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Caleb Smith
House Transfer Questioned |
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November, 2002 "One Little Irritant That We Have to Resolve" At Tuesday's meeting, the Board of Trustees of the Smithtown Special Library District dealt with a variety of ongoing issues before considerable time was given to what they characterized as a "non-issue" — the expectation that the historic land beneath the Caleb Smith house would be given to the library district by the town. The Caleb Smith House sits on a corner of the parcel on which the main branch resides and is home to the Smithtown Historical Society. The house is maintained and owned by the Town with 151 years remaining on a lease agreement with the Historical Society. Trustee Anthony Monteleone reported on his attendance at the Smithtown Town Council meeting earlier in the day and his reading of a November 18 letter to the town board from the Smithtown Historical Society's president, Richard Smith. [See text ] The letter, Monteleone noted, requested that the Historical Society's attorney be involved in any agreement with the town regarding the Caleb Smith House. The library has required under the terms of the referendum legislation a transfer of assets to the library which they claim includes all the real estate surrounding the Main Branch in Smithtown. Oddly, the house itself is not considered an asset under this scenario and would remain Town responsibility. "We have put forth what we feel is a very reasonable offer to them [the town]," Monteleone told the meeting, "regarding the land — which is the library's land." "Our view is that as long as they, the town of the historical society, do the maintenance to the house, they can stay there," he continued. "We just hope they see the reasonableness of our offer." The offer, as later explained by Trustee President Joseph Lesnick, involved a variety of items not clearly defined in the legislation including pension expenses, health care and maintenance. The library is willing to forgo some repairs they feel are required on the three branch buildings currently owned by the Town and have negotiated a compromise on a split on employee benefits and debt service which appear acceptable to the Town Council as well. However, Councilwoman Jane Conway questioned why the library would deem it necessary to acquire a historical property which has never been in any way associate with the library. Her concern was that the Trustees stated plans to expansion may put the Caleb Smith House in jeopardy or at least at risk of being moved. She challenged the interpretation of the legislation put forth by the Library Trustees which claims the entire parcel is part of the library as being historically inaccurate. However, "the land underneath belongs to the library," Monteleone declared, "that is our position." Monteleone, along with Lesnick and trustees Susan O'Shea and Judy Levine, composed the rotating membership of a committee that met for discussions with the town regarding the asset transfer. "According to the law and our attorney's," the library is forbidden from "giving away" land, Monteleone said. "We are very firm on that." State law precludes governments from "giving away" public assets, which can mean buildings, services, photo copies, or even the use of a park. Curiously, the Trustees, however, are not demanding the entire parcel at the Kings Park Branch and are willing to let the Town maintain title to the Caleb Smith House itself. Monteleone felt they were close to an agreement with the town until the Caleb Smith House controversy arose, saying there remained "one little irritant that we have to resolve." After Lesnick recited the other elements of the negotiations, Levine said it was "unfortunate a non-issue has surfaced." Lesnick said the library had agreed to accept the library buildings "as is" in spite of "$900,000 of repairs" identified in a July survey by consulting engineers. There did not appear to be any condition in the legislation that the buildings had to be "state-of-the art" in "good-as-new" condition before being transfered but the Trustees appeared to feel that a list of "repairs" were considered the responsibility of the Town. The library would accept costs, such as health insurance, for retired library employees. In addition, the town and the library would be assuming costs "about equal dollar for dollar," according to Lesnick. "They have some of our money, which they're holding, said O'Shea. There are unexpended bond receipts in the town's coffers for money borrowed for library capital improvements. The library has agreed to assume some of that debt service and the unexpended funds will be used to pay off the bond over a period of years. Individually, the Trustees agreed to honor the long-term lease under which the Smithtown Historical Society uses the Caleb Smith House as its headquarters. Trustee June Carlson asked if there was possible "any kind of tradeoff," offering the possibility of trading the Caleb Smith House property for land at the Nesconset Armory site. "On the advice of counsel," went the reply, that was not possible. The trustees authorized Library Director Peter Ward to accept agreements to facilitate the transfer. The long-awaited transfer of assets has been hampered by the delay in the library's receipt of its state charter and the sometimes contentious discussions between the town and library over the financial implications of the transfers. In the enabling legislation which ultimately created the special library district the relevant language, now being relied upon, reads as follows: Upon granting of such a charter by the board of regents, then title to all property, real and personal, tangible and intangible, trusts and other funds now held by the Smithtown library shall be transferred to, vest in, and be acquired by the Smithtown special library district hereby established. In addition to this legislation, a number of historical documents and deeds may yet determine the ultimate outcome of the ultimate transfer.
See earlier article on the Caleb Smith House transfer.
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