Council offers to buy collapsed building

By Andy Hallman

The JOURNAL

The Washington City Council will offer to buy the building  at 207 South Marion Avenue ? formerly home to ?Tienda Mexicana La Cruz? ? for $12,300, the current assessed value of the property, from owners Alfonso and Julia Raymundo.

The vote was approved 4-1 at the council meeting Wednesday with council members Merle Hagie, Fred Stark, Karen Wilson-Johnson and Bob Shepherd voting yes while Mike Roth cast a no vote. Russ Zieglowsky was absent from the meeting.

City Administrator David Plyman said that the building is in a bad state of repair and that it had previously collapsed. He said that by purchasing the property, the council is accelerating the process by which the land can be redeveloped.

The Raymundos received a judgment of $235,000 from the insurance company. After all fees were paid, the Raymundos received a balance of $5,700.  

The council granted the police department permission to purchase a new squad car. The police department will purchase a Police Package Ford Crown Victoria from Gretter Autoland Inc. in Washington for $23,295.

Washington Police Chief Greg Goodman was in attendance to make the official request for purchase. Goodman also fielded questions from the council concerning the armed robbery of West Chester Bank on Monday afternoon.

Goodman told the council, ?The officers did a great job and the employees of the bank did a great job. We try to spend time with bankers every year training them in how to act if those situations should ever arise.?

Mayor Sandra Johnson asked Goodman about the recent up-tick in vandalism the city has seen and how to confront it. Goodman acknowledged that the city has experienced an increase in car and garage burglaries of late.

?It is important to lock your houses, your garages and your cars,? advised Goodman.

Goodman also commented that it?s a good idea for residents to keep their eyes peeled for the people who perpetrate those crimes.

Grass height limitations

The council approved the first reading of an ordinance which would streamline the enforcement of limits on the height of grass in the city. The new ordinance would issue the property owners not in compliance just one notice instead of two before the city takes action to abate the nuisance.

Roth remarked that Building Official Jason Geyer has had a difficult time keeping in check all the overgrown lawns in town.

?Our zoning officials have better things to do than chase down these property owners,? said Roth. ?I?ve talked to Jason and he said that tracking these people down is the biggest problem he?s run into. This ordinance will speed up the process quite a bit.?

For the full story, see the Oct. 8 edition of The Washington Evening Journal