By Carol Anders Staff Writer
LAKEVILLE — The controversy of a proposed over $19.6 million building project for the Union-North School Corporation continues.
On July 2, opponents of the project filed a “verified complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief” in the Marshall County Circuit Court.

Plaintiffs listed on the complaint by name include: George Moffett, Kelvin Fluckey, Harold Reynard, David Grenert, Penny Miller and Bill Kane. However, the complaint also includes the following: "The plaintiffs are bringing this lawsuit on their own behalf and on behalf of any and all similarly-situated residents of Union-North.”
The plaintiffs contend that there was no public notice of a public meeting held on Nov. 7, 2007. At that meeting, it was determined that the cost of the project being recommended by a ‘steering committee’ that had been formed to study the project in depth was estimated at $19.6 million.
In the complaint, the plaintiffs also allege that the ‘steering committee’ was not representative of the community at large.
A remonstrance stemming from the proposed project concluded on March 24, 2007. The final vote for those in favor totaled 1,781; however, opponents claimed 1, 313 votes. This total reflects only the signatures that could be validated. Proponents presented petitions to the Marshall County Clerk’s office with 1,984 signatures. Opponents gathered 1,410 signatures. Following the final tally, Marshall County Clerk Julie Fox said the votes that could not be validated were either not registered voters or property owners. It was noted that one petition carrier could not be validated. Signatures were verified by voter registration offices in both St. Joseph and Marshall County offices and by the auditors in both counties.
Plaintiffs in the case filed on July 2 allege that printed flyers in support of the project circulated during the remonstrance period contained the school corporation’s official logo and that the same logo appeared on a website. They allege that the use of the logo implied endorsement of the website and the project by the school corporation, using school corporation assets.
A portion of the filing concerns the student enrollment of the schools. The filing contains the following: “The defendant falsely informed residents and taxpayers of Union-North that student enrollment in Union-North had increased. In fact, student enrollment has declined, from 1,565 in 1987-88 to 1,333 in 2007-08.”
 Those filing also contend that information disseminated to taxpayers of the school corporation that the financial impact on them was significantly less that the actual project financial impact.