City Council Discusses Program To Combat Nuisance Property

A new program to rid Neligh of nuisance properties was discussed at Tuesday night's meeting of the Neligh City Council. 

The program would allow owners who have nuisance properties to sign the title over to the City for demolition.  

City Clerk Dana Klabenes said the City would pay the cost of demolition and then be able to resell the property or use for city purposes such as parking lots in the downtown area. 

"It might be in instances where they're too close to another building, so a controlled burn is not an option, they just don't have enough space for that barrier." Klabenes said, "Then funding is generally a predicament, they don't have enough money to pay for demotion costs."

"They continue to pay taxes and don't have a use for the property, " Mayor Joe Hartz said. 
​
It was discussed that the demolition of some properties would cost more than the resale value would be, but the city did not want to turn a profit on these properties, but to at least try to break even. 

The agenda item was tabled, but the Building and Grounds committee will meet with City Attorney Jim McNally  to discuss possible policies and guidelines for the program. 

Also at the meeting, the city council made a motion to make a legal notice of sale for city property on 906 P Street.