4th Of July adds fuel to fire with Chrisman neighbors
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.
On July 6th, at the Chrisman City Council meeting, Police Chief Tom Dolan gave his report and mentioned that the house on Madison is now vacant. “They’ve been relocated to another community,” said Dolan. Mayor Danny Owen asked about the mess that was left behind. “They left that for the landlords to dispose of,” Dolan told him. Reports of the previous tenants coming back into town at night has been a topic of gossip. “We don’t know that for sure,” Dolan told the council.
Commissioner Cory Chaney said that he’s had people tell him that they’ve seen those previous tenants walking the alleys at two and three o’clock in the morning around town. “It was a week ago,” Chaney said. Dolan stated that he doesn’t think that it’s them and may be a case of mistaken identity. “We’ve investigated a couple of reports that were made, one by the owner of the house.”
On Sunday, fireworks were set off around town in celebration of July 4th, and caused a stir with some neighbors. Friendly fireworks were set off, but when a particular neighbor woke up on Monday morning, she discovered debris on her car as well as the roof of her house. This gave her the suspicion that her neighbors’ fireworks were being aimed at her residence. Dolan picked up some of the debris, including burnt cardboard tubes under her car. He checked the city ordinances concerning fireworks, but came up with nothing.
“I don’t think we have an ordinance for fireworks beyond the state,” Mayor Owen said. Dolan suggested to the woman to maybe have the neighbor’s kids, who were setting off the fireworks come clean up. “She said she didn’t want to rock the boat any further and create an issue that was ongoing between the two households. I told her that we would get her car cleaned up and if any damage was done, we could get a report for her insurance,” Dolan said.
Chief Dolan said that in this case, the neighbor letting off the fireworks had a very pristine yard and it was the other’s property that was littered. “It just wasn’t really the most neighborly thing to do,” he said.
Dolan suggested maybe coming up with guidelines to publish for next year’s celebration – of hours that fireworks can be let off and that all debris to be picked up.
“I have pictures, it was a mess. I wouldn’t have wanted to be that house. They didn’t take care of her and pointed everything at her,” Dolan said.
In other matters, Commissioner Wolfe stated that he was still currently waiting to hear back from the insurance company about the water project. At last month’s meeting, the railroad wanted to raise the coverage to ten million dollars, which could cause the city’s payment to go up substantially. “If we get that, it’s probably going to cost us five to ten thousand dollars more from now until forever,” Commissioner Wolfe said.
Commissioner Crispin gave the update that the pavilion in Centennial Park was now complete. The project finished close to budget for a total of $108,980. The city will then get reimbursed for what is left over on the grant after they cut a check. “I think we have maybe $6,000 left. I don’t know right off the top of my head,” Crispin said.
A decision needs to be made on the issue of buying the property south of the railroad. When Commissioner Wolfe spoke to the engineer that morning, he said to wait on the railroad to see if they would give the city a forgiveness on the insurance. Wolfe told the council that the railroad was not interested in that. “We’re at a total standstill right now. I’m not doing anything,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe told the engineer that an eighteen inch sleeve was already under the railroad and asked if it was possible to take that sleeve out and just put two pipes in its place. The other possibility is to write off the concrete that was just spent and buy the property on the south side of the tracks. “I know it’s a tough decision. I’d like to find out about this eighteen inch sleeve. We’ve already got the concrete and the building sitting there and we wouldn’t be out the money,” Wolfe said.
Opening for the bids on the tar and chip project will be accepted started July 15th. Commissioner Crispin is still waiting for the engineer to come down to take a look at the culvert pile on Washington street by the nursing home. Crispin also turned in an application for a grant from the Edgar County Community Foundation. With not meeting this month, they will find out next month.
Commissioner Wolfe mentioned that they city needed to keep up with the letters to property owners that would have sixty days to report back on with what they would be doing with their abandoned property. Those in question would be the Arrasmith and Hoult vacant properties.
Chrisman resident Amber Martinez was in attendance and offered to help clean up behind the Chrisman Public Library. Martinez and her husband, would clean out the weeds and clutter to make the gardens look better. The city gave the couple the go ahead, but made sure they saved some flowers. “That would be great,” Mayor Owen told her. “But make sure to save the hollyhocks.”
