Village of Dundee pulls out of school project

DUNDEE--The village of Dundee will no longer be seeking to collaborate with the school district on the construction of a shared maintenance building. Dundee Superintendent Kelly Houck made the announcement during the school board meeting Thursday, March 12, saying issues with acquiring the land for the project are preventing the village from taking the project further.
Houck said the village decided not to go through with the project because of the fact they are not allowed to transfer ownership of that land. She said the village informed her that was the only reason why they could not pursue the project in that fashion, adding they would be interested in sharing a maintenance facility in some other capacity if possible. However, the superintendent added, "we haven't been able to develop what that next plan looks like."
"A portion of the land down there was paid for with grant money back in 1975," Village Clerk Christine Sutherland said. "That is one hurdle we would have to go through. The other hurdle is it is kind of hard to say we don't need the land because we have that land permitted for sludge spreading. I think in all the years, we have only had to use it once, but it is permitted, so it is kind of hard to pass a resolution saying it is surplus property and you are not using it."
Sutherland said the village would have to finance money for the project, adding municipal law says the village is only allowed five year contracts unless involved in financing.
"We would have to go borrow money to pay a portion over 30 years, but at the end of that 30 years...the village's name isn't going to be on anything," Sutherland said. "Those were the key factors in why we pulled out. I think the board would be more interested if we could do it and we both owned it and both of our names were on it. There is no guarantee to the village after 30 years. I'm not saying [they] will just boot us, but you can't say who is on the board 30 years from now. We need to make sure we are doing the best thing for the village taxpayers."