This week the town of Etna Green was presented an offer to purchase a highly-recognizable downtown building.
At Tuesday night’s monthly town council meeting, it was discussed how the town should move forward.
The building at 105 S. Walnut St. in Etna Green plays hosts to a large mural on the side which overloooks the town square.
Knight Wennerstrom owns the building and gave a letter to the town recently offering to sell it for $10,000 to the town.
Wennerstrom said in his letter that any tax liens on the property would be the responsibility of the buyer though he didn’t think there were any.
The council decided Tuesday night to a lien search on the property.
If at that point there are no liens on the property they then moved to have former town councilman Todd Slabaugh do a building inspection.
Slabaugh serves as Warsaw’s city building inspector.
Slabaugh stepped down from town council in early March and late last month was replaced by city employee Andy Cook.
Councilman Jim Robbins said the town wasn’t willing to overpay for a building that needed a lot of repairs.
If the building isn’t purchased by the town, it would most likely head to a tax sale.
Town attorney Jay Rigdon was asked how much the town could save by purchasing it at a tax sale rather than accepting Wennerstrom’s offer.
“It’s hard to tell in a free-market system,” said Rigdon.
The annual taxes for the building are $812.
The council talked about locating the town’s utility offices there if the town purchased the building.
In other business, Cook was sworn in by Rigdon and then named council vice president.
Clerk-Treasurer Laura Baker told the council that she did a webinar with the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns about what towns like Etna Green can do when they receive their share of $205 million found by the state recently.
Kosciusko County received $2.5 million. That will be distributed at the county level as well as to cities and towns in the county.
The council approved moving the money Etna Green receives into the town’s Rainy Day fund.
Baker told the board she learned during the webinar that towns may want to hold off on doing anything with the money until a third party audit commissioned by the state is completed.
As part of the council’s motion, it was decided to hold off on doing anything with the money until the audit was finished.
The council recognized Baker for recently earning the designation of Master Municipal Clerk.
Large trash pickup for Etna Green will be May 8 and 15. Residents are asked to have their piles out.
The town approved having a company from Bremen take care of tree trimming near electric lines.
Town employee Barry Baker said the company came recommended by Kosciusko REMC who contracts with the company.
The town will do its hydrant flushing April 24, 25 and 26.
Residents are advised the town’s tornado siren will sound the first and third Tuesday of each month around 7 p.m.
