By Don Rutledge
FPS Associate Editor
June 23, 2009
The June 29th swimming pool auction is off...for now!
The stoppage came Tuesday afternoon when Carroll County Common Pleas Court Judge Dominick E. Olivito Jr. issued a temporary restraining order shortly after a preliminary injunction was filed by the Carroll County Veterans Club against the Carrollton Board of Education.
The auction, ordered by the Board of Education, was scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. Monday, June 29, at the Carroll County Veterans Memorial Swimming Pool on Brenner Rd., north of Carrollton.
In the injunction, filed by Atty. David S. Nichol of Canton, the Vets Club sought a Court order stopping the scheduled June 29 auction of the Swimming Pool and 2.037 acres of land on which it is situated along Brenner Rd. in Washington Twp., just north of Carrollton.
Following a discussion held Tuesday afternoon in court chambers with attorneys for the plaintiff (Atty. Nichol) and defendant (Atty. R. Brent Minney), Judge Olivito decided to grant the application for the temporary restraining order, thus canceling the June 29 auction on condition of the posting of a $1,200 bond by the plaintiff, either in cash or surety.
A hearing on whether to grant a permanent injunction is scheduled for July 9 at 1 p.m. in Judge Olivito’s Court.
The judge said he and the attorneys are just trying to make things status quo until a more complete and full hearing can be held July 9. “It will also give the plaintiff an opportunity to determine what’s going to happen to the pool,” Olivito added.
The court action came following a plea by two veterans at the June 9 Carrollton Board of Education meeting to delay the auction which was scheduled by the Board at its May meeting.
Longtime Veteran Richard (Dick) Young asked the board to postpone the scheduled June 29 auction and consider some way to return the property to the Vets Club whose members built it and gave it to the school district in 1988.
However, the Board says they cannot give back the pool and property - as the Veterans claim was in the original agreement - because of Ohio law which states:
(3313.41 Ohio Revised Code) “When a board of education decides to dispose of real or personal property that it owns in its corporate capacity and that exceeds in value ten thousand dollars, it shall sell the property at public auction, after giving at least thirty days’ notice of the auction by public in a newspaper of general circulation or by posting notices in five of the most public places in the school district in which the property, if it is real property, is situated, or, if it is personal property, in the school district of the board of education that owns the property.
The board may offer real property for sale as an entire tract or in parcels.”
According to records in the Carroll County Auditor’s office, the pool is appraised at $288,520 while the land (2.037 acres) is appraised at $15,150.
Needless to say, the pool situation is a complex problem!
According to records obtained regarding the pool and the property on which it is located, the ground has been traced back to the will of A. Marshall Hoopes providing for the sale of 100 shares of Sears, Roebuck company stock (amounting to approximately $6,300), to be used for the purpose of providing a suitable swimming pool for Carrollton or the purpose of improving Carrollton’s Memorial Park.
Although Carrollton Village Council, by resolution on Oct. 27, 1969, provided for the transfer of the funds from Hoopes’ estate to the Veterans Club of Carroll County for its use in providing a swimming pool for the village of Carrollton on village property at the Vets Club and instructed the clerk of the village to make the transfer of the balance in the account to the Veterans’ Club then Village Clerk Christina Bowen refused to do so.
Subsequently, a law suit was filed by the late Atty. William T. Allmon against Bowen in Carroll County Common Pleas Court in January 1970. In a judgment entry signed by the late Common Pleas Court Judge Frank F. Cope, dated June 15, 1970, the clerk was ordered by the Court to immediately transfer the funds as directed by the Council in their resolution.
Although a 30-year land lease agreement dated May 15, 1972, between the Village of Carrollton and the Carroll County Veterans Club has since expired (May 15, 2002), the lease was still in effect when Carrollton Village Council voted March 14, 1988 (Ordinance No. 1988-06) by an emergency measure to transfer the land on which the swimming pool is located to the Carrollton Exempted Village School District.
The deed, transferring 2.037 acres, was recorded in the Carroll County Recorder’s office March 30, 1988, to the Carrollton Exempted Village School District.
Pool Construction Begins
Test drilling on the site of the Carroll County Veterans Club Pool actually began in April 1969 after which numerous pledges and donations of money, labor and materials were sought for the pool’s completion and dedication in May 1972.
The pool was operated by the Veterans Club until 1987 when it was decided to give it to the Carrollton Exempted Village School District.
According to the minutes of the Feb. 9, 1988, Carrollton Board of Education meeting, the five-member board voted 4-1 to accept the ownership of the Vets Swimming Pool and stipulated grounds.
The Carrolton Board of Education voted at its Dec. 9, 2008 meeting to close the swimming pool, citing financial reasons and upkeep. Pleas to keep the pool open made to the school board by individuals at the April 2009 school board meeting were denied and the Board voted at their May 12, 2009, meeting to sell the pool at public auction. The date was set for June 29 at 6 p.m.
Whomever buys the pool and intends to operate it as a pool must “negotiate” use of the septic system with the Veterans Club since the Club owns the system. There reportedly is not enough room to add a specialized septic system to handle pool use. |
