Marseilles council to continue negotiations for IV Cellular building

The Marseilles City Council approved by a 3-2 vote to allow Mayor Jim Hollenbeck and Commissioner Bobby Kaminski to negotiate with the owners of the Illinois Valley Cellular building for its purchase, with an eye on possibly moving the City Hall and police department there.

The city of Marseilles has been quoted a price of $1.45 million for the 27,000-square-foot building and the 6.4 acres of property at 200 Riverfront Drive. The property has been appraised for $1.6 million.

Hollenbeck told the standing-room only crowd during Wednesday’s City Council meeting the city had been trying to figure out a way to make the existing City Hall fit its needs, make it Americans with Disabilities Act compliant and reconfigure heating and the dozen electrical panels in the building, however, commissioners found “there’s no good way to make it work,” the mayor said, at least at a cost effective way.

The $1.45 millions works out to $53 a square foot for the 24-year-old IV Cellular structure, while a renovation to the 100-year-oldCity Hall would cost up to $514,000, or $120 per square foot. An appraisal of the current City Hall should be completed next week.

When asked by an audience member if he would consider putting the purchase on a referendum, Hollenbeck said no. Hollenbeck said he didn’t know if the city would be interested in renting unneeded space to offset costs.

“There are a lot of possibilities,” he said.

One fan of the purchase was Jeff Hettrick, president of the Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce, who said that “it is a great opportunity for Marseilles” to take control of the riverfront and make the community even more attractive to potential residents and businesses.

Hollenbeck, Kaminski and Melissa Small voted in favor of the continued negotiations.

Voting against the item were commissioners Mike Scheib and Jim Buckingham, with the former saying his conversations with citizens showed them divided 50-50 on the purchase, which showed him there needed to be a more detailed study.

Buckingham said his no vote was inspired by a lack of transparency in the council’s dealing with the subject.

At the last City Council meeting on Aug. 2, Buckingham voted no on the motion to adjourn, feeling the topic should be discussed then. He also believed the resulting 2-2 tie vote meant the adjournment failed, so he was not present at the council’s closed session the following morning, when presumably the purchase was discussed. Matters involving real estate purchases may be discussed in closed session, according to state law, however, there is no exemption from the city sharing what it discussed. No action was taken following that session.

“Where’s the transparency? I, as a commissioner, going on 24 years now, and it’s pretty bad when you have to read an article in the newspaper to find out what’s going on,” Buckingham said. “I’m not saying that (the purchase) is a bad idea. I’d just like to know where the money is going to come from. I haven’t seen anything in writing yet. There needs to be better communication with this council.”

In other action, the council:

Approved a special events permit request for the Blast From The Past Car Show scheduled Sunday, Oct. 1, at the Terry Bentz car lot on State Street.

Appointed Angela Paxton to the Marseilles Recreation Board.

Adopted a zoning map amendment for the property of Immanuel Lutheran Church and Pleasant View Lutheran Home, land that was annexed into the city two months ago.