Tekoa reactivates unfit dwelling panel

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Nov 13, 20140

The city of Tekoa will reactivate its Unfit Dwelling Committee after discussion among city council members at their Oct. 27 meeting.

The former committee acted to determine which unlived-in buildings were past saving or revitalizing.

If a property was deemed unfit, an appeal process followed. If the designation stood for the building, or buildings in question, it was the responsibility of the owner to tear them down in a certain timeline. If they didn’t, the city would put a lien on the property and take on the responsibility.

When the unfit dwelling committee dissolved, due in part to what Mayor John Jaeger described as the city’s fear of not being able to afford a big tear-down project, the process remained in place.

In 2008, the committee looked at what is known as the Railroad Apartments on Railroad Avenue near city hall.

The dwelling was deemed unfit and the city posted the estimated costs to fix it. The tear-down cost would also be significant.

“That sort of stopped the committee’s work,” said Jaeger. “We didn’t know if we could afford to tear it down. Now that we know the actual cost of tearing down one of these, it’s a good time to reinstate the committee.”

A new owner for the Railroad Apartments eventually surfaced and remodeled the building into a single dwelling, for which the codes differ from an apartment complex. The main issue was a stairway unfit for apartments.

While a new committee is formed, City Councilman Roy Schulz indicated that there are no other properties the town is looking at as a potential nuisance.

“There’s not a next one up, this is not being established for that purpose,” Schulz said. “It’s not something you want to do, because it takes them off the tax rolls.”

This September, the city tore down a burned-out house on Sheridan Street. A realtor is now working to sell the land on behalf of the city.

The property had been deemed a problem through complaints to city hall.

“I don’t think the city looks to make any big profit, or any profit at all, but we’d like to get our money back,” Jaeger said. “It was an unattractive nuisance. Kids can get in there and get hurt.”

The city spent an estimated $5,000 on the teardown.

Now that Tekoa has decided to reconvene the committee, members will be appointed by the city council.

“Up until this last property we didn’t have an effective way to get rid of these,” said Schulz. “And I’m not sure we do now. But it always helps to have things looked at by a different eye than us.”