Atlas Twp.- Debate over funding for the 120-year-old Goodrich Library building moved forward on Monday night when township officials called for a special meeting with Goodrich Village officials.
At 6 p.m., Aug. 27 the township board will host a special meeting with the village council at the township hall to discuss the future of the library.
The decision was prompted by an ongoing dispute over repairs and maintenance for the century-old, village-owned Lyceum library, 10237 Hegel Road. Last month a new plan aimed to eliminate village funding of the building over the next three years and pass the costs on to the township was presented at the village council meeting. A funding schedule will begin this year at $6,000, decreasing to $4,000 in 2010; $2,000 in 2011; ending with no payments in 2012 and beyond.
However, no official word regarding the plan was ever presented to township officials. News of the plan was obtained from village meeting minutes and a report in The Citizen.
Township Supervisor Shirley Kautman-Jones explained at Monday’s trustees meeting that funding for the library could come from grants.
‘We can explore options for funding, but still, it’s not our building,? said Jones. ‘We can only guess the next step for what to do with the building. Right now there’s a line in the sand drawn’someone has to step over it. It’s become rather embarrassing that we’ve not moved forward with plans for funding.?
Built in 1893, the Victorian structure was originally the Atlas Town Hall. Then in 1959 the township sold the building to the village for $100. The village council meetings were there until 2005 when they moved to the new village offices on M-15. The library became part of the Genesee County Library system in August, 1952 and moved into the downtown structure in 1980.