LAHARPE — The remnants of three local demolition projects took center stage Wednesday at the monthly LaHarpe City Council meeting.
Mayor Harry Lee Jr. opened the meeting by listing the pillars for his vision of the community, including cooperation, safety and affordability.
The fourth, clean-up, came at a time when residents have complained about an ongoing demolition project in the 900 block of Main Street.
Owners began demolition weeks ago, but with little activity over the past month, a half-demolished house remains.
With portions of walls missing, and broken boards and windows scattered about, the property is both a nuisance and health hazard, Lee said.
City Clerk Michelle Altis said the case is going through the LaHarpe Municipal Court process, a necessary step prior to condemnation, which would allow the city to clean up the property on its own. The costs would then go on the landowner’s property tax bill.
Not far away, a mobile home at the intersection of 10th and Main streets had also been removed recently, but piles of debris remain, Council members noticed.
And another block away from there, cleanup from a garage fire also left debris behind, with little improvement over the past several weeks.
Lee said he would speak with Penny Miller, the city’s code enforcement officer, to determine the status of the latter two properties.
In a related matter, Altis reminded the audience that the city has a dump truck locals can reserve on weekends.
The city parks the truck at the end of the business day Friday, leaving property owners all weekend to load it with whatever riffraff they need removed.
The one stipulation, Altis noted, is that household trash cannot be mixed with brush, in accordance with rules set out by the Allen County Landfill. If necessary, the city will allow residents to use the truck on multiple weekends so the items can be loaded separately.
Residents also cannot discard hazardous materials with the dump truck.
A PLETHORA of equipment repair work orders doesn’t sit well with Councilman Scott Kroenke.
“I’ve got a lot of heartburn on all of these equipment issues at the same time,” Kroenke said. “I’m going through a lot of maintenance that should not be getting to this level.”
Kroenke said more proactive maintenance would prevent more costly repairs. “That’s the assumption I’m receiving after looking at this laundry list of what it takes to fix something,” he said.
