A request by the Le Sueur County Historical Society to release a portion of special funds and use them for a separate project was denied last Tuesday by the Le Sueur County Board of Commissioners.

Clarence Mager, newly-elected president of the Le Sueur County Historical Society, requested the release of funds set aside for maintenance of historical buildings to pay for tuckpointing work that was done at the Ottawa Stone Church.

Commissioner Cliff Wetzel said the Historical Society moved forward with the $33,700 tuckpointing work without knowing if the funds would be available to them. Chairman John Grimm said the board cannot move forward until the society resolves several issues of conflict within the group.

Earlier this year, the commissioners voted to withhold funds from the Historical Society and to not recognize the group until two factions of the group can resolve several issues and come back together as one.

The Le Sueur County Historical Society has not been assigned funding on the county budget for 2012. Mager said the group will be seeking funding from outside areas.