FARMER CITY – A DeWitt Circuit Court judge granted the City of Farmer City a judicial deed to a downtown property on Wednesday upon which an abandoned building currently sits.

The city started the year trying to obtain the deed in an attempt to take over the property because the building, located at 211 S. Main St., has been decaying since its last known owners abandoned it nearly a decade ago.

All that is left to be done is for DeWitt County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Peters to sign the deed formally. That is scheduled to take place in a brief session in Judge Peters’ courtroom on April 25.

Granting the judicial deed for the property removes the rights of the property’s last owner, who abandoned the property, and would allow the city to own the property without there being a lien placed on it.

Peters’ had ruled in February for the city to continue trying to make contact with the building’s last known owner, Basri “Boz” Emini.

Joswiak said the city tried repeatedly through contact with a number of legal entities – including the international police agency Interpol and the U. S. Immigration Service – to find Emini and his wife, Sevda Keyifli, who abruptly left town in 1998 and have not been seen since.

Joswiak said Emini had hoped to but never did open a planned restaurant in the building, which saw, among other things, a crafts shop and a TV & Appliance repair shop occupy it during the structure’s existence before Emini owned it.

Joswiak said the city, by having no business operating in the building for almost nine years, has meant the area’s taxing bodies have lost $3,000 in tax revenue, as well, during that period.

Joswiak estimates the building is between 80 and 100 years old.

Although he could not give an exact date, Joswiak said the building, located in the middle of the city’s long two-block downtown business district. was damaged by fire “sometime in 1996 or 1997.”

Joswiak said the city plans to demolish the structure, which has walls and a roof that are both decaying from a combination of age and not being tended to. That has meant the city has had to step in with some repairs.

The city has already had to spend money to put plywood sheets on the roof of an adjacent building being used to by a local antique dealer to keep the decay of the vacant building from spreading to its currently-used neighbor.

Joswiak said the city has spent between $1,500-$2,000 in legal fees as a result of trying to get the matter resolved.

Last month, Peters ordered the city to put an ad in local newspapers as part of a final push to give the couple a last chance to claim the property. No one inquired.

“The party never came forward to state their case,” Joswiak said.

“We want to put together a plan for tearing down the building that will not negatively impact the adjacent buildings,” Joswiak said.

Steve Barrow, owner of Steve’s Antique Center, 213 S. Main St., also owns the buildings which house businesses at 205, 207, 209, and 213 S. Main St. Included in that group of buildings is Chef’s Kitchen restaurant, at 209 S. Main, operated by Sue Shaffer. The eatery just opened last October.

Joswiak said the city wants to develop a plan for tearing down the abandoned property but said that plan “must not have a negative impact on the adjacent buildings.”

If the demolition costs are found to be $2,000 or more, Joswiak said, by State Law, a bidding process to award the demolition job to a contractor must be used by the city.

FARMER CITY – The city council of Farmer City voted unanimously at its regular session Monday to the amending an intergovernmental agreement which allows municipalities in the state to help each other in emergencies.

City Manager David Joswiak said council members voted unanimously to approve the city’s Mutual Aid Agreement with the Illinois Municipal Utilities Association.

Farmer City work crews received assistance from crews from Rantoul and Princeton in December following the winter season’s first ice storm, which downed wires and caused parts of town to lose power.

Joswiak said it was discovered after the storms that parts of the agreement required evaluation, particularly in the area of liability issues when one community’s workers assist another.

Joswiak said the agreement, as now amended by IMUA, updates how communities receiving assistance should handle liability issues for those from other communities who provided help.

Joswiak said before the amendment was approved by IMUA, “questions of liability were unresolved between communities because (the communities) did not spell out the liability responsibilities in the earlier versions of the agreement.

“But this agreement does that,” he said.

Further, Joswiak said the agreement “improves matters between communities, but issues concerning being reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (for these kinds of situations) still need to be resolved.”

Joswiak said “several hundred” communities in the state belong to IMUA.

