City commissioners tired of waiting for cleanup at Pallets Plus
By Joey Berlin
Originally published 01:23 p.m., May 8, 2008
Updated 01:23 p.m., May 8, 2008
More than four months after an arson fire gutted the Emporia Pallets Plus building on U.S. Highway 99, the building still hasn’t been cleaned up. It’s been deemed an eyesore, and the city plans to pressure the owners to do something about it.
Commissioner Julie Johnson brought up Pallets Plus at the end of the city commission’s action meeting Wednesday in the city commission/municipal court room. An attendee at an Eggs & Issues forum involving city commissioners a few weeks ago brought up the unattractiveness of the building, and Johnson said she then received numerous phone calls from residents in the area about Pallets Plus.
“Matt (Zimmerman) and I talked to Commissioner (Bob) Davis with the county commission last week to get a feeling of their support for taking some action, and he was very agreeable to that,” Johnson said. “... I think it’s important to let people know that we are following through on this, and hopefully soon we’ll get that eyesore cleaned up.”
Zimmerman, the city manager, said the first step will be to attempt to get Pallets Plus’ owners to clean it up by themselves. The city enforces county regulations within the metropolitan planning area. Pallets Plus, while outside city limits, is in the metro planning area.
“But in the end, we still need permission from the county to enforce it on any given issue, and we anticipate there may be some out-of-pocket expenses, and we know that the county’s going to bear those costs, because that would be appropriate,” Zimmerman said. “Once we met with Commissioner Davis, he was very enthusiastically asking us to go ahead and proceed. We will be meeting on Friday.”
If the owners of Pallets Plus don’t arrange for the cleanup, he said, several enforcement actions can be taken.
“Part of the reason we needed to talk to Commissioner Davis is, in the end it could go so far as condemnation and removal of it through city contracts, obviously to be paid by the county,” Zimmerman said. “And that’s why we wanted to make sure that the county was aware of this. We’ll keep them in the loop as things go.”
Pallets Plus, which manufactures and recycles wooden pallets, caught fire on the evening of Dec. 26, and the fire department subsequently determined the fire to be an act of arson. No arrests have been made. Emporia Pallets Plus is now operating at 1771 Road G.
Following the half-hour meeting, commissioners and city staff moved to the city conference room to discuss the first draft of the city’s compensation plan. They planned to do so for about two hours.
Commissioner Kevin Nelson was absent from Wednesday’s meeting.
In action taken Wednesday, commissioners:
• Awarded a storm sewer relocation project for Norfolk Iron and Metal to J&S Excavating & Trucking for $41,757.50. The sewer needs to be relocated 90 feet to the east because of city agreements with Norfolk and Renewable Energy Group, who is constructing a biodiesel plant in the area. Construction is currently on hold.
• Approved the transfer of land to Lenze Corporation as part of a 1996 lease agreement that financed the construction of Lenze’s manufacturing facility in the Industrial Park. Under the agreement, the city had leased the property to Lenze until it could make bond payments to the city.
• Authorized Mayor Bob Agler to sign a proclamation, on behalf of Emporia Main Street, declaring May as National Historic Preservation Month.
• Authorized Agler to present a certificate of achievement to the city’s accounting staff from the Government Finance Officers Association for 2006. City accounting staff has been awarded the GFOA achievement award for 22 years in a row.
• Accepted an emergency shelter grant from the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation totaling $18,474.
• Approved a $1,500 payment to SOS from the city’s court diversion fund to use for domestic violence prevention.
• Approved a resolution adopting updates to the city’s solid waste management plan.
• Tabled for two weeks the filling of two vacancies on the Human Relations Commission. Commissioner Jim Kessler said more people had gotten interested in applying for those positions following a recent radio discussion about the HRC, and he felt more time would allow a broader choice of applicants.
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