Properties list reveal opens City Council’s eyes

Immersed in a voluminous amounts of paperwork each month, finding gold among Greencastle department reports isn’t often easy.

But that’s what Councilman Dave Murray did at February City Council meeting. Sifting through Cemetery Board minutes, water and sewer usage numbers and a batch of fire department fire runs to DePauw University, Murray came across the report of City Planner Scott Zimmerman.

“Part of his monthly report really struck me,” Murray said praising Zimmerman’s thoroughness. “From my point of view he was right on the money with these properties.”

The planner labeled them “priority properties.” And while that may sound like a real estate firm, it is anything but.

During the Mike Harmless administration, the mayor similarly created a “Dirty Dozen” list of offending properties within the city.

Zimmerman didn’t go that far but did list the following sites as priority properties with maintenance violations:

-- 703 Crown St. Confirmation with the owner that the city was scheduling a clean-up of the property prompted the owner to get the water turned on again and clean it up.

-- 10 Frazier St. Under new ownership. The owner is getting bids to have the mobile home removed as well as the trash and debris inside and out.

-- 2 Fairview St. Properly boarded up.

-- 29 Beveridge St. has passed its 15-day notice and will be boarded up as weather allows.

-- 208 W. Walnut St. Clean-up of the right of way and removal of tires have been completed after several years of trying to communicate with the property owner.

New issues, Zimmerman reported are:

-- 403 E. Hanna St, vacant and open.

-- 625 E. Washington St., inoperable vehicles and an RV on the property.

-- 850 Indianapolis Rd., inoperable vehicles and trash.

-- 209 E. Franklin St., trash and debris stored outside, inoperable vehicle.

-- 400 S. Illinois St., refrigerators behind Colonial Arms apartments.

“This is some pretty serious stuff,” Councilman Murray continued, noting that some of the properties are boarded up, while others are “open and vacant,” attracting squatters.

“And in some cases,” he added, “it’s believed they were rotating sites for drug deals.”

Murray said he drove around Greencastle to visit the sites in question and was pleased to find the owner of the Crown Street property had been diligent in his clean-up after hearing from the city. His trash toter was heaped over the top with junk.

“Thanks for getting on top of some of these situations,” Murray told Zimmerman.

Mayor Bill Dory interjected that later this year he expects to bring forward a proposal to raise permitting fees.

Greencastle has not raised its building permit fees in 23 years, the mayor said.

With construction activity at DePauw this spring and summer (residence hall, Roy O. West Library renovation and the demolition of College Street Hall for a new lot parking), Greencastle could use a second inspector to assist Patrick Thibdeaux and Zimmerman.

Murray suggested putting his $9,000 share of funds each council member has at his or her discretion toward that project .

“I tip my hat,” Murray added.

Meanwhile, Murray also questioned the mayor about the stalemate in the Putnam County Comprehensive Services (PCCS) proposal to run the aquatic center for a second year. He wondered if there was more to it than reported earlier.

“I was as surprised as (PCCS Executive Director) Andrew Ranck was quite frankly,” Dory said. “We had expected them to come in early so they could have adequate time to provide training.”

PCCS only lost $450 for the year, much of which was blamed the cost of excess personnel in the early going. PCCS expects to turn a profit this summer, which is something the Park Department had not done for several years.

The mayor said he will be talking with Park Director Rod Weinschenk, hoping to get his perspective on the tabling of a new contract agreement for the concession stand.

“Rod and his staff have more on their plate than they can handle some days already,” Murray said, “and we’ve lost a lot of money over the years, so I’m going to lobby strenuously for PCCS to be the folks in charge of that concession stand.”

Council President Mark Hammer agreed.

“They darn near broke even last year in their initial year,” Hammer said. “So I think that given another year, I would bet they turn a profit. We have not been able to do that in many years, if ever, so I agree.”