Fight over land sale heats up

NORWALK — Public disagreements between the Norwalk Schools board and the Huron County commissioners over a proposed land sale continued this week, with the district's superintendent claiming the county prosecutor is interfering with talks. School superintendent Brad Cooley this week slammed county prosecutor James Sitterly, claiming that he's holding up a land sale that would lead to the construction of new pre-K-8 school building. "James Sitterly, our county prosecutor, is actively interfering with the work of our Huron County commissioners. I have never seen one person work so hard to prevent a school district from acquiring the necessary acreage to build a brand new school that will serve 1,700 students for the next half century," Cooley said in a letter he sent to the Reflector. What's going on? The project is the long-awaited building of a new elementary/middle, or pre-K-8, school on Shady Lane Drive designed to have an "open campus" with Norwalk High School. For construction to begin, the school board said it must obtain just over 23 acres of county-owned land from the commission. The county and the Norwalk Board of Education have been negotiating the sale price since 2023 and have yet to strike a deal. It's been a contentious issue that's failed to gain approval from a majority of county commissioners. Prior to November's election — which saw commissioners Skip Wilde and Terry Boose replaced by Tom Dunlap and Brad Mesenburg, respectively — opinion on the sale between the commissioners was at a stalemate: • Wilde abstained from voting due to owning property close to the property in question. • Boose at one point had expressed support for the sale. • The third commissioner, Harry Brady, opposed the sale. At a public meeting in February 2024, Brady read aloud a prepared statement offering a lengthy explanation of his opposition to granting the sale. Among his arguments was that the county land was better served for the county's purposes, and he pointed to a 2004 agreement where commissioners sold 20 acres of land to the school district. "Since the vote to sell the original 20 acres, the county has built their license/title bureau and is currently building a senior center. These projects are in addition to the sheriff's office/jail, Job and Family Services and EMA/mechanic building," Brady said in his statement last year. "The county has continued to build over the past 30 years while the school district has done nothing with (its) 20 acres in 20 years. "The county continues to demonstrate its use for county property," his statement continued. "Though the Norwalk Board of Education has shown passion for their cause, the county for decades has materialized its uses for its real property." Bond issue passes On Nov. 5, Norwalk Schools district electors approved a 5.4 mill, 37-year bond issue for constructing a new pre-K-8 school. According to the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, a state agency that will contribute $52 million toward the cost of the project, the land is needed to build the school. Cooley is at issue with an opinion Sitterly gave to the Huron County commission advising Mesenburg to abstain from voting or discussing the project. Sitterly's opinion appeared to be based on the assumption that because Mesenburg's family owns a trucking business, he may have a conflict of interest in the future if the company bids on the construction of the new project, according to Cooley. At the commission meeting on Tuesday, Mesenburg, following the advice of Sitterly, abstained from casting a vote on the sale of the property. When Dunlap put forward a motion to open discussion, Brady sat silent and the motion died without a second. "Sitterly's opinion is just that, an opinion," Cooley said. "He is not the final authority, nor does his opinion match that of any other law firm we have consulted with regarding the matter." According to Cooley, he has been in contact with several legal firms, including Bricker Graydon LLP, a firm with offices in Columbus and Cincinnati, which lists "education law" as a specialty on its website, as well as the Ohio Ethics Commission, the Ohio Attorney General and the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct. Cooley stepped up his attack on Sitterly, who he claimed set a per-acre price tag for the land that was $29,000 higher than the district's appraisal. "We have a county prosecutor stepping into a role that he was not elected to do," Cooley said. "Sitterly is determining the purchase price for the land and stating to citizens that $40,000 is the price per acre. This is not how ethical individuals operate." Board members agree The district's school board — comprised of president Alison Crawford, vice president Ralph Ritzenthaler, and board members Jeremy Norris, Kayla Burkett and Eric Gonzales — joined in the criticism of county commissioners in a news release issued this week. In the release, the board claims commissioners aren't facilitating talks with them regarding the possible sale. "The Norwalk City School District Board of Education is extremely disappointed with the (county commissioners') refusal to meet with the board to discuss the sale of its portion of land on Shady Lane Drive to the board for the construction of the pre-K-8 school," the release states. The board furthered its argument for why it needs the county-owned land. "If the county commissioners refuse to sell the land to the district, it will mean that the district must either build a multi-level elementary building with no options for traffic flow and green space or acquiring a 40-acre parcel likely outside of Norwalk city limits and away from our High School losing the one campus efficiencies," the release states. Commissioners, prosecutor mum Mesenburg replied to an email sent by the Reflector with questions on the sale. He reiterated his inability to comment on the situation. "I and the board of commissioners have received an opinion from the Huron County prosecutor Jim Sitterly that I must abstain from any discussions related to the potential sale of county land to the Norwalk City School Board," Mesenburg wrote. Emails sent to Dunlap and Brady, and a telephone message left for Sitterly, have not been returned as of press time Thursday.