The Village of Dexter's cityhood quest remains in limbo.

With no official official notification from the director of the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, which follows a unanimous vote of the boundary commission that denied the village’s recent boundary request, the waiting game continues.

Courtney Nicholls, assistant village manager, contacted the director via email on Sept. 27, further explaining the village’s position, but there has been no response. And no official documents.

At issue is if property in an Act 425 agreement can be included in a home rule city. The village’s proposed boundaries include Gordon Hall, which is part of a 425 agreement with Webster Township. The township and the Dexter Area Historical Society own the historic home, but have objected to its inclusion in the proposed city limits. “The 425 agreement clearly states that if the village becomes a city it is responsible for paying taxes to the township for 12 years, which clearly shows that the idea of cityhood was discussed as the agreement was crafted,” the letter states.

On Sept. 29, William Beach, an attorney with Miller Canfield and a legal advisor for the Michigan Municipal League on annexation, 425 agreements and boundary commission matters, approached village officials to discuss the issue with them.

At a lunch with village officials, he called including property in a 425 agreement in a proposed city boundary “uncharted territory” and an issue that has not been in front of the boundary commission before, according information provided to the Village Council by Donna Dettling, village manager.

In the meantime, the Dexter Village Council authorized Village President Shawn Keough to set up a meeting with Webster Township to discuss the situation.

Once the village receives a signed decision from the state, Tom Ryan, the village’s special counsel, recommended that the village appeal the decision within 21 days to the Circuit Court in Ingham County, where the boundary commission hearings take place.

Then, it would be up to a judge to decide whether land in a 425 agreement can be incorporated into a new Home Rule City.

After the original village boundaries were found “legally insufficient” on April 12, 2010, the council voted to resubmit a petition and changed the boundaries to include Gordon Hall and the back half of the Mill Creek Sporting Goods store property in Scio Township so all the new city corners meet. The new boundaries square off the corner and make them contiguous.

Lisa Allmendinger is a regional reporter with AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Dexter stories, visit our Dexter page.