City To Briefly Acquire Condemned Property for $1

The City of Hannibal will be the middle man for a deal that will see a condemned property bought and resold for $1. According to City Manager Jeff LaGarce, the home at 505 Walnut St. is collapsing and in need of demolition. A neighbor, Joe Anderson, wishes to tear down the home and expand his yard. LaGarce says for unknown reasons, a sale between the current owner, F n A Investments, Inc . and Anderson is not possible. The city will now purchase the property for $1. It will then sell it to Anderson for $1 if approved at the August 21 council meeting.

The city council unanimously approved the deal Tuesday even though LaGarce said an unexpected snag was discovered: the current owner owes $781 in back taxes. Mayor Hark asked Public Works Superintendent Mike McHargue how much it would cost if the city demolished the property. McHargue said the city would have to build a road to get equipment in, and would spend 4 to 5 thousand dollars. Councilwoman Cogdal commented that even with the tax expense, it is a much more cost-effective way to eliminate a blighted property without having to tap into a limited demolition fund.

In other business:

Aron Lee of the Parks Department received approval to purchase a one-ton truck with dump bed and hoist for $40,113 from low bidder Poage Chrysler.

Finance Director Karen Burditt received approval to add the new $1.1 million Visitor's Center project to the Leasehold Revenue Bonds for the Riverfront project. Burditt says this is the most efficient way to finance the new tourism building. She emphasized two separate amortization schedules will be used and only tourism funds would be used to repay the Visitor's Center portion of the bonds.

Burditt also received approval to finance the purchase of 11 new police vehicles.  Clayton Holdings (Commerce Bank) offered the lowest interest rate of 2.95% plus a $250 Escrow fee. After trade-ins and $108,500 down, the balance financed would be $297,170.

A Public Hearing to set the Property Tax Levy for 2018 will be held at 6:45 p.m. August 21, at City Hall just prior to the regular council meeting..

The council approved spending  $11,375 for a Breathing Air Fill Station for Fire Department personnel.

A Public Hearing is set for Sept. 4 at 6:45 p.m. in council chambers to discuss a request to rezone property at the corner of St. Mary's Avenue and Pleasant St.  Rhonda and Wesley Knapp are seeking to rezone the property from One and Two Family to E-Commercial.  If approved,the tract would be developed for retail/ restaurant purposes.