Council Debates Future Of Properties On Highway N

The Bourbon City Council on Dec. 20 debated the future of properties on Highway N.

It is not the first time council members have discussed the properties, which were owned by the late Les Ray and are currently vacated.

City Attorney Robert Davis said for now, the city should start ticketing the property owner, reportedly Ray’s wife.

Council members would seemingly prefer to have the properties demolished, but the cost and what it would mean for other properties make it a difficult proposition.

City Clerk Cathy Bremer told council members it’s a long process. 

Mayor Dave Lafferty said the water has been shut off, there’s no sewer to the homes and they are “unfit to live in.”  

At one point, Lafferty said there was sewage running out of the ground.

“We can condemn it and put a lien on the property,” Lafferty said. 

“It’s a serious eyesore,” said Ward 2 Alderwoman Sonya Sewald. “If we condemn it, do we have to tear it down?”

Ward 2 Alderwoman Mary Heywood said there are several properties in town that should be be condemned.

Sewald said this property “is a blight on us” and if they go forth with tearing it down, then the city “is bound by law to start tearing down (other) homes.”

Lafferty was worried about going down that path, saying that it would get “very expensive” to do that.