FARMER CITY – An owner of other buildings surrounding an abandoned building in downtown Farmer City said he hopes a DeWitt County Circuit Court judge will, on Wednesday, approve a judicial deed which will give the city permission to tear down the abandoned building that stands between his business and the other buildings he owns on that block.

Were the judge to grant the judicial deed for the property, that would remove the rights of the property’s last owner, who abandoned the property, located at 211 S. Main St., and would allow the city to own the property without there being a lien placed on it.

Once the city is granted the deed, it plans to demolish the building due to numerous problems associated with it.

But, at a hearing last month, instead of granting the deed to the city, DeWitt County Circuit Court Judge Stephen H. Peters ordered the city to continue searching for the building’s owners, Basri “Boz” Emini and Emini’s wife, Sevda Keyifli.

Steve Barrow, owner of Steve’s Antique Center, 213 S. Main St., said he hopes that, following the scheduled Wednesday hearing in Clinton, Judge Peters will approve the city’s request to obtain the deed and then, see the city demolish the building.

In addition to being proprietor of a restaurant that Emini proposed putting in that building, Barrow said Keyifli owned the building, and Emini owned legal title to the vacant lot next to the restaurant when the couple left town in 1998.

But since Emini and Keyifli’s departure, the structure has been and is in disrepair. The building’s walls and roof have both steadily decayed from a combination of age and not being tended to. That has meant the city has had to step in with some repairs.

The city has already had to spend money to put plywood sheets on the roof of Barrow’s shop adjacent to the collapsing building to keep the decay of the vacant building from spreading to his shop.

Further, Barrow said the abandoned property has become both a hazard to local residents and a hangout for local teens late at night. He said the city cut down on that with barricades at the back of the building. But still, Barrow said, demolishing it would resolve those problems entirely.

In addition to his shop, Barrow also owns the buildings which house businesses at 205, 207, 209, and 213 S. Main St. Included in that group of buildings is Chef’s Kitchen restaurant, at 209 S. Main, operated by Sue Shaffer. The eatery just opened last October.

Since Emini and Keyifli left town almost a decade ago, the property has not been used, deteriorating with every passing year.

In addition to paying for repairs, Joswiak said, the city has spent between $1,000-$1,500 in legal fees as a result of trying to get the matter resolved, which has included trying to find the couple per Judge Peters’ orders.

By the restaurant’s not being in operation for almost nine years, that has also meant the area’s taxing bodies have lost $3,000 in tax revenue, as well, during the same nine-year period.

FARMER CITY – Although the Farmer City city council had a feasibility study done earlier this month to determine if a recently vacated building would be suitable as a new city hall, the council voted Monday to take no further action for such a project.

But at Monday night’s regular council session, the council voted unanimously to defeat a resolution asking a local architect firm to do more detailed work related to how the city could possibly make future use the building.

The multi-building structure that was consideration for City Hall’s new home is on N. Main St., one block from the current City Hall. It sits on S. Main St. and was home to Central Illinois Ag, an Atlanta, Ill.-based farm implement dealer, moved from the N. Main St. location in December to Mansfield. The compound of buildings has been vacant since.

In their last regular session two weeks ago, council members heard from Dave Leonatti, an architect with the Springfield-based firm of Melotte, Morse, and Leonatti, who the city retained to look into the current condition of the building.

The city paid the architectural firm $3,775 for the work on which they presented earlier this month – money that came out of the city’s general fund. Had the council approved further research by the architects, it would have cost the city $6,220.

“The council still hasn’t decided if it’s in the best interest of the city to move forward with the purchase of the building,” said City Manager David Joswiak. Therefore, (the council wants) to hold off until they look at some other options.”

Joswiak said that, while the Central Illinois Ag facility “is not out of the picture” as a prospective site for the new city hall, “the council just wants to take a look at options other than to purchase the Central Illinois Ag facility.”

Among the other options, Joswiak said, would be to either build an entirely new facility, or to build on either property the city would need to acquire or already owns.

“We just haven’t flushed all that out yet,” Joswiak said.

