Residents force building purchase onto ballot

Minerva Park residents will go to the polls Nov. 7 to decide whether the village should buy a three-story office building to house its government and police operations.

Nearly 200 residents signed a petition to put the controversial issue before voters.

They will decide whether to repeal a June resolution that authorized Mayor Lynn Eisentrout to execute a purchase contract for the building.

“This is the largest single

purchase Minerva Park has ever tried to acquire and I feel the residents should be the ones to speak, not just council, on something that large,” said Tiffany Hughes, one of five residents who circulated the petition.

“This referendum is our way of saying, ‘Slow down, we want a voice.’ “

The village was poised to pay $658,000 for the building, but the ballot referendum has put that plan on hold. After paying $10,000 to extend a purchase contract through Aug. 15, officials let it expire. The building, at 2999 E. DublinGranville Rd. and owned by Gemstone Holdings LLC, is now up for sale again through Columbus realty firm NAI Ohio Equities.

After purchase, the village’s proposal was to lease about 60 percent of the 24,000-square-foot facility to help pay off bonds totaling $1.6 million. On top of its purchase price, it’s estimated it would cost about $943,000 to renovate the 47-year-old building.

The referendum vote comes after months of public debate about the purchase.

Some residents expressed concerns about a lack of transparency regarding the deal. Others feared the plan to lease space in the building wouldn’t work and their taxes eventually would increase to pay for it.

Minerva Park officials, meanwhile, say that buying the building is the most costeffective way to address their facility needs and plan for growth.

An architect’s estimate indicated it would cost at least $2 million to expand and renovate the village’s existing 2,700-square foot, 57-year-old community center to meet modern needs, particularly for police services, and bring it up to code.

Constructing a new building would likely cost even more, officials said.

“We still have a problem to solve, regardless of the results of the referendum vote,” said Eric Fischer, the village’s planning director.

“If people want to have a viable, long-term police force, we need to have a functional police station to support it.”

Some village council members eventually tried to circumvent the referendum vote.

They intended to repeal the June resolution authorizing the building purchase and replace it with an emergency resolution for the same purchase, according to meeting minutes. Such emergency measures cannot be repealed with a referendum vote.

That attempt failed on Aug. 14 with a 3-3 vote. Council members Brian Wolf, Scott Hansan and John Michels voted for the maneuver; Michael Braun, Russell Dobbins and Jennifer Pauken voted against it.

To place the referendum on the November ballot, Minerva Park residents needed to collect 64 signatures by Aug. 9. Residents actually collected enough signatures twice. Another petition regarding the building purchase had about 100 valid signatures and also was filed and certified for the November ballot. Tony Benedetti, the resident who filed the second petition, withdrew it on Monday to avoid confusing voters.

The building that Minerva Park had hoped to purchase has been for sale since 2008. At that time, its listing price was $1.5 million. Most recently, its price was lowered to $726,000 in November 2016, with 17,084 square feet occupied.