Funding for our Historical Town House
Given the recent survey that was sent to Tyrone Township tax payers regarding the Town House, I felt complelled to address the important topic of funding. The survey language led readers down a particularly misleading path of concern, planting seeds of doubt by bringing up tax increases, a potential millage increase, and Township spending prioritites leaving many residents confused.
While tax increases are something residents should care about, that really holds no relevance to this project. It’s critical for every resident to understand that raising taxes or proposing a millage increase to support this project was NEVER part of the discussion. The language for the survey was carefully chosen to detract from the project, and does not adequately represent the options that have been set forth.
From the start, RCP and the Historical Society have asked to privately fundraise and seek grants to fund the project. One key benefit of our local nonprofit work is to fund community projects in a way that individuals can financially support the projects they care about, instead of relying on tax dollars to fund them. This building has been owned and maintained by the Township for 134 years, and funding the added expense to move it is something residents are ready help with if needed. The survey did not convey the options clearly, fairly, or equitably.
I also wonder how many residents know that the former Township Offices sat on two adjacent parcels of land that were merged. Even more importantly, one of those two parcels of land was DONATED with very explict intention that it serve our community for the long term. (Please read for yourself below.)
Instead of asking the community what they would like to do with the donated land, a unilateral decision was made to sell the property, leave the Town House behind, and use the money for other things. For what? Who knows, but certianly at the sacrifice of preserving our community’s history. Transparent? How many people knew about this? How many people support the way this move was handled? Were you informed? Likely not.
What was the $305,000.00 profit on that property sale used for? It could have easily been used to move the building, preserve our heritage, and create a renewed space and place for our residents to enjoy at the new Township location WITHOUT COSTING TAXPAYERS AN ADDITIONAL PENNY.
Instead, here we are, with our community’s donated land gone and a bizarre battle over saving our Historical Town House, that truthfully should never have been a conflict at all if we had leadership that was connected to the community it serves. With offers to fundriase and seek grant funding to get the job done, people need to start asking WHY. Why are some Township officals so adamantly opposed to moving this building? Why are resident voices falling on deaf ears? Why are proposals to collaborate ignored and instead a biased, misleading survey gets sent to taxpayers now…not 1.5 years ago when the decision was being made, but now when the residents are begging for leadership to do the right thing.
Page 3 of the deed donated to Tyrone Township by James and Mary Pattinson in September 1966.
So, instead of relying upon skewed data from a confusing survey, written by people that clearly don’t care one lick about this building, we made the decision to collect our own data by getting out and talking to residents in person about the fate of the Town House. We have been gathering resident signatures as evidence for interest in preserving this building and asking the PEOPLE directly what they want. That’s transparent. That’s connected. That’s elevating the voice of residents on important matters like this one. As it turns out, the people DO in fact care.
RCP and the Historical Soceity share the common goal to move the Historical Town House to the new Township property for the community to continue to enjoy, without burdening taxpayers. Whether that comes from fundraising, grants, Township support from profits on real estate deals, stimulus money or some combination thereof, it needs to be taken care of properly. The response from residents has been overwhelmingly positive and clearly demonstrates that they care about history, the community, and about preserving this building. The hope is still to integrate the Historic Town House as a centerpiece for our small community, connecting our past with our present and future.
The Historical Society is working through some restructuing in preparation to launch a full-scale fundraising effort and hopes to host an event for the community yet this summer. Please watch for more details to come. Too much history is being tossed out the window. We have to preserve what little we have left, and in Tyrone Township, this Historical Town House is it.
You can help our Historical Society by:
signing the peition below if you haven’t already done so
sharing the petition with 5-10 friends who live here and personally ask them to sign it
coming to Township Board meetings to tell the Board how you feel about this and to stay informed about how the Township officals are handling this issue
staying tuned for donation opportunities
joining the historical society as a new member (application at their website below)
requesting a petition packet for your street, neighborhood, or network of friends & family
staying engaged in civic matters
Tyrone Township Historical Society: www.TyroneHistoricalSociety.org
Save Our Town House Online Petition: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-our-historical-town-house
(Please ignore the “donate” pop up by the petition host site. That money does NOT contribute to this project.)