The Town of Lisbon, Wisconsin, voted earlier in the year to cut ties with the village of Sussex, which had been operating under a municipal agreement with Lisbon for decades.  As a result, the village’s Pauline Haass Library Board will be dissolved at the end of 2014, leaving up in the air who will control the funds and land donated by the late Pauline Haass.

The Library Board, which is still in force until the December dissolution, when they will be replaced by an all-new board, sued the city of Lisbon over the donated farm land that the library has controlled.  A County Circuit Court judge ruled that the town and board must attempt to resolve this dispute using mediation.  The Library Board has stated that it is considering appealing this decision, but until a decision is made, will abide by it and the accompanying order to limit spending for the balance of the year.

Things have already gotten off to a rocky start, however, as a lawyer for the Library Board has demanded a large raft of documents from the town, dating back to the original municipal agreement, including documents detailing where other funds donated by Haass have gone.  This has set a confrontational tone for the proceedings that the town believes will be counter-productive.

The main sticking point is the lucrative Haass farm land and other assets and who controls them.  The library board has been custodian of these lands since their donation.