On Monday, District Court Judge, Stephen Oeth, dismissed a lawsuit filed against the City of Carroll, the Carroll City Council and City Manager, Mike Pogge-Weaver. Longtime opponent of the Carroll Public Library renovation project, Dr. Richard Collison, filed the suit in early August, seeking an injunction against the issuance of $3.8 million in bonds that were approved through a nearly 62 percent margin in a referendum vote in August of 2017. The premise for Collison’s suit, that the public was misled to vote yes and that the city did not have the funds necessary to complete the project, was also the reason the case was dismissed. One of Collison’s attorney’s, John Blyth with Nyemaster/Goode, says the ruling means only that they were a little too early in seeking the injunction.
Judge Oeth dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning that Collison and his attorneys could bring the suit before the courts again at a later date.
A total of $6.85 million was estimated for the expansion and updating of the library as well as the renovation of the former Commercial Savings Bank building on North Adams Street to house the new City Hall. Blyth says that because the city combined the two projects into one vote, his client and his firm will be acting as watchdogs for the taxpayers to make sure that no more city funds are used than what was promised for the entirety of this project.
Blyth says the order was just received yesterday (Monday), so they are still considering all of their options. But as the work gets underway on the renovations, they will be doing whatever they can to keep tabs on what the city is doing and on what they are spending. Carroll Broadcasting has also reached out to Ahlers and Cooney, the legal firm of record for the city, for comment as well.
