During a relatively brief, occasionally contentious, meeting Monday night, members of the Benld City Council agreed to rent city park facilities to a pair of community boosters for a series of farmers market events from May through October but rejected the sole bid for the purchase of a vacant lot in the 300 block of East Central Avenue, formerly occupied by a bank building.

Candi Katchmar initially asked to rent the Civic Center for a Market Days program on which she and Tina Olroyd are partnering. Some council members appeared reluctant to approve the request, however, and asked for an executive session to discuss legal implications and other legal issues. Upon returning to open session, Ald. Dustin Fletcher asked Katchmar if she and Olroyd would accept the city park as a location.

Before entering executive session, Ald. Jerry Saracco asked Katchmar why the pair wanted the Civic Center as opposed to the park. Katchmar said she and Olroyd believed the air-conditioned venue with handicapped access and accessible restrooms would be more amenable, especially for older residents. According to a handout provided by Katchmar the Market Day events would be held from 4 to 7 p.m. on May 11, June 8, July 13, Aug. 17, Sept. 14 and Oct. 12. She said eight vendors have already committed to bringing products to the market.

Both Olroyd and Katchmar carry general liability insurance policies that would cover the event. They will pay the rental fee for the park but, for at least the first year, they do not plan to charge vendors for participating. For the most part, vendors will offer farmer’s market items such as fresh fruits and vegetables, but the Market Days also will feature products offered by cottage food operators, plus locally made non-food items. No food will be served for consumption on site.

Upon returning to open session from a 15-minute closed-door meeting, Ald. Fletcher asked Derek Tiburzi of the Macoupin County Public Health Department whether or not Tiburzi saw any potential issue with an insect infestation stemming from an indoor farmers market. Tiburzi said most farmers markets are held outdoors, in part because of concerns about insect pests being carried in with produce. “I’ve never inspected an indoor farmers market,” he said.

“Would you be okay going to the park?” Fletcher asked Katchmar.

“I think that’s fine,” said Katchmar. “My mission is to bring some good food choices closer to home.”

A motion to allow Katchmar and Olroyd to rent the park for Market Days events was approved with Ald. Mickey Robinson voting “no.”

PROPERTY BID REJECTED

After a sometimes heated discussion, the council rejected a bid from Benld resident Peyton Bernot for the purchase of a vacant lot at 301 East Central Avenue. The lot was acquired by the city after the former bank building located on the site was declared a public nuisance and was razed at the city’s expense. No bids were received after the city initially solicited bids to dispose of the property. The original notice, however, contained an error in that the address was incorrect, although the notice correctly identified the lot as the location of the former bank building. City Attorney Rick Verticchio agreed to pay for a corrected notice, after which a single bid was received from Bernot.

Bernot reportedly submitted a bid of $1,001 on Friday, but submitted an “amended” bid on Monday. The amended bid increased Bernot’s offer to $1,300 but included a provision requiring the city to redeem delinquent property taxes against the parcel.

Bernot told the council Monday night he was unaware of the tax lien when he submitted his bid on Friday. Over the weekend, he said he discovered that $1,024.18 in back taxes is owed on the property. The property, in fact, has been purchased for back taxes by a tax buyer and a hearing to award the deed has already been scheduled. The last day to redeem the property, according to Bernot, is June 30.

“I could buy the property directly from the tax buyer,” Bernot said, “but it’s not my intention to undercut the city.”

An agitated Verticchio suggested the normal process would be for the buyer to assume responsibility for the back taxes. With the provision requiring the city to redeem the taxes, Verticchio said Bernot’s bid amounted to about $200. 

“This doesn’t need to be adversarial,” Bernot said. He said he had spoken to most of the city aldermen about his bid, and he added he was aware of the city’s desire that the buyer erect a permanent building on the site. 

Verticchio advised the aldermen that the city was not obligated to sell the property at all. “You can decide to keep it if you want,” he said.

Initially, Ald. John Balzraine moved to reject Bernot’s bid.

“You can’t do that,” Verticchio advised, adding the council only make a motion to accept the bid and then voted it down if that was the consensus of the council.

“It’s this simple,” said Mayor Jim Kelly, rapping his gavel to restore order. “You can either accept the bid or you don’t. I don’t want to sit up here all night and argue about it.”

A motion to accept Bernot’s bid was then brought to the floor and failed to pass.

Council members again became agitated when the discussion turned to declaring a couple of properties as public nuisances. Ald. Balzraine reported that property owned by Jason Moore and Whitney DeMartini at 407 and 409 North Fourth Street had been the focus of neighborhood complaints. He said junk had been allowed to accumulate at the 407 address and that a derelict home in need of demolition was located at 409.

Ald. Jim Tilashalski voiced an objection, however, seemingly focusing on a piecemeal approach to identifying nuisance properties.

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“Believe me, there are places in this community that are in worse shape,” Tilashalski said. He suggested identifying properties throughout the city that need to be addressed in lieu of targeting one or two properties at a time.

“What do you want us to do?” Ald. Saracco asked. “John and I seem to be the only ones bringing these things to the council. I’m just trying to get things cleaned up.”

Balzraine pointed out the properties were in his ward and that a complaint about them had been brought to him. “If you want to do things a different way, where have you been?” Balzraine wanted to know.

Tilashalski replied that he had brought nuisance property complaints in the past.

Brought to a vote, a motion to declare 407 and 409 North Fourth Street as public nuisances was approved.

Earlier in the meeting, the council also approved a motion by Ald. Saracco to send a 30-day notice to the owner of 409 East Central Avenue demanding that she replace or board up plate glass windows in the front of the building. The owner previously complied with a demand to replace the roof, but Saracco said he recently noticed two fist-sized holes in the windows. “I’m concerned that with the wind we’ve had, those windows could shatter and hurt someone,” he said.

DITCH REPAIR

Council members promised Ann Lotter that the Public Works Department would look into the situation with a ditch in front of her house to see what could be done to correct the deficiency. Lotter told the council the ditch was reconfigured after a mine subsidence event and now is too steep and too narrow to safely mow. Additionally, she said a car recently drove into the ditch and could not back out of it. 

Lotter brought pictures of the ditch and the car.

“I don’t want this to happen again,” she said.

REPUBLIC CONTRACT

Verticchio said the new contract with Republic Sanitation has been finalized and is ready to sign, effective April 1.

City Clerk Terri Koyne clarified that the pick-up dates for trash in Benld will remain the same. She said some residents were confused by a notice sent out by Republic stating the pick-up dates were being “changed” to Tuesday. “It’s always been on Tuesday,” she said, reiterating that residents will see no change in the pick-up dates.

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