SCHOOLCRAFT TOWNSHIP, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — A judge has ruled that Kalamazoo County commissioners violated a federal law after they attempted to shut down an area property.
The Kalamazoo Circuit Court judge said that the commission violated the Open Meetings Act when it passed a resolution unanimously to take over a lakefront property inside Schoolcraft Township’s Prairie View County Park on September 3rd.
The resolution would pave the way for the county to take ownership of the property, and Judge Alexander C. Lispey said that the process involved no procedure for public comment and involved behind closed doors meetings to hammer out the decision making process. Lipsey threw out the commission’s decision and issued a ruling saying that they would have to reconvene an open session at a future county commission meeting to reconsider the issue.
That resolution was passed after a long-running disagreement over ownership between the property owners and county government. After the county park was created more than 50 years ago, the county signed an agreement with members of the Talanda family which stipulated that the county would have first right of purchase if the property ever was put for sale.
The county contests that since none of the signing family members are living anymore, the agreement holds that the property should be sold to the them. The last Talanda family member to sign, Edmund Talanda Sr., died earlier this year.
The lakefront property on Gourdneck Lake, which occupies 142 feet of valuable shoreline, has been owned by the family since 1949. The agreement and creation of the park began 14 years later in 1963.
Lawyers representing the Talanda Family and their descendents argue that the contract with the county only guarantee’s right of first sale if the property goes on the market, not the eventual right of acquisition once all the signees have passed away.
After the last signee passed away in March, the plaintiffs argue that the county began initiating measures to condemn the property and evict family members. Commissioners voted to terminate the owner’s interest in the property in June, followed by attempts to prevent entry to the property.
Judge Lipsey said that there is probable cause that commissioners violated the Open Meetings Act during closed door sessions to discuss the property’s fate on July 2nd and July 16th. During court proceedings Attorney Allan Vander Laan, who represented the county government, argued that the purpose of the meetings was to present beneficial information for commissioners and that not every step of the decision making process should be open to the public.
Finding these arguments unconvincing, Lipsey said in his final ruling, “I don’t believe that there was an open discussion or compliance with the Open Meetings Act to determine whether in fact the resolution should be adopted and, on that basis, I am going to grant the motion to quash the Sept. 3 resolution.”
It is unclear when or how the Kalamazoo County Commission intends to continue the process of taking over the property in question. None of the commissioners or county staff involved in the passage of the resolution have made public statements so far regarding the matter.
