Poland officials continue to crawl forward with plans to lease land and mineral rights for oil and gas drilling in the village.
On Tuesday, Poland Village Council voted to hire outside attorney Alan Wenger, of Harrington Hoppe and Mitchell, to comb through a 78-year-old legal document. A 1934 deed left by Grace Butler gives ownership of Poland Municipal Forest to the village.
Recent discussions have come up about leasing land under the woods for oil and gas drilling. But the deed specifically says that land must be used for park purposes only, and be kept in its natural state.
"The basic question is do we have the right to do it? And that may end this, because if the attorney figures out from reading the deed that we do not have the right to lease the land, that's the end of it," said Poland Village Councilman Robert Limmer.
If conditions of the deed are violated, the land reverts back to the Butler family.
"And that might be construed as grossly negligent on the part of the council, and so council people might be held personally liable because of that action," Limmer said.
In a true chicken-egg conversation, some council members said they should first decide whether they want to pursue any drilling in the village at all. Some residents questioned why council would pay an attorney when several members of the community already have offered their expertise on this issue.
"You need information from environmental engineers, physicists, seismologists, who will give you this information for free," said resident Martha Morgan.
Council will vote at its first meeting in March on whether to form a committee of community experts to advise them on the drilling issue.
The resolution to hire Wenger was passed by a 4-1 vote. It's unclear what Wenger's rate will be because details of the agreement were not disclosed.
