ALLEGAN, MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Feb. 1, 2024) – As renovation of the Allegan County Services Building off of Dumont Lake continues, the purpose of having such a renovation is still being contested in the courts.
A Friday mediation is scheduled as County Clerk Bob Genetski, County Treasurer Sally Brooks, and County Drain Commissioner Denise Medemar are the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the county board over attempts to move their offices out of the 48th Circuit Courthouse on Chestnut Street in the county seat of Allegan, and into the administrative building off of 122nd Avenue in Allegan Township. Genetski says that this is a constitutional matter.
County Board Chairman Jim Storey of Holland, who will be in attendance among the defendants, counters that this is more of a matter of constituent access.
The lawsuit, which was filed nearly 11 months ago, wants the county to stop efforts in moving those three offices, and to pay for attorney fees and costs incurred by the plaintiffs.
The nearly $1.1 million renovation of the County Services Building began in earnest about three weeks ago.
Fifteen years ago, Ottawa County did the same thing in moving its main office out of the county seat in Grand Haven to the Fillmore Street Complex in Olive Township, although the clerk/register of deeds, treasurer and drain commissioner still have an office presence in the 20th Circuit Court Building off of Washington Avenue to fulfill state constitutional requirements.
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