A dispute over 65 acres of land donated to the Town of Lisbon, Wisconsin will potentially be heading to mediation, if the request of the town’s public library is accepted.  A decision regarding whether to attempt mediation to resolve the dispute is up for a vote this week by Lisbon’s Town Board.

At the core of the dispute is the land that was donated by Pauline Haass to the town.  Within the scope of her donation, she specified that the 65 acres would be used for library purposes.  As such, the Library Board believes that the current dispute over the propertyshould be handled by seeking an appraisal for the land, then requiring the town and village to contribute that amount to the library.  In doing so, the wishes of Ms. Haass would still be honored, even if the land isn’t used for library purposes. 

If mediation is not accepted by the Lisbon Town Board, the library’s attorneys will likely file a claim with the Waukesha County Circuit Court.  Matt Gehrke, a Lisbon Town Chairman, has issued a public statement that he is "surprised and disappointed" by the Library Board’s vote to attempt to force mediation by threatening a lawsuit if mediation is not acceptable to the Town Board as an option.

The member of the Library Board who provided the tiebreaking vote in favor of mediation was John Roubik, a Hamilton School District representative.  According to a statement he released to Lake County Publications, he saw litigation as likely the only way to resolve this 10-year-long dispute between the Library and the Town Board.