Council OKs purchase of downtown buildings

In less than 25 minutes, St. Mary City Councilors read seven new pieces of legislation, passing them all as emergency measures.

Three had to do with the purchase of property. During the Feb. 22 council meeting, members voted to purchase some 147-plus acres of land on Shipman Road — the Doseck property — at a cost of almost $2.5 million. Monday, council members authorized an ordinance to provide for the issuance and sale of bonds to pay for the land.

Safety Service Director Greg Foxhoven explained the city will borrow money from itself — from the electric and solid waste funds — to pay for the property adjacent to Memorial High School just north of the city limits. Once the property is purchased it will be annexed to the city.

While nothing is definite, the south parcels may be made available for the school district to purchase, while the north parcels have been considered for housing developments.

The internal borrowing was made possible when council members passed a resolution that revised the city’s investment and deposit policy.

Council also OK’d the purchase of three downtown buildings, currently owned by Kalvin Schanz. The Palm and Murphy buildings will be torn down to allow for the construction of a new municipal building; the Spicer

building is also slated for demolition. Council members agreed to the $325,000 price tag for the three structures.

Also on Monday, councilors agreed to take on the maintenance for the Kaufman open ditch, most of which is located within the city limits, including the Rolling Hills subdivision. Foxhoven said he’d been talking with the Auglaize County engineer’s staff members and said the city is better suited to care for the ditch.

“We’d like to be responsible for it,” he said, adding the maintenance costs assessed to property owners along the ditch would be transferred to the city, but he cautioned, “We’re not talking about a lot of money here.”

Bids are due by March 18 for the city’s annual street program. Foxhoven said the 2021 projects include Kingsbury Drive at an estimated cost of $149,000 and resurfacing of five streets estimated at $611,200.

In addition, council: * Approved the resolution that allows the city to accept local government tax dollars once they are released. More than $200,000 was the city’s share in 2020; 2021 figures were not available;

* Confirmed the appointment of Craig Moeller as representative to, and Mary Ruck as alternate to the District 13 Integrating Committee for Issues I Capital Improvement Plan; the action gives the county a seat at the table when projects are discussed.

Following an executive session called to discussed personnel compensation, council adjourned having taken no further action.