He said he plans to tour a new government facility in which was just built in Bement, south of Monticello.

A public comment on the subject came from council seat candidate Tom McNutt. McNutt asked the council whether the Farmer City/DeWitt County Fairgrounds was being considered as a possible site being considered.

There is continued negotiations about the use of the fairgrounds property for commercial use because the lease between the city and Fair’s management expires in November of 2009.

In light of the contract expiring in almost two full years, Joswiak said it is a distant option.

Joswiak said there is no timetable set for having a new city hall up and running.

Joswiak said that any sort of deadline concerning a new municipal building is “self-imposed. (We know that) what we have right now is inadequate and we know we have to do something.

“It’s a matter of deciding what that something is and what is the best way to move forward,” Joswiak said.

Thanks to a unanimous vote by the council, the town will apply for a government grant to help recoup part of the cost of manpower used by the city during the ice storm which hit the state Dec. 1.

City Manager David Joswiak said the city can apply to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency to receive funds which would reimburse the town in part for the labor of city workers during the storm just after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Monday, Joswiak informed council members that the city will apply for what is called a “sub-grant” from IEMA, who will receive the funds from the federal FEMA.

Joswiak said the city hopes to receive “$70,000 in eligible costs, and we could or should get 75 percent of that.”

Joswiak said the money, when received, would go to pay the city for manpower used to restore downed power lines and the replacement of some power poles damaged in the storm.

Diesel Fuel Purchase: The council voted unanimously to spend nearly $15,000 to purchase 7,500 gallons of diesel fuel from Bloomington-based Evergreen FS, Inc.

The total of the bill for the fuel was $14,765.53. That works out to roughly $1.96 a gallon plus an environmental tax.

FARMER CITY – A Springfield-based architect gave his assessment of the condition of a multi-use building Farmer City officials would like to consider for a new city hall.

Finding a new home where city government can do its business was on the council docket at the group’s meeting Monday night at City Hall.

The multi-building structure being considered for City Hall’s new home is on N. Main St., one block from the current City Hall, which sits on S. Main St. Central Illinois Ag, an Atlanta, Ill.-based farm implement dealer, moved from the N. Main St. location in December, relocating to Mansfield. The compound of buildings has been vacant since.

Council members heard from Dave Leonatti, an architect with the Springfield-based firm of Melotte, Morse, and Leonatti, who the city retained to look into the current condition of the building.

“We think the building is in good shape,” Leonatti told the council during its open session before the group adjourned to executive session to discuss the matter further Monday night.

Leonatti said the next step as to how the city proceeds on the matter will be determined by the city council.

City Manager David Joswiak said Tuesday the council took no action in executive session. He said the council wants to look at other factors which could come into play for reconfiguring a building which has been standing and had many uses since the late 1940s.

“(The city wants) to look at other (concerns),” Joswiak said Tuesday. He said those concerns include the cost of remodeling the building, the possibility of paying to have a new roof put on the building, and the costs concerning heating, cooling, and plumbing.

Because the Central Illinois Ag facility consists of seven separate buildings, not all of the buildings were constructed at the same time. Joswiak said that, depending on which part of the building you are talking about, structures at the facility range in age from 30 years to 100 years old.

“There’s not a rush to move here,” Joswiak said. He said City Hall has no urgency to move. He said the council “is still formulating its decision…trying to decide whether to pursue this.”

Ice Storm Re-Imbursement: In his regular report to the council before they adjourned to executive session, Joswiak said Gov. Rod Blagojevich has sent to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for federal disaster relief for Farmer City to repair damage resulting from an ice storm that hit the state Dec. 1.

Joswiak said the city would receive “somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 percent of $10,000” to help the city offset expenses the city spent cleaning up after the storm.

The $7,500 would go to repay the city’s sewer fund and general fund.

In Other Council Business…: By a unanimous 5-0 vote, the city council of Farmer City voted to pass a resolution authorizing spending proceeds gained from its hotel/motel tax to help promote tourism.