The Grafton Township Board wasn’t unanimous in its decisions Thursday night, but there was enough cooperation to pass two motions concerning the potential sale of the Haligus Road property purchased by the previous Board where a new township hall was planned.

The Grafton Township Board spent most of its just over a half an hour meeting behind closed doors.

After a closed door meeting which at time reached quite high decibels discussing subjects other than the sale of the real estate and the hiring of “special counsel (hence, the asterisk in the headline above),” the Board actually passed motions with Supervisor Linda Moore and Trustee Robert LaPorta on the same side.

Although the purchase offer was not revealed, it had to be less than the counteroffer of $120,000, plus expenses.  A motion to that effect was passed 4-1, with only Trustee Betty Zirk voting in the negative

One would assume the expenses would be the cost of hiring real estate attorney Michael Torchalski. plus an appraisal and maybe even the For Sale sign.  On that motion, Jerry McMahon and Betty Zirk voted, “No,” while Township Supervisor Linda Moore and Trustees Rob LaPorta and Barb Murphy voted in favor.

No shouting was heard in the open meeting Thursday night at the Grafton Township meeting.

When asked after the meeting by the Northwest Herald reporter if the prospective purchaser was the American Muslim Community Organization, none of the Board members would say.

The amount proposed to be paid by the interested party was not revealed either.

I filed a Freedom of Information request for both

• the offer, which was discussed by the Supervisor and Trustees, and
• the resolution hiring the attorney.

I am confident that the two documents were put in the public domain by the actions that the Board took in open session.

Several Board members said they would have to ask their attorney.

I pointed out they did not have one, except for real estate.

LaPorta said he had one who would provide free advice.