Roachdale council puts house clean-up on hold

ROACHDALE ---- Roachdale has been working on trying to get homeowners to either fix up dilapidated buildings or have them demolished.

At Tuesday's town council meeting the council decided to hold off on that project and several others.

The council decided the clean-up of those homes is to be put on hold until warmer weather in May when more people are able to work on their properties. This decision came to light after discussing the ongoing case of Sheila Williams.

Williams owns a home in Roachdale that needs to be demolished. At the January meeting she came to the council saying she had no money to tear her house down and did not have the money to pay the fine that the council had put on all properties that had been identified.

Williams appeared again this month and told the council that her family would be tearing the house down in the warmer months.

Council member Zach Bowers was hesitant about giving Williams the extra time and reminded her that this problem had been going on for six months.

"You're a bunch of bullies," one audience member said." Can't you show any kind of compassion?"

"What about any kind of responsibility?" Bowers responded to the community members present.

Community members started volunteering services from manual labor to finding a dumpster to help Williams with the demolition of the house.

This sense of community was an underlying theme to the meeting.

Resident Tammy Folk expressed an interest in redoing the park that is in town. She told the council that the park equipment itself was out of date and that the park was not up to code.

Finding grants and partners to help in the rebuilding cost, an estimated $10,000, is Folk's focus at the moment. Bowers applauded the effort Folk put forth to start the project, but was hesitant about putting town funds into it. Jack Jones shared that hesitation.

The council asked Folk to come up with a plan to be presented at the next meeting.

Joe Buser of the Roachdale Revitalization Cooperative Alliance was present at the meeting and told Folk to contact the group so that they may help her in the park endeavor. Buser was also there to talk to the town about zoning.

The RRCA is looking to help revitalize Roachdale and make it "not like every small town in the Midwest." Buser and the RRCA believe that zoning will help the community and will be doing a presentation at the March 12 town council meeting.

In other business Tuesday night:

-- The council created the Storm Water Board to oversee the $3 storm water fee. This fee is to help if future grants are ever sought.

-- Bowers suggested the formation of an employee handbook for the town to help cover Roachdale and its employees.

-- Holly Cook told the council of her acquisition of the Majors' property on Indiana Street and requested that the board not send any more letters to the Majors.

Roachdale will hold its next town council meeting on Tuesday, March 12 at 6 p.m.