permit from the township to the library, and then raising additional money and starting the process of getting project bids and hiring a contractor.
“The seawall is in imminent danger of collapsing, and under current environmental laws, if that happens, it can’t be rebuilt in any way, shape or form,” he said. “The river bank has to revert to natural and there’s unknown possibilities for erosion, undergrowth coming along the river and obscuring the view, and not to mention the loss of the facility.”
At closing, the township will then assign the library all its rights, title, and interest as the “lessor” described in the 1984 lease. The 2016 agreement will be terminated during the closing as well. After closing, the library will be responsible for managing and operating the Munnecke room as a community meeting facility, township meeting facility, and for the use of the library and the Leelanau Historical Society, among other things. The township will have “scheduling priority” for its regular and special meetings and will remit to the library $10 per meeting.
In the scenario that the property, for whatever reason, becomes the “subject of a conveyance to a third party that is not a successor in interest to the purpose and mission of the library, or a usage that is not within those permitted under the terms of the Munnecke deed,” then the property title will revert to the township.
