Hearing to be held April 23

By BEN STORROW Staff Writer

northampton - The proposed new $3.5 million Shutesbury library will now have its day in court.

Hampshire Superior Court Judge Mary-Lou Rup on Tuesday scheduled an April 23 hearing for library supporters to argue their case that Shutesbury election officials erred when they discarded a contested vote in favor of the new library, but counted two contested ballots against it during a Jan. 25 recount.

That decision left deadlocked at 522-522 the result of a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion override needed to pay the town's $1.4 million share of the project. Because a tie vote defeats the question, library supporters filed a lawsuit challenging the Board of Registrars' rulings.

The supporters claim that the registrars erred in accepting ballots cast against the library by a couple who also have registered to vote in Florida, while disqualifying a vote in favor of the library cast by a resident who had registered to vote in Kentucky.

Tuesday's court proceedings were procedural. Most notably, Rup accepted a request from library opponents to give them until Feb. 28 to intervene as an official party in the case.

William McDermott, who has a law office in Boston and represents library supporters in their suit, argued that Alan Seewald, the attorney for the opponents, is familiar with the case and does not need more time to prepare.

But Donna MacNicol, the Shutesbury town counsel, said Seewald told her that opponents needed the time to raise money needed to retain him.

Seewald, who was not present in court Tuesday, said in a telephone interview afterward that he conveyed his request to the attorneys for both sides because he had the sense the case "would be on the accelerated track."

The April date set by Rup was the first available time for a civil case to be heard in Franklin Superior Court where the complaint was filed. Tuesday's proceedings were held in Northampton because no Superior Court judge is currently sitting in Franklin